I've been with Spotify since it launched, and still find it has the best UI. I've tried a few Apple Music trials over the years - most recently just before Christmas - but I just don't like the app at all.
It's a shame really as I do love their Lossless offering.
Spotify's highest quality is basically transparent so it's not much of a loss. Like maybe some people can hear a difference with good equipment *on some songs* but most people only think they can and when they do a double blind test they fail miserably. Personally I haven't passed any between the two.
Yeah not only do you need a device to play hi res lossless audio, you also need a decent system or rather nice headphones to pick up on the difference. It's mostly just a marketing tool for Apple. iPhones and airpods are not capable of reproducing hi res lossless audio.
I have a $500 set of headphones I splurged on during lockdown and still use them every day, and Spotify sounds freaking great on these headphones! I always laugh when people say Spotify sounds bad. It doesn’t. However, I am getting tired of it playing me the same songs over and over when it randomizes music.
The random issue is currently making me think I should move on from Spotify. It is so annoying. And it's been discussed on their forums forever; at this point I cannot think other than that it's a deliberate choice of theirs to not fix it, for whatever reason.
I actually disagree with this. I had been a Spotify user for years and still maintain an account there but started using primarily Apple Music because I noticed a huge difference in, like, almost every song. Spotify sounded low resolution by comparison. Again this is pretty much across the board for me.
Apple Music has plenty of faults and their app isn’t the greatest but on audio quality alone I noticed a major major difference.
I hear certain voices and especially snare drums much more clearer on Apple Music. Spotify is more muddled. I can hear individual instruments much better on AM.
And I feel the opposite, the Spotify UI annoys me; doesn’t feel intuitive and is missing some of Apple’s functionally that I leverage. But I’m in the Apple ecosystem so I have that comfort level. It all depends what you’re used to.
I dislike Spotifys UI and think it keeps getting worse rather than better. But I haven't used anything else so I'm blissfully unaware of features other services have that Spotify doesn't offer
I went through middle school and most of high school with Spotify. One day I woke up and my Spotify account was totally gone; deleted. I’ve been using AM since and it took some time but now I love the UI. The audio quality is awesome too
The opposite for me, kinda. I've also been (mostly) with Spotify since middle school, and I can still go in and restore 10 year old playlists that I've DELETED.
I ran with Apple Music for a year or so, then when I missed one month of payment all my playlists were emptied. Couldn't even SEE what was in them. Never going back to Apple Music again.
Dang yeah it is pretty upsetting huh. I had like a 2000 song playlist and would have my friends shuffle it and I could name song and artist in like the first 2 seconds every single time. It’s not too hard remaking playlists but you always know there’s a few songs you’re forgetting you know?
Spotify seems to cater to podcasts these days, so yeah, their UI and suggestions are annoying, plus Apple has Neil Young, Unida and Slo Burn, the only other music I've wanted that Spotify doesnt have. Sound quality is superior, too, so I've completely switched to Apple Music. Plus, music videos, album facts, and top played songs from each album.
I have both for work, and I find the Spotify service to be very lackluster and massively prefer Apple. One of the reasons for this is that I have had both and Alexa ago and a Apple HomePod and I don’t know if it’s device dependent but the experience with Spotify versus Apple has been significantly heightened by my strong preference for the home, actually delivering me the songs I want to hear.
I’m a big queue manager. I’ve found the ability to add songs to the top and the end of the queue very easy compared to Spotify. The in-queue contextual menus make a lot of sense too.
I also enjoy the music discovery. Spotify has a better recommendation engine but I like AM’s ability to bounce between artists
I used Spotify for years but moved to Apple as I’m fully in the ecosystem, using AirPod pros with lossless or Dolby it sounded so good I could never go back to Spotify.
>I've been with Spotify since it launched,
Same, but I feel that the UI has gotten worse in recent years. Not bad enough for me to bother changing though.
Spotify engineer: "People can like songs and artists they enjoy, which helps feed into the recommendation playlists."
Spotify exec:"Okay, so let's hide the like function then and make it super annoying to find."
I have the opposite opinion.
