Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which music streaming service is the perfect?

Apple Music vs Spotify — Library

Spotify is house to more than 100 million songs and 6 million podcasts, extra music than your ears would even know what to do with. It additionally lately achieved the excellence of getting the world’s second largest library of audiobooks, with greater than 350,000 titles. The Swedish streaming service brings all the newest releases, unique reside classes, and numerous new singles proper to its New Releases tab every Friday, in addition to the Release Radar playlist.

Apple’s service additionally touts greater than 100 million songs, with this measurement of library turning into extra widespread amongst streaming companies nowadays. However, Apple has taken steps to safe many extra exclusives than the competitors, largely as a result of it doesn’t provide a free tier.

Another space the place Apple Music has a leg up on its competitors: integration of the iTunes library. Any music you will have — whether or not beforehand bought by way of the iTunes Store, ripped from a bodily CD, or uploaded to iTunes Match — will seem in your Apple Music library, supplying you with the choice to freely browse your personal music alongside Apple’s normal catalog. Spotify provides the same perform, relegating your native music information to a separate tab, however you’ll be able to’t entry your native music by way of broad searches as you’ll be able to with Apple Music.

Where as soon as Apple Music gained this class, with the addition of Audiobooks, Spotify has narrowly nudged forward.

Spotify Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Audio high quality

We additionally want to debate the audio high quality that comes with streaming songs on each companies. For Spotify, the free model of the software program streams at AAC 128Kbps by way of the online participant. Download the Spotify app for desktop, cell, or tablets and it’ll modify streaming high quality based mostly in your connection, anyplace from 24Kbps to 160Kbps.

Upgrade to Premium, and that enhances high quality as much as AAC 256Kbps on the net participant, and on the apps you will get 4 high quality ranges maxing out at 320Kbps. Spotify’s promised lossless tier of service continues to be nowhere to be found.

Apple, however, has made vital strides in offering free audio high quality upgrades for all subscribers. All 100 million Apple Music songs at the moment are accessible in lossless audio. Apple makes use of ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), so the music stays true to the unique audio file. There are a number of tiers of lossless audio accessible, beginning with CD high quality, 16-bit at 44.1kHz, and going as much as 24-bit at 48kHz. There can also be a hi-resolution lossless format all the way in which as much as 24-bit at 192kHz. Additionally, final yr, Apple made a variety of its library accessible in its surround-sound spatial audio format. Enabled by Dolby Atmos coding, spatial audio offers music extra depth, additional compatibility with dynamic head-tracking, and different benefits which have include the newest iOS updates. It’s additionally actually nice through your Apple TV.

Apple Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Music discovery algorithm

With so many songs on the prepared, streaming libraries can appear daunting for individuals who need to discover new music. Let’s check out how the massive gamers do it.

Spotify

Spotify supplies a number of helpful instruments for locating new songs to fit your style. Personalized playlists like Discover Weekly present unbelievable alternatives for subscribers to latch onto new music from artists they by no means stumbled throughout on their very own. The deep nicely of base genres to select from makes new music ripe for the selecting, and listeners can personalize playlists just by liking particular songs as they hear. While Spotify recommends ongoing playlists and channels to new customers, together with editor-curated playlists for particular tastes, these options are way more restricted totally free customers.

Discover Weekly, particularly, deserves excessive reward within the streaming world. Added to your feed each Monday morning, the characteristic delivers a two-hour playlist of customized music suggestions based mostly in your listening habits, in addition to the habits of those that hearken to comparable artists.

Spotify additionally offers you the possibility to create, share, and comply with playlists of any type — together with these shared by associates — with a easy click on, together with expertly curated playlists for any temper or style you’re into to maintain issues recent. There’s even a Collaborative Playlist characteristic that allows you to create playlists with your mates you could all add to and edit.

Spotify is at all times including new options to assist with discovery, together with its DJ feature, which is an AI-generated radio station based mostly in your listening habits that’s hosted by a digital DJ voiced by Xavier “X” Jernigan, Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships.

Apple Music

As for Apple Music, upon creating an account, customers are prompted to pick a few of their favourite artists so the service can get a way of their tastes. A Listen Now part recommends quite a lot of music based mostly in your listening historical past and different actions, together with music despatched to you from your mates by way of the Messages app, all organized within the Shared With You tab. These options and extra make Apple Music an excellent possibility for getting suggestions.

Thankfully, as soon as the method is full, Apple Music does an excellent job of curating playlists to enchantment to your preferences, so you’ll be able to vibe out through your headphones. Playlists is likely to be based mostly on style, artist, or perhaps a specific exercise like driving. Apple claims the playlists are curated by a “team of experts.” This cabal of tastemakers — whoever they’re — do job creating diverse playlists which can be directly acquainted but recent, like a mixtape you would possibly get from a buddy.

