Apple Cutting Off iTunes Allowances
Apple has announced that it is putting an end to the iTunes Allowances program, which enabled parents to fund their kids’ iTunes accounts with a fixed monthly credit. The option to create new iTunes Allowances ended on 13 April 2016, and existing allowances will be cancelled on 25 May 2016. Current balances will remain in the recipients’ accounts after that date. Apple now suggests Family Sharing as a way to manage iTunes purchases by children and iTunes Gifts as a way to send a one-time gift. The iTunes Allowances program was little known, so it’s unlikely that many people will be bothered by its loss. We wonder: is the service being shut down because Family Sharing replaces it, because people didn’t find it helpful, or because Apple didn’t expose or promote it well enough?
Well, rats. We actually did use this feature as an incremental way to build our childrens' interest in music. $10 per month opened up a lifetime of exploration for them.
Back to the drawing board. -JA
Eh? $10 a month gives you access to Apple Music which has nearly all the music ever made?
I use it to gift my granddaughters, but I can see that buying Apply Music instead might be a nice option.
I used it for years, sending money to the kids to try to encourage them to purchase music. There was also some guilt involved as I used Napster quite a bit until I came to my senses.