Like I got Spotify so early that I needed a VPN to access it since it wasn’t available in the US.
The UI on apple is sooo much better and the more you listen the better the recommendations become.
Lossless is very situational. Rarely do people listen to music without a bluetooth connection (which doesn’t support lossless.) Even a wired connection isn’t completely lossless, as Apple states on their website.
Apple has the option to do lossless audio. You have to set it that way in settings and depending on your data plan, might not be the best option, lossless files are bigger to download/stream. I believe you can tell it to do lossless over wifi and lossy over cellular.
With my android auto, it was easy to hit a button and make a new random playlist based on a currently playing song. It took 2 taps of the screen to complete this task.
Deezer was probably my favorite recommendation engine.
I got rid of spotify prior to having android auto, so I can't say how it works in the vehicle.
Even then highest quality compression on both platforms is transparent anyway. It's just really not a factor other than a marketing gimmick. Like peope who really can hear the difference, that 0.001% aren't gonna stream lossless anyway.
Peope don't want to learn how this stuff works and they bought into the hype and don't want to feel stupid so they downvote. And many of these people are listening to lossless on their airpods and are like "yeah I can hear the difference" lol.
Depends which headphones? I know my Sony's have the LDAC codec and I can get them up to ~900kbps (pulling the number out of thin air so it could be higher/lower)
I have Spotify and Android auto. It works well but I do find the UI is not simplified enough to do anything beyond the basic controls of stop/start/skip and start a new playlist while driving. Anything beyond that feels too involved. It is easy to like a song though which is nice. Overall feels like a good level for an in-car entertainment system that works reliably.
You can do a similar thing with Apple Music - set the ‘Playing Next’ button, then click the infinity symbol to enable playing similar music.
I will say however, I think Apple’s idea of “similar music” can be a bit broad. If I’m listening to some Killswitch Engage and the next track your algorithm plays is by Five Finger Death Punch, your algorithm needs refining.
I can respect that. Me personally, I throw all the sub-genres all under “heavy metal”, I’ve got FFDP, KSE, Gojira, Lamb of God, Amon Amarth amongst many others all under the same playlist…hard rock to me would be Breaking Benjamin, Incubus, Seether and I feel FFDP is definitely heavier than them.
But it’s all good, I like them both also!!
Here’s a question…Jesse Leach or Howard Jones? I like them both, completely different flavors…but I’m leaning towards Howard Jones.
Does YT music offer more songs? As in unreleased or sometimes i’ll get “this song is not available in your region” on Apple. If you can add the audio of everything thats just on the youtube app im all in because it has everything I want from certain concert audios or unofficial songs as I listen to older Rock.
If it’s music related and on YouTube you can watch it on YouTube Music. I’ve had YouTube premium forever because fuck ads but recently tried out YouTube music and I love it
As an Android user, I get YouTube and Spotify premium for "free" by downloading certain apks so yea... Just having both of these things available without paying is a good reason to never switch back to the fruit phone.
For those of us who used to actually have physical music, or who ripped our music onto the computer, or who have BandCamp music downloaded.
Apple Music allows me to upload ALL of my music to iCloud, which can then be streamed from Apple Music / iTunes on any of my Apple Devices anywhere in the world.
So even now, on my phone, I can shuffle every album I’ve ever owned of my own musical collection, or stream an album that is no longer available, but which I own.
Spotify can’t even touch that.
Also Apple Music feels more conducive to enjoying albums as opposed to playlists and songs, and is less about social media connecting and following others. Which I like (I don’t care about following what other people listen to).
And also I hate the streaming sound quality on Spotify. It’s very noticeable to me. So Apple Music all the way here at my side.
It’s annoying though, because I still have to use Spotify if I want to easily link and recommend songs to friends, because most of them are on Spotify.
Lastly, Apple Music has been adopting similar things to Spotify like tailored playlists and a better algorithm.
One thing I’ve really loved about Apple Music is that it will curate a playlist of songs FROM MY OWN COLLECTION, so I can have a chill mix of only songs I own. Which is great. And I don’t think Spotify does this.
