Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which is better?
Overall findings
Spotify
It offers both free and Premium plans It offers music downloads for listening offline It is easy to use
Apple Music
It has an enormous music library It has monthly and annual plans It is additionally available on Apple Watch, Apple TV, and in vehicles with CarPlay
Both are available for Macs, PCs, laptops, Android, and iOS devices. Spotify is also available on speakers, game consoles, smartwatches, TVs, and several cars. Suggested read: How to Download Spotify Songs without Premium on Android and other Devices?
Price
Spotify
It offers a one-month free trial for Premium and three months of free service when using PayPal for payment It costs $ 9.99/month for one account and $ 12.99/month for two accounts For a family plan it costs $ 15.99/month For students the price is $ 4.99/month Free option is also available with advertisements and limited features
Apple Music
It offers a one-month free trial and six months of free service with the purchase of an eligible audio product For individuals the price is $ 9.99/month or $ 99/year For a family the price is $ 14.99/month It costs $ 4.99/month for students
Apple Music and Spotify Premium are ad-free. Both services cost almost the same. If you choose the lifetime free service of Spotify, advertisements would be played after every few songs. Apple Music does not have a free tier. You can also buy an Apple One bundle that includes Apple TV+, Music, Arcade, and varying iCloud storage options at a price range between $ 14.95/month and $ 29.95/month.
Music catalog size
Spotify
Spotify has more than 82 million songs
Apple Music
Apple Music has over 90 million songs
To attract users, music services need to have a broad catalog of different types of music which both Spotify and Apple Music have. They offer exclusive content to their subscribers. They represent top artists on their platforms. For instance, Taylor Swift is hosted by Spotify. Although Swift had a feud with Spotify for years but is back now.
Ease of use
Spotify
Easier to use when compared with Apple Music Presents related artists correctly
Apple Music
Recommendations are expert-driven Offers spatial audio albums
Although Apple Music has a friendly interface it is easier to use Spotify. People can open Spotify and listen to music without any experience. However, Apple Music acts differently on different devices. For instance, it does not play as friendly on Android devices as on iOS devices. Issue related to syncing Apple Music with iCloud frustrates some listeners, especially those who are used to having music on their devices. People get frustrated with the free tier of Spotify as well since it plays so many advertisements in such a short time. Both services are yet to master the discovery of new music to recommend to users. But Spotify is relatively good at presenting related artists and Apple Music offers quality human expert-driven recommendations. It is also getting better with algorithms. Watch this YouTube video:
Key features
There are other aspects where these services either shine or dim when compared. These are:
- Offline playback– Both allow the paid users to download music
- Integration with existing music libraries– Files downloaded from Apple Music are saved in the Music app and they cannot be distinguished from other music. However, with Spotify, they are separate and most often not easy to combine.
- Collaborative playlists– Spotify lets users create playlists with others but on Apple Music creating playlists is to be done by individuals. However, playlists can be shared with friends.
- Audio quality– Apple Music streams at up to 256kpbs but Spotify streams up to 320 kbps. However, the difference is unnoticeable. Just that if the 320kbps music is streamed over a cellular network, it would use up a little more data. Apple has its AAC audio codec and gets to the highest possible quality by default.
- Radio stations– Both offer radio stations but Apple Music stands out with Apple’s curated station, Apple Music 1.
- Streaming content– Both services offer similar formats of content. They stream music videos, music, exclusive offerings, and other types of audio. Also read: Best Music Steaming Service: Apple Music Vs Spotify Sound Quality 2021
Verdict
Could you decide between Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which is better? The fact is both have their pros and cons. It would not make any sense to move on to the other if you are already on one of them. However, if you plan on using any of them for the first time then choose depending on your device’s operating system. Needless to say, for iOS devices Apple Music would be best and for Android, it would be Spotify. Not that Spotify is not ideal for iOS. If you are still in a dilemma, use the free version of both and decide accordingly.