Apple Music’s Apple Music 1 perform, which provides reside radio 24 hours a day, additionally performs a serious function on the subject of music discovery. It’s refreshing to see Apple transfer past subtle algorithms for a human strategy to facilitating true music discovery.

In March of 2023, Apple launched its Apple Music Classical service. Available for free of charge to Apple Music subscribers (besides to these on the Voice plan), it is a separate app you’ll be able to obtain that Apple says provides “the world’s largest classical music catalog” of greater than 5 million classical tracks.

Still, Spotify’s hands-off playlists and curated playlists, together with its unbelievable Discover Weekly and Release Radar section, give it the sting. Until Apple Music can compete with this algorithm-based strategy, we’ll give Spotify the win.

Spotify Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Radio

In the app, Spotify did away with the Radio tab of the previous however now has an choice to create a radio mode for any particular artist, album, playlist, or track. Simply go to the Three-dot menu icon, and select Go to radio to create one. These radio “stations” may also be saved within the library as playlists.

There’s additionally assisted playlist creation for a extra customized possibility than full radio mode. Say, for instance, you wished to create a playlist to accompany you in your morning exercises. Using assisted playlisting, Spotify will use the title you’ve given the playlist (like “Workout”) and pull from options based mostly in your previous listening historical past, in addition to suggestions based mostly on songs others have added to their very own comparable playlists. You can proceed to fill your playlists with tracks, or Spotify can autofill them when you’ve chosen a couple of to begin with. Users are additionally in a position to search and preview songs earlier than including them to a playlist.

In an age that prioritizes automation, Apple Music’s desire for the human contact helps with radio-style programming. This philosophy is embodied in Apple Music 1, Apple Music’s premier radio station that runs nonstop music blended by DJs on reside radio reveals.

The most intriguing reveals on Apple Music 1 are these hosted by notable musicians resembling Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Haim, and Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest). These reveals present listeners with a singular look into the tastes of artists they admire.

Beyond Apple Music 1, Apple Music has some extra generic radio stations for individuals who merely need to hearken to, say, traditional rock, jazz, or Top 40 hits. There are additionally non-music stations, resembling BBC News and ESPN, making a menagerie of choices which can be arduous to beat.

Apple Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Podcasts

Although Apple Music and Spotify are primarily music apps, podcasts have a pure house on audio platforms. Spotify has been the fastest-growing podcast vacation spot since launching the characteristic in 2015. In truth, Spotify at present boasts essentially the most podcasts of any service, offering 6 million as of 2024’s first quarter.

You’ll discover tons of common packages, and there are sufficient compelling originals that podcasts alone could entice you to remain. The Spotify app handles the duty superbly, with timers and playback pace controls accessible to help your binge-listening classes.

Apple Music doesn’t have any such performance built-in. Podcasts had been break up off into their very own app proper across the time Apple began breaking iTunes into little bits and pieces, and that’s the place they’ll keep for the foreseeable future.

Spotify Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Price

As of June 2024, Spotify increased the price of virtually all of its service tiers. The Spotify Premium Individual service now prices $12 monthly and is now simply $1 greater than Apple Music.

Right now, new subscribers get Apple Music free for one month. Apple Music additionally provides a Family plan for $17 with entry for as much as six folks. Spotify additionally has a Duo plan for $17 for a pair subscribing collectively and a Family plan for $20 that provides as much as six accounts together with Spotify Kids and parental controls.

There’s one other method to avoid wasting money on each companies — pupil plans. New customers with an relevant pupil electronic mail can get a reduced month-to-month subscription of simply $6. Both add a bit extra for that discount, with Spotify providing college students ad-supported Hulu entry, whereas Apple will hook the studious up with Apple TV+.

Apple doesn’t have a free, ad-based tier like Spotify. The majority of Spotify’s customers hear totally free, they usually can nonetheless play songs on-demand so long as they’re keen to place up with advertisements (unskippable on the app however will be muted on the net app) – with some additional limitations for cell units. Not to say, new Spotify customers can at present nab one month of Premium totally free. Even with Spotify’s latest worth will increase, we nonetheless assume it is higher worth than Apple Music.

Spotify Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — User interface and cell expertise

Apple Music’s cell interface is minimalist and simple to make use of. The Library incorporates all of the music you personal and will be accessed on this tab, and you’ll simply filter by Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and Downloaded music, simply in case you don’t need to waste your treasured cell knowledge.