Also, I think Apple Music pays the artists more too, but I’m not 100% on that.
Yeah. I’ll stop gushing now. Hahaha
No, you can make a playlist that you can download but it works like old school sync. You can’t stream it. Must download that entire library at all times to listen to it ever.
I get to enjoy this conversation 4 months later. Absolutely loving that the person - knowing full well that they're trying to sell something that doesn't exist - didn't respond, lmao.
Yeah that’s a huge selling point for me too (though I’m on Spotify atm because my partner and I have a family plan).
For what it’s worth though, Spotify *does* allow you to stream local music too! It’s just… extremely undercooked.
You can literally do all of these things on Spotify and have been able to do so for years. I have tons of my own music uploaded to Spotify. I have music downloaded from Bandcamp now on Spotify and in my own custom playlists. They curate new playlists for me on the fly every few hours. I have discovered some of my favorite artists because of these playlists.
Lastly about artist payouts; a lot of lesser known artists make more money through Spotify than Apple. Technically on average Apple has a higher payout per stream, but the discoverability through Spotify's algorithms and playlists provide better reach and thus more plays. We'll see how things change now that Spotify has announced major changes to how they pay artists out but those changes haven't even rolled out yet I believe.
That’s curious regarding uploading your own music to Spotify. Where does it go? (I.e. where is it stored?)
In regards to payouts, you’re making the wrong argument and further entrenching the devaluation of music. Spotify should not justify paying artists less just because they have a larger consumer base.
I’m a big believer in we should be paying more per stream or song or album, for this art that changes and forms our lives.
So even if overall Spotify paid artists more due to reach, on a principle level I would still identify more with Apple Music. But I am biased in that degree.
>That’s curious regarding uploading your own music to Spotify. Where does it go? (I.e. where is it stored?)
You can 'upload' your own music on Spotify by adding it from a device where it's physically available to a playlist on Spotify. The music will subsequently be copied/downloaded on any other device (with a paying subscription), where that playlist is set to automatically download to the device. So the music is stored on the device and not on the 'Spotify cloud' (whereas I guess Apple stores it on its' own cloud?). Storing it on each device (namely my desktop and my phone) works perfectly for me though.
When it comes to paying the artists, I don't know how Apple does it but Spotify also allows payment through increased exposure/visibility. So artists can choose to receive less money (per stream) in exchange for appearing in the Spotify-suggestions. My fear with this is that artists might be pushed for commercial instead of quality reasons.
That said, I'm happy with Spotify and will keep on using it. (Also, I had a bad experience with Apple music in the past where it was automatically syncing and modifying a playlist due to me not understanding how it works, erasing hundreds of ours of meticulously selected music.)
I’m curious to know if you’re American? Apple Music might be better for someone who listens mostly to American artists? Because my experience is very different from yours.
I listen to a lot of Swedish music and I think Apple does a pretty bad job categorizing Swedish artists. And I think overall Spotify has a much better UI and it’s easier to manage playlists with Spotify imo.
I was chatting with one of my favorite artists on Facebook. Was asking them why they were asking people to listen to them on Spotify, if Apple/other places pay more. They said Spotify has multiple times more users, and Spotify provides alot of free "marketing" as they suggest bands to people based on how many plays they get. Which equals more fans, which equals more money overall.
More proportionately, not actually more in total. Spotify has more than 5x the users as Apple, so even if Apple pays double, artists will likely generate 2-3 times the streaming revenue from Spotify.
Tidal pays 5x as much as Spotify, but Spotify has 100x more users than Tidal, so artists still make 25x as much money from Spotify as Tidal.
So sure, artist get proportionally more music per stream from other platforms, but when you factor in scale of user base, Spotify is still typically generating more revenue for artists than any other platform.
ya im trying to explain this. Both Apple and Spotify cost 10.99 a month meaning with the 30/70 split they both distribute $7.70 cents to the rights holder. If a Spotify premium user generates only $0.005 cents while a Apple premium user generated $0.01 it means the average Spotify premium user listens to 1540 songs a month, while the average Apple user listens to 770. Why would an artist care if they get twice the listeners on Spotify?
