Is it worth it to give my data to Apple only to use Apple Music?

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I recently stumbled across Cider, which is an Apple Music client. I decided to choose Apple Music mostly because of Cider, but also because it’s relatively private.

However, in order to use it, I’ll need to give Apple way more data that I’d like to, since I will choose the student plan.

Now you might be wondering why I don’t just use fake info to register an account. There’s 2 reasons why:

  • They don’t accept sign ups with VPN
  • They’ll get my real identity after I pay with my CC, anyways

Perhaps, I’m overly paranoid. I don’t know what Apple’s practices are, especially with handling data like my student card.

Do you guys think it’s worth it?

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Does your threat model warrant not doing this? I would think twice before thinking or feeling this is giving away too much data.

Also, is it worth it? This is a really personal thing and depends on how badly you want to use Cider with Apple Music?

Personally, I don’t think this is an issue at all but that’s just me.

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Cafe | Library | etc

They’ll get my real identity after I pay with my CC, anyways

Not necessarily. (privacy[dot]com or a prepaid visa card, or even an apple gift cert may work).

since I will choose the student plan.

Yeah, I’d assume they’ll want some verification that you are actually a student. So really the decision may come down to whether cost savings of the student plan is greater than the privacy sacrifice.

Another deciding factor in my eyes is if you already have much exposure to Apple products/services or if this would be your only one.

Personally for things like Music and Movies, I’m not super worried about some company knowing my watching/listening habits, at least as long as that data (and inferences based on it) aren’t sold/shared.

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I did sign up for their student plan, I can confirm that they required me to give my student email address and take a screenshot of my student portal where it showed proof of my enrolment. Depending on whether your school is supported you may only need to provide your school email address.

I believe you only get access to the student prices temporarily (12 months) after that period you have to reverify your student status again.

Also another thing to add, Apple doesn’t do the verification it’s done by SheerID so it’s governed by their privacy policy, Apple doesn’t actually get any of your information they just know you’re eligible. (This is how it was for me in Australia could be different in other locations)

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This is what I use currently. It’s great, for mobile. I created a burner YouTube account so that I could sync my songs to PC, but it’s a tad rough. It works one way (syncing songs from PC to mobile), but the other way round simply doesn’t do the job for me. This is why I’m considering Apple Music.

To be fair, if I was only using my phone to listen to music, it’d be more than enough.