Tapping on the Listen Now tab now brings up a number of completely different customized choices. The Top Picks and the each day themed playlists present much more methods to find new tunes, whereas the Browse tab offers you an avenue to discover common music, movies, and Apple exclusives. The Radio tab offers customers entry to tons of of Apple-curated music stations, damaged up by style, artist, and host. Those on the lookout for one thing particular can use the Search tab, which lets you rapidly search via both your private library or the Apple Music library.

Apple has additionally built-in Siri with Apple Music, permitting subscribers to problem voice instructions via their Apple TV, iPhone, or Mac. It’s a cool characteristic that Android customers gained’t get, as they don’t have entry to Siri. Additionally, Apple’s Sing feature provides some enjoyable to the app, permitting customers to show their units right into a veritable karaoke machine that strips the vocals out of choose tracks so you’ll be able to sing over it.

The Android version of Apple Music is just about the identical because the iOS model, though it really works greatest on iOS, particularly with the added Siri performance.

Spotify, however, is extra device-agnostic and has lengthy been the trade chief when it comes to sheer usability. The cell and desktop functions present customers with a straightforward method to browse music, entry playlists, hearken to web radio, and uncover new music.

On cell, all of your bidding is completed inside three tabs — Home, Search, and Your Library. Each part options its personal set of easy subcategories, which supplies customers easy accessibility to the service’s many options. The search window actively populates the outcomes subject, very like Google’s search engine, usually offering precisely what you’re on the lookout for after typing just some characters. Spotify additionally has middling help for voice activation via units just like the Amazon Echo or Google Home.

For these allergic to apps, Spotify has lengthy supplied an internet participant that, whereas not fairly as intuitive because the native desktop app, provides fast, light-weight entry. Apple has adopted swimsuit with an internet participant of its personal in beta. Both have the choice to show the lyrics of the track taking part in.

Apple Music provides one of the vital spectacular music companies round, however you need to be all-in on Apple’s smartphones, tablets, computer systems, and streaming packing containers to get essentially the most out of it. We give Spotify the sting right here for its clear and simple consumer expertise, ubiquity, and elevated availability of third-party integrations.

Spotify Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Social options

Spotify’s social features enable subscribers to comply with associates (when you’re each on Facebook and join your Spotify accounts) and see what they hearken to and who they comply with. It additionally offers customers the flexibility to share or suggest playlists, together with the flexibility to publish their listening historical past to Facebook, which then permits their Facebook associates to love or touch upon the exercise. Add to that the Collaborative Playlist characteristic wherein you and your mates can add to and edit playlists, and Spotify’s social options are fairly sturdy.

Apple Music’s social performance is few and much between and contains the flexibility to see what your mates are listening to and simple playlist sharing.

Even with out messaging, Spotify’s strong social media integration, in addition to the flexibility to see what associates and followers are listening to, offers the service the higher hand.

Spotify Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Workout modes

Many folks hearken to music whereas operating, and each Apple Music and Spotify are loaded with workout-themed playlists.

Spotify used to have built-in exercise features however has since offloaded a few of these options to different apps. For instance, on smartphones with the suitable sensors, Spotify can be utilized at the side of operating apps resembling Runkeeper to routinely choose a playlist that matches the consumer’s operating tempo. The integration is a welcome one for individuals who don’t need to plan out their music choice earlier than they hit the monitor — although it’s a disgrace the performance is not natively supported in-app.

For Apple Music subscribers, there’s Apple Fitness+, which makes use of knowledge from a consumer’s Series 3 (or later) Apple Watch to create personalized exercise routines and exercise playlists that may be listened to in Apple Music. Apple Music customers can use the Search tab to search out some motivational Apple Fitness+ playlists. With Apple Fitness+ Studio Series, customers may even seek for exercise tunes based mostly on the kind of train they’re launching into. Everything from meditative music for yoga to bop and digital music for rowing and kickboxing is accessible.

Apple Music

Apple Music vs Spotify — Offline downloads

Apple Music allows you to obtain music for offline playback throughout 10 completely different units directly, with a most of 100,000 songs. Spotify lags on this space, with its restriction sitting at 10,000 songs on as much as 5 units.

Apple Music

Overall winner

Spotify Music

Spotify is the winner right here. While Apple Music has made some critical strides, Spotify nonetheless reigns supreme. Its consumer interface is accessible and uncluttered, making playlist administration easy. Its music discovery playlists, particularly Discover Weekly, maintain it brilliantly recent, and it’s additionally free for individuals who can’t but commit. Apple Music’s bigger catalog, unique releases, human-curated playlists, and options like Apple Music 1 make it a critical contender. Depending on what options are necessary to you, you could select in a different way, however for now, Spotify nonetheless has the sting wherein music streaming service is best.