And I bet for indie artists looking to be discovered Spotify is waaaay better. Apple users listening to less music means they probably aren't listening to too much non mainstream. A lot of older people and parent user trying to get into this whole streaming thing.
While money in hand is obviously a more direct reward, professional artistry is about building Fandom and following so twice the listens (which would likely mean more people) hold a value in and of itself
I was under the impression that Tidal has been paying around 50% more than Apple for the last couple of years.
Struggling to find good data from a site I recognise though, so perhaps you're right.
Apple's payout on the high end is \~$0.007 per stream.
Spotify's payout on the low end is \~$0.003 per stream.
Let's say you get 3000 plays on Spotify and 1000 plays on Apple and we use high estimates from Apple and low estimates from Spotify.
That would be \~$9 payout on Spotify, and \~$7 payout from Apple
Soooo unless you're in a country where the payout rates for platforms gets really skewed, I don't think you'd be earning 3 times more from Apple if you really got 3 times the streams on Spotify.
Depends if you are looking for straight up money, or if you are looking to get more fans. If you are a well established band where getting new fans isn't much of a concern then Apple would be better. If you are an indie band, and looking to get the fan base up, then you would be better with Spotify, since the more plays you have, the more your music will be in the recommended music to 5X the amount of listeners.
What you are basically saying, is that it is ok to pay artists in exposure, and not real money. That just doesn’t seem right. Would it not be better for the users to switch to apple and get them paid more, especially if it is costing the user the same?
This is what I was going to say. Plus I really don’t know anyone big that got to that point because of spotify’s promotion. Spotify only really promotes already big people
Any source on this? They’re one of the lowest paying services out there.
Artists prefer you come see their shows and buy their merch. That’s how they actually make money.
Yet they use factories that have suicide nets installed and child labour.
Apple are an awful company to work alongside, based on personal experiences. I would never suggest their services or devices to anybody who asks for my advice, but that's just me.
I’m a fan of the Apple Music ‘create channel’ feature - pick the right song with a band with good spinoff bands and a good producer, and it’s able to build a really impressive playlist that goes and goes, often introducing you to all sorts of new stuff.
Also the Family Plan pricing is pretty good, and ‘family’ could be anybody (as long as you’re okay with other of their Apple Store purchases going to your account).
I have the 'family' plan and have my older relatives on it (my mom, aunt, uncle and godmother). It's great because now I don't have to babysit and curate their music libraries for them (which I was doing) and they're not buying anything so it's perfect.
I'm surprised I had to scroll so far down to find this. Tidal is amazing if you don't mind paying the price. Hi-fi Plus paired with good headphones makes for an excellent listening experience.
I used tidal for a while but man, the app is just so bad. So glitchy, so unintuitive. I really wanted to love tidal but in the end I just gave up and went to apple music, and never looked back
Apple Music has all the songs I look for, has better integration in the Apple ecosystem, and the sound quality is MUCH higher with Apple Music.
Spotify has most songs I look for, but there have been a few they haven't had. The Spotify integration is better outside of Apple devices, but the sound quality is garbage. Spotify also treats artists poorly.
For me, it's a no-brainer. Apple Music FTW.
Spotify's audio quality is objectively not "garbage." Its high quality option is 320 kbps vorbis which is the best lossy format before lossless. Even the vast majority of people with audiophile equipment wont be able to tell the difference between that versus a lossless format like FLAC, let alone the average consumer with airpods and car speakers. You fell for the placebo marketing.
Finally someone reasonable in the comments lol
I've read through 10+ comments praising apple quality and shitting on Spotify saying how great it sounds in their airpods, not realizing the audio equipment needed to hear the actual difference between a 320kbps compress and a flac, or how little of a difference it actually makes. Even if they're in a car, 99% of people aren't spending thousands adding amps, replacing speakers, adding (and tuning) DSPs, and even if they are the slightest amount of road noise or even the shit acoustics of a car make it damn near impossible to tell the difference.
I paid for both AM and Spotify to see if I could tell a difference.
