Apple Music and Spotify are always pinned against one another, but the debate can end now because Spotify is hands-down the best music streaming service on the market.
Take it from someone who’s subscribed to both platforms, Spotify is superior. I know both offer thousands of songs, but when you compare features offered on each app, Spotify offers the best bang for your buck.
I’ve used Spotify since I was in high school and it’s never disappointed me. When I subscribed to Apple Music, it was my way of connecting with friends who preferred the platform, but I mostly forget the app even exists.
Apple Music has around 72 million subscribers, according to a March 4, 2021 Statista article.
This might seem like a high number, but Spotify has 144 million premium users, according to a Jan. 8, 2021 Statista article.
The statistics leave out the number of users who stream music through Spotify for free, while Apple Music is only available to those who pay $9.99 per month.
Spotify’s free streaming service allows users to listen to music with limited features. Premium users have unlimited skips, can listen offline and avoid ads. Users of the free version don’t have those options.
One difference between Spotify and Apple Music is the ability to collaborate on playlists with other users.
The fact you can’t collaborate on a playlist on Apple Music makes my colleague’s argument invalid because collaboration with friends is exactly what everyone needs during the pandemic.
As we break down the features of each app, the gap between Spotify and Apple Music grows.
Both platforms offer personalized playlists curated to match the user’s music taste. I hardly use playlists on Apple Music because I prefer the ones Spotify makes for me based on its intuitive algorithm.
A Jan. 14, 2021 article published by SoundGuys addressed Spotify’s curated playlists versus Apple Music’s. The writer said Apple Music’s algorithm is mediocre compared to Spotify’s curated playlists.
I mean, who wants to listen to the free U2 album for the 100th time, Apple? Not me.
In terms of user experience, I’ve successfully used Spotify on different devices like my laptop and my smartphone. I can’t say the same for Apple Music. When accessing Apple Music through iTunes on my desktop, I’m unable to quickly access most features.
Whenever I try to pull up my music library, it takes a long time to load my playlists and I struggle to find most smartphone features.
As a user, I expect the app to be easy to navigate. If I have to struggle to find my songs and can’t figure out how to shuffle my music library, I’m going to get frustrated.
Spotify’s user interface design works the best across all devices making it the most user-friendly music app, according to a Nov. 6, 2020 Digital Music News article.
“Being redesigned for smaller screens and being able to work with multiple platforms are its huge assets,” according to the article.
Of course, we can’t forget about Spotify Wrapped, the app’s generated overview playlist available at the end of each year that recaps the user’s streaming patterns.
According to a Dec. 5, 2020 article by ScreenRant, “Spotify Wrapped goes beyond that to walk the user through a range of analytics – everything from top songs, top artists, and top albums to where they rank among listeners of certain artists when they first listened to a top song.”
Wrapped is a feature that genuinely sets Spotify apart with its precise song selection that perfectly brings my year to a close.
Other apps including Apple Music try to compete, but they simply can’t because their presentation and music selections lack.
When Wrapped is revealed, those songs take me back to when I was dancing in the car with my friends or riding with the windows down during sunset.
As a subscriber to both Spotify Premium and Apple Music, I can confidently say Spotify is superior.
