We all love music and when we think about playing it for some time, the option narrows down to two leading streaming platforms: Apple Music vs Spotify.
Choosing between the two is difficult as both the music streaming apps have the same range of subscription fees and similar music charts.
So, how do you decide which is the right pick for you? To avoid the hassle, we have compared Apple music vs Spotify based on various crucial parameters including user interface, streaming quality, music library, and more.
So, without further ado, let us dive into the battle of the most popular streaming platforms on the internet!
Apple Music vs Spotify – Overview
Before we get into our detailed battle, let us have a quick overview of the two powerful music streaming platforms.
Apple Music
Apple Music boast a whopping 60 million music library and allow you to add more songs that you own. With this vast range of music, you are open to discovering many more artists and listen to the ones you already know.
It caters to songs based on your habits and has exclusive paid content from top artists even before they are released out there.
Spotify
Spotify is a gem for music and podcast listeners and has a wide range of music of 50 million-plus music library which keeps on increasing by 40,000 daily. Apart from the artists only for music lovers, you can also hear as many podcasts with 700,000 already on the music app.
Apple Music VS Spotify: User Interface
Showing you what you were listening to and then the other recommendation is the key to win the user’s heart. Spotify comes with a clean black look, highlighting our preferences is what the user wants to see. It plays short videos and animations and gives you the background of the artist with some facts along!
Apple Music is quite aesthetic and with a white background (which can also be changed to night mode ) shows all the tabs at once and keeps your content hidden at first look. Unlike Spotify, Apple Music doesn’t have one single page but has sections for different items.
Lyrics can be found in both of them (if there) while playing the music but the Apple Music has a slight edge and allows you to search the song from an entire string of lyrics.
Winner: Spotify!
Apple Music vs Spotify: Streaming Quality
Listening to music with amazing quality is a must. Well, Apple Music and Spotify both feature such good streaming quality. Spotify streams music with the open-source Ogg Vorbis codec.
It streams at an increasing speed to 320 kbps for its premium members and at a default of 160 kbps for the free listeners. Spotify allows you to adjust the speed according to your connections be it wifi or mobile data.
On the other hand, Apple Music allows you to enjoy the highest quality streaming at 265kbps aac format. The aac Bluetooth codec is pretty efficient amongst the others.
The stream quality of both the streaming service is nearly identical and yet Apple music wins over by an edge. But if you are someone who is facing issues with mobile data Spotify comes as a rescue and can be played nearly everywhere.
Winner: Apple music!
Apple Music vs Spotify: Music Library & Recommendations
The Apple Music library has around 60 million songs and has exclusive deals with, and early releases of, top artists making them worth paying for after the end of a three-month free trial.
It also has a separate podcast app. Apple Music gives access to top radio shows namely Beats1 even for free users as well. Apple Music allows accessing personal music tunes by turning on the iCloud library within the app. The library limit is set to 100,000 for apple music.
Spotify, on the other hand, has more than 50 million songs and daily new additions to the list. It has several podcasts within the app and currently boasts 700,000 and more.
It also allows playing the music in the Spotify app from your device but limits it to local files. The library limit is set to 10,000 songs for Spotify.
Spotify has by far, the most precise curated personal playlists based on your music history and preferences. It recommends songs based on your listening history.
Whereas Apple music has a Listen Now tab which is full of recommendations based on your earlier listening choices. Apple Music has a radio station that has curated playlists by DJs.
Spotify also has Discover Weekly playlists which organize themselves from time to time based on what you listened to recently.
Winner: Spotify
Apple Music vs Spotify: Device Support
Spotify is available across various devices as iOS, Android and Windows. It works soundly with voice assistants- google assistant, Alexa (Amazon), and even Siri! Though working with voice assistants requires a Spotify premium membership. Spotify is supported even with Smart TVs and Google smart speakers.
Apple Music is also available on cell phones and Mac. Siri offers full support for apple music and through this, it is used with echo smart speakers through Alexa (in the US).
Also, available on apple watch and fire tv. Since apple music works well only with Siri support for virtual assistants and not other devices it has a shortcoming. Whereas Spotify is compatible with many devices.
Winner: Spotify.
Apple Music vs Spotify: Sharing Feature
Both of the apps have a similar take on sharing and can easily share music by sharing the link on various other apps. Spotify allows you to share your playlists with others via a link or through a quick code scan allowing you to make collaborations with others but it is only for the premium members.
Following friends might take a little less time in the apple music app if you already have them on your Facebook friends list or saved them as your contacts.
You get to follow your favorite artists and friends and get to be updated with their recent posts and music album releases in both apps. Apple Music allows you to share playlists but no collaborations as such.
Winner: Spotify!
Apple Music vs Spotify: Pricing
Let us now narrow down the pricing of both the streaming platforms below. Apple Music comes with a free trial for 3 months, whereas the paid plans are as follows:
- Individual: $9.99 per month ($4.99 for students )with ad-free, offline listening, and access to exclusive content, live radio stations.
- Family: $14.99 per month with personal accounts for 6 others with the other features being the same as mentioned above.
Spotify has price lists for many including individual($9.99), duo($12.99), student($4.99), a family($14.99) premium membership including one month of the free trial, and ad-supported with an on-demand playlist.
Conclusion – Which is the Best For You?
On comparing Apple Music vs Spotify we saw both winning at different features. Both of the music streaming services have an extensive music library. The best one comes down to whether or not you wish to spend your money on these streaming services.
The best music streaming platform for you will be based on your listening preferences and needs. However, if you use Apple devices on a daily basis, you will love Apple Music due to its similar interface and designs.
On the other hand, if you want to explore beyond Apple, Spotify is the right choice. We hope you found our comparison between the two helpful.
Let us know which platform are you picking in the comment section below.