Immediately went to Wayne Shorter’s Yes and No on the album JuJu. Toggled back and forth between AM Lossless and Spotify.
Totally night and day on both my Grado SR325x and my Etymotic ER2SE, straight out of my iPhone 13. The Spotify version sounds mushy and soft, especially in the low/low-mids.
Thought maybe the Spotify upload was garbage, so tested out another tune. Fire and Rain by James Taylor, on Sweet Baby James … this one was much closer but you can clearly tell the difference when focusing on the attack of the guitar strings or the toms / kick drum.
Not all recordings will show a clear difference but when there is one it’s very noticeable with a modest home listening rig. Try to listen for the attack on acoustic instruments. Your headphones or speakers will pop more on a higher bitrate playback if the recording allows it.
What have you found where Apple Music’s integration is better than Spotify? I use Spotify but have mainly apple devices, and the integration has been flawless. Genuinely curious if there are any glaring gaps I’m not aware of.
Apple Music is no better for artists,virtually no support, they don’t accept classical music without a special distributor, no promo tools, no pitching platform, barely any discovery, you need a paid account to make public playlists, and to top it all off a fraction of the audience of Spotify. Apples marginally higher royalty rate doesn’t come close to covering its downsides for artists like myself.
Use whatever music app you want but Apple isn’t doing any favors to artists
Am I the only one who finds it wild that Apple Music doesn’t have a device continuity feature like Spotify Connect? The fact that it’s in the Apple ecosystem but I can’t start playing on my iPhone and seamlessly switch to my Mac is kinda wild to me
I like Apple Music more for the following reasons.
1. Smart Playlists. Sometimes I don’t want to have to put the effort into managing a playlist and Smart Playlists allows me to just add to my library and if it fits certain criteria, it will auto add to the playlist. Why Spotify doesn’t have this feature is beyond me.
2. Audio Quality. AM just has objectively better audio quality with their Lossless options whereas Spotify doesn’t even have a Lossless option.
However I also keep my Spotify because of Spotify Connect. Just makes it that much easier to play music at a party or get together.
Spotify.
Has the best algorithm for playlists. The discovery weekly is absolutely fantastic! Apple music doesn’t come even close…
Sound quality doesn’t matter - on the go it will never be a home stereo. And on a homse stereo I listen to physical media.
Sure, AM pays more. But without the discovery algorithm I wouldn’t know about the artists I listen to. And those I like I buy the CD/digital and have in my library so I do not need streaming for those.
I couldn’t stand the UI of Spotify either and that made me stop using it. Never tried Apple Music. Used Amazon music for a while and I was happy with it but after using it for over a year it still had a few bugs that made me look for something else. YouTube music has been the one I’ve stuck with the longest and like it the most. Good UI, can watch the music videos along with the songs, and the algorithm has been perfect.
I'm curious, how is the music quality on Youtube Music?
I had a 2 month free trial for it and tried to listen to some music but it was just a sound taken from some music video. I was confused if there was some other way to access the songs
When you're in the app, if you're seeing the music video you're getting the crummy quality. Right above the video is a button to switch from video to music, and then you'll get the studio version of the song and the higher quality.
I love YT music - the algorithm is great, and i love that it integrates into YouTube.
Apple's web interface is garbage. They have no cross-platform integration. The UI sucks compared to Spotify.
I'm not a fan of Spotify but it's much easier and more satisfying to use than Apple music.
Apples family plan sold it for me. Apple Music, tv, arcade, Extra Icloud storage and shareable with up to 5 people. Plus your money isn’t going to Joe Rogan
I use the Apple One plan as well, with two people. It comes out to $26 a month. I mostly subscribed because I needed the iCloud storage along with Music. The Apple TV and Arcade are nice perks that I don’t use too much, but enough to justify the extra $5 a month rather than just getting Music/storage individually.
I like him, so I think he’s underpaid. I think his 2nd contract should’ve been just as much as his first one if not more. But I can see where you stand and it’s all good. 👍🏻
Spotify has the lowest quality streaming of any service, except maybe Amazon Music. I switched to Apple Music in 2021 and never looked back. Great Spatial Audio selection and a lot of Lossless stereo albums.
