Apple's streaming service, Apple Music, is quite young and was launched in 2015. Spotify has been in operation for over a decade, starting in 2008.
Both platforms have millions of subscribers on all platforms, but Spotify is still the largest, with almost 110 million subscribers and over 120 million free users. Apple Music already has a much smaller number, 60 million subscribers.
Since both platforms are great, we decided to create this article where we dissected all the features and differences between Spotify vs Apple music, so you can make the best decision. And no matter what the conclusion, we have Spotify tricks and Apple Music tips!
1. Prices
A very important factor when deciding what to use or buy how much it costs, and no different in that situation.
Let's start with Spotify: the plans offered are monthly payments of $ 16.90 for an individual account, $ 21.90 for access to two accounts, $ 26.90 for family plan, with access to up to 6 accounts, and for end the plan for students, which $ 8.50. Also, you can still enjoy three free months before you have to pay anything.
Apple Music has prices quite similar to Spotify's, but offers fewer plan options. Only three: the individual plan, which costs $ 16.90; the family plan, which costs $ 24.90 for access to up to 6 accounts that are connected by family group; and the student one, which costs $ 8.50. Like the competitor, it offers three free months.
One thing Spotify leaves Apple Music behind is that it offers a free restricted plan, while the competitor only offers Beats1 radio access for those who don't want to pay. The restrictions of the plan are that most albums and playlists will only be available in random mode, as well as interruptions by advertisements.
Here, Spotify wins not only for offering more plan options to the user, but also for offering the free mode.
2. Audio Quality
Sound quality is certainly one of the most important features in the comparison between Spotify vs Apple Music. And regardless of which music app you use, your headset will greatly influence how much you can enjoy your tunes. For this we have a list of the best bluetooth headsets.
Let's start again with Spotify: This application uses the Ogg Vorbis format for playback on your mobile and desktop applications, and uses the AAC format for your browser player and Chromecast. When played in Ogg, the songs are played at up to 320kbps if premium and 160kbps if free. J in AAC format, 256kbps if premium, and 128kbps if free.
The very simple side of Apple Music: all played exclusively on 256kbps AAC files. The number may even be smaller than Spotify's 320kbps, but the result is basically the same.
Both platforms offer equalizers, but Spotify's considerably better and has the benefit of being directly in the app, while Apple Music's settings in your phone settings. In the case of iOS, in “Settings”is at“Music”. J on android, it will depend on whether your phone has any equalizer or not.
In this comparison, Spotify narrowly wins for the best implementation of the equalizer.
3. Compatibility
Another interesting factor to consider when choosing between Spotify vs. Apple Music on which of your devices they work, and which works best on them.
Let's start with the similarities: both are compatible with any bluetooth speaker and most available platforms including Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Alexa's assistants and HomePod. They also work on Apple TV, Fire TV, and Apple Watch. Both support both Chromecast and Airplay.
They have several differences, however, especially in the versions of platforms that are supported.
Spotify works on the following versions (or later): Android 4.1, iOS 11, MacOS 10.10, and Windows 7 or higher. Its limited support for Linux is unofficially made by developers. It also supports all Google wizards, all Spotify Connect devices such as Xbox and Playstation, and many others.
Apple Music already requires the following (or newer) versions: Android 4.3, iOS 8.4, and iTunes 12.2 for Windows or Mac. You can use the service on Linux through the browser.
Here Spotify wins a lot by offering a much wider range of compatible devices.
4.Library library and music
This is an area in which the winner of the contest is quite clear: Apple Music.
Both offer an absolutely huge amount of music, reaching over 50 million, and offer early access to certain albums, and both allow you to play the music available on your device, but the similarities end. Apple Music also offers exclusive access to some music clips and videos.
Plus, there's Apple's Library Sync, which makes all your music available on all your devices as long as you're signed in with your Apple ID. And the best part is the limit to how many songs you can sync or download your storage, unlike Spotify, which lets you download 10,000 songs.
5. Interface and navigation
Spotify has a very minimalistic and simple interface, but it does its job very well. It is extremely intuitive which results in the user not having to waste time looking for what he needs. The app offers only one theme, the dark theme. Incidentally, if you like this theme, see how to enable dark mode in various apps.