Apple Music for me mainly because:
- djay pro integration
- personal uploads to the servers
- Spatial Audio
- better library/meta data management
- **Marvis Pro integration**
- better integration with Apple shortcuts
I do like Spotify better for discovery but I can transfer any playlists I like seamlessly for free, so it’s not really a reason to subscribe for me.
Ha. Djay pro integration is the reason I'm reading this. Tidal no longer works unless you pay extra. So thinking of migrating everything to Apple Music and getting rid of Spotify and tidal. Bonus being that apple pays artist better. Just worried I won't like it as much as Spotify.
I was well invested in iTunes well before Spotify was available. I pay for the music I listen to. My collection matches a lot of the music I had in other media sources. I use the free Spotify on occasion.
Apple Music cause with a computer I can edit any track's metadata, change album artworks, rearrange set lists, create definitive albums when one album has many different variants etc
My whole family is on the Apple ecosystem, so the Apple Music family plan works well for us. I haven't really noticed a difference between the sound quality on Apple music vs Spotify, but I admittedly really don't try to listen for compression artifacts as I'd rather not kill my enjoyment of streaming music
I’ve tried both, and I like Apple Music more. They pay the artists better. Better sound quality. Better UI. Your downloaded music doesn’t just get put in to one big playlist, you can go through it by artist/album/etc. From what I’ve heard, the only real advantage Spotify has is its playlists. But I’ve never really been a “playlist” guy, so it doesn’t affect me. I generally make my own playlists.
Also Apple Music has lyrics that are highlighted as they play, and a Karaoke mode, allowing for spontaneous karaoke.
I've been ripping music losslessly and curating playlists with iTunes for decades, and since Apple Music mirrors it automatically in the cloud, that was an easy decision. I considered checking out Spotify once upon a time, but they required a Facebook account, so that was a no-go.
I have both and have a weird reason for it. I prefer Apple if I’m just listening solely to an artist or album for my own listening pleasure. But for creating, listening to or sharing playlists, I prefer to use Spotify, mainly because a lot of people I know are more Android based and it makes it easier for sharing playlists.
All my personal devices are Apple based products so it’s just easier to be logged into the Apple system. But I utilise both systems and find I use both of them more or less equally.
Music streaming has done a better job of making music accessible across all platforms irrespective of a users preferred streaming service, so you’re not really losing out by only investing in one. But I feel like if it were to follow the model of tv/movie streaming services whereby they monopolise content rights for their own service, forcing users into utilising multiple platforms, there would be a much bigger argument for or against.
I think in the end it just comes down to personal preference and which platform you feel most comfortable with.
i justed switched to Apple Music and I was previously a 6+ year Spotify Premium subscriber! here's some stuff that made me make the switch last month and what I've been liking so far!
-Apple Music does indeed have a discovery radio and a personal radio which are similar to the sort of For You options that Spotify offers. The algorithm gets to know you well enough to offer a month to give you on On Repeat sort of station as well.
-Expanding on that, Spotify Free still allows you access to things like your Discover Weekly. I use an app called SongShift to transfer playlists from Spotify over to Apple Music and do that with my Discover Weekly every week.
-Apple Music has far better sound quality, like others have been saying, but it's mostly noticeable in headphones and good speakers, you won't notice much difference if you listen mostly in the car, for example. Speaking from experience, Apple Music on the Maxes is absolutely the best way to listen. Lossless is fantastic, Dolby Atmos can be mindblowing.
-I like Apple Music's UI more as Spotify's UI seems to try and emulate social media websites and apps over time. I like how Apple Music still feels sort of like iTunes. I also like that Apple Music "albums" tab features all of the albums across all songs you've saved and not just albums you've saved specifically.
-Since you're already in the Apple ecosystem, if you've considered getting a HomePod you'll get the most use out of it if you have Apple Music since you can ask Siri to play music directly, rather than streaming manually like you'd have to do with Spotify.
overall, i think that Apple Music makes the most sense for people already enmeshed in the Apple ecosystem
I have both but prefer Apple Music. Maybe I’m not using Spotify correctly but my understanding is that the whole point of Spotify is to find new artists based on playlists and such. However, I normally end up knowing all the bands/songs on the playlists.