Like the competitor, the app is very easy to use, and has a very accessible and intuitive interface. But unlike the other, it offers two themes, dark and light, and has an option to switch between them automatically if battery saver mode is active. In both, all main control tabs are at the bottom of the screen.
The oldest of them has animations and short videos for some songs, and both offer lyrics to accompany various songs. However, only Apple Music offers something extremely useful, which is the search for songs by their lyrics.
Both can be controlled via both Google Maps and Android Auto interface if you are driving and using GPS, but this service is only available for Spotify on Waze.
In this session, there is a tie between Spotify vs Apple Music.
6. Discovery Tools
One advantage these apps have over apps for listening to offline music is the ease of discovering new music because of the tools with which they are equipped.
As soon as you start using either of them, they will ask you to select your favorite music genres and artists, to give you information on a number of suggestions. As you use the apps and listen to what you like, the suggestions are getting better.
Spotify has the playlist “Discoveries of the Week”, which renews its music every week, and the Daily Mix, which are renewed daily. They are playlists generated by Spotify based on what you usually hear since you started using the app. In addition, there is the tab "To sail"where you can explore new artists and genres.
On your home screen, you have suggestions of what to listen based on the past. It includes options that range from “Don't get out of your ears” to things unknown to you, but which the algorithm recommends.
Apple Music has “Mix” playlists, which are frequently refreshed and serve the same purpose as“Discoveries of the Week” from Spotify. It also has the tab"To you", which recommends you what to listen based not only on what you listen to, but also on your initial responses from favorite artists and genres.
Anyway, as much as both have tools that work well, Spotify has a much better algorithm, which makes it win this round.
7. Radio
Between Spotify vs. Apple Music, only one of them actually has radios: Apple Music, with Beats1, a real DJ radio that runs all the time, without interruption. This is another extremely useful tool for discovering new and even unknown things.
Spotify doesn't offer radios themselves, like Beats1, but instead has radios generated based on what you were listening to. If you put an album to play and it's over, the music doesn't stop and Spotify keeps playing similar things. However, this is not limited only to this platform, Apple Music offers the same thing.
There is no doubt here: Apple's service wins.
8. Social Tools
A big advantage of Apple Music in this respect is the featureConnectIt is an area in which artists can communicate freely with fans, exposing their work, their inspirations and their life, if they so wish, to the public. It's a way for them to approach your audience, which can be very cool.
People can enjoy and respond to artist publications, which in turn can speak directly to each user who has said something.
This is a missing feature in Spotify, and an area where the platform is lacking. It only offers integration with Facebook, the ability to follow artists and their friends, view, if allowed, what they are listening to, and the sharing of playlists, all tools present in the competitor.
Spotify offers, as its sole advantage, codes for easier sharing of music, albums and playlists. It's nice to have, but it's nowhere near indispensable, which makes the winner of the round Apple Music.
Bonus: Exercise Mode
Spotify had an exercise mode in the old days, but since then it has been incorporated into third party apps. Even if it is not something in the application itself, a very interesting integration of this platform. It basically works by finding the songs at the right rhythm to play, according to the rhythm of the user's race.
As much as just integrating with third-party apps and not a native app tool, the fact that Apple Music does not have this capability makes Spotify the category winner.
Conclusion
Both applications offer advantages and disadvantages as shown above. Something unique about Spotify is the ability to use the app for free, so if that's what you want, that's your option. Now, if you are willing to pay for the use, the decision becomes a little more complicated.
Considering just the score, Spotify got 5 and Apple Music got 3. But a real result is not only for that, but also for the user context.
Which means that if you already have several Apple products, or if you use iTunes and have music stored there, Apple Music is probably the right choice for you. If you want to make sure that no matter what device you are able to play your music, Spotify is right. And if you want to discover new things, you should probably go to Spotify.
So what did you think of our comparison of Spotify vs Apple Music?
We hope you enjoyed the article, and that it helped you make a better decision about which service to use. Remember that Apple has just released its Airpods Pro so you can hear your music in the best possible quality! Leave a comment about which app you use, and if we went for help.