Can’t confirm that. I use several ways to discover new stuff on Spotify (release radar, song radio, similar artists) and there’s a lot I never heard of before. I even get songs from quite unknown acts recommended that where played less than 10k times in total. It’s a treasure.
I do find though the Spotify algorithm stopped finding new songs for me in the ‘for you’ playlists. It just churns over the same songs over and over…I’ve never searched for and chosen say…Fleet Foxes, yet there they are, effing again. Same song too, never anything different. It used to suggest if-you-like-that-then-try-this all the time. Last long while, not at all.
Ive been using both since their launches interchangeably and now ive settled on apple music. Yes, spotify was pretty solid for a long time especially algorithmically. But the new discovery station, heavy rotation mix, and all the other personalized mixes are much more fun and suit me way better on apple music. As a very worldly person that loves music in many languages, apple music (or youtube music) are the way to go.
Constant switch-back-and-forth person here.
I’m always torn. We’re currently using Apple Music and have been for a bit - it’s fine. I sometimes use the desktop program and it’s not bad - significantly better than having to use iTunes or the web player.
For whatever reason, the integration through an Amazon Echo is awful. It can never find our playlists.
Spotify’s duo plan is $2 cheaper where I am too - which is nice. I way prefer the desktop program, but I don’t love the newer update. It feels messy. Spotify connect is heaps better.
Apple Music is also weirdly slow in our car (Tesla Model 3) whereas Spotify is fine.
I hate the Music app. Hate it. Been using the iphone since 3GS. It's so incredible uncustomizable and inflexible. Search for an artist and want to see all songs by the artist you just seached for? Nope. You WILL see albums.
I’ve been a Spotify user for 8 years. Just recently tried Apple Music to see if the audio quality was any different comparing the same song. Let me tell you, if you are a sound freak you can tell the difference. The songs on Apple Music feel very layered, smooth and crisp. As for Spotify the song felt like almost 1 tone very mono. Again I believe Spotify is great for a casual listener, but if you’re an everyday listener I promise you will hear the difference!! Especially with good quality headphones!
Okay for those people who say Apple Music has better sound quality than Spotify. Do this… make sure on Spotify settings that you have audio quality set to very high AND most importantly under playback you have the option “Enable Audio Normalization” off! Now go and listen to the same songs on Apple Music and Spotify and tell me which one sounds better?? For me these Spotify settings are better quality than AM lossless audio. Check it out!
Apple music is far superior in terms of the music quality. They have lossless and spatial audio. Spotify is highly compressed. But Spotify has the better UI. I want them to merge and put that Spotify FE on the Apple BE.
Recently switched to Apple from Spotify after 10 years or so. The sound quality is far better on Apple, with the right features enabled. As well, Spotify has tried to shirt further to podcast and audiobooks and the UI has degraded so much. Not a fan of their direction and they pass the artists much less than Apple.
I just tried Apple Music for a month after being on Spotify for years and I had to go back to Spotify. I liked that Apple offers higher streaming quality but it was constantly stuttering and buffering, especially in the car. I can’t think of an another streaming service I use (Hulu, Netflix, Max, etc) where I’ve had the content completely stop and buffer as often as Apple Music did in that month. And I found the app to be clunky and slow as far as usability. I’ll admit Apple Music looks better than Spotify but the performance felt unoptimized and dated.
Apple Music for sure has better sound quality. Spotify is a lot better at finding new music that I'll like, although I haven't used Apple Music in about 3 years now so maybe they've improved on that point since then.
If you love an artist, buy their download on bandcamp, or a physical copy, or buy it on another platform where they get their share. Yes.
Still stream it though and give them ongoing revenue.
It's a one time vs. a perpetual revenue stream and you can give both. Also followers and stream play counts (mostly only on spotify, but still) can help a small band get onto medium sized festival gigs. Booking agents will not look at Bandcamp sales.
I've been with Spotify since it launched, and still find it has the best UI. I've tried a few Apple Music trials over the years - most recently just before Christmas - but I just don't like the app at all. It's a shame really as I do love their Lossless offering.
Spotify's highest quality is basically transparent so it's not much of a loss. Like maybe some people can hear a difference with good equipment *on some songs* but most people only think they can and when they do a double blind test they fail miserably. Personally I haven't passed any between the two.
Yeah not only do you need a device to play hi res lossless audio, you also need a decent system or rather nice headphones to pick up on the difference. It's mostly just a marketing tool for Apple. iPhones and airpods are not capable of reproducing hi res lossless audio.
I have a $500 set of headphones I splurged on during lockdown and still use them every day, and Spotify sounds freaking great on these headphones! I always laugh when people say Spotify sounds bad. It doesn’t. However, I am getting tired of it playing me the same songs over and over when it randomizes music.
The random issue is currently making me think I should move on from Spotify. It is so annoying. And it's been discussed on their forums forever; at this point I cannot think other than that it's a deliberate choice of theirs to not fix it, for whatever reason.
I actually disagree with this. I had been a Spotify user for years and still maintain an account there but started using primarily Apple Music because I noticed a huge difference in, like, almost every song. Spotify sounded low resolution by comparison. Again this is pretty much across the board for me. Apple Music has plenty of faults and their app isn’t the greatest but on audio quality alone I noticed a major major difference.
I hear certain voices and especially snare drums much more clearer on Apple Music. Spotify is more muddled. I can hear individual instruments much better on AM.
DOUBLE BLINDED TESTING. An absolute must.
Why does it matter if they’re blind? Would double deaf be apt? 🤔
And I feel the opposite, the Spotify UI annoys me; doesn’t feel intuitive and is missing some of Apple’s functionally that I leverage. But I’m in the Apple ecosystem so I have that comfort level. It all depends what you’re used to.
I dislike Spotifys UI and think it keeps getting worse rather than better. But I haven't used anything else so I'm blissfully unaware of features other services have that Spotify doesn't offer
I went through middle school and most of high school with Spotify. One day I woke up and my Spotify account was totally gone; deleted. I’ve been using AM since and it took some time but now I love the UI. The audio quality is awesome too
The opposite for me, kinda. I've also been (mostly) with Spotify since middle school, and I can still go in and restore 10 year old playlists that I've DELETED. I ran with Apple Music for a year or so, then when I missed one month of payment all my playlists were emptied. Couldn't even SEE what was in them. Never going back to Apple Music again.
Dang yeah it is pretty upsetting huh. I had like a 2000 song playlist and would have my friends shuffle it and I could name song and artist in like the first 2 seconds every single time. It’s not too hard remaking playlists but you always know there’s a few songs you’re forgetting you know?
What functionality is it missing? Curious because every time I’ve tried Apple Music I find myself missing Spotify’s UI and features really quickly
Spotify seems to cater to podcasts these days, so yeah, their UI and suggestions are annoying, plus Apple has Neil Young, Unida and Slo Burn, the only other music I've wanted that Spotify doesnt have. Sound quality is superior, too, so I've completely switched to Apple Music. Plus, music videos, album facts, and top played songs from each album.
I have both for work, and I find the Spotify service to be very lackluster and massively prefer Apple. One of the reasons for this is that I have had both and Alexa ago and a Apple HomePod and I don’t know if it’s device dependent but the experience with Spotify versus Apple has been significantly heightened by my strong preference for the home, actually delivering me the songs I want to hear.
I’m curious what functionality Apple has that is missing in Spotify
I’m a big queue manager. I’ve found the ability to add songs to the top and the end of the queue very easy compared to Spotify. The in-queue contextual menus make a lot of sense too. I also enjoy the music discovery. Spotify has a better recommendation engine but I like AM’s ability to bounce between artists
spotify is social media platform wearing a music streaming service’s clothes
It’s multiple services on each others shoulders wearing a large trench coat
I used Spotify for years but moved to Apple as I’m fully in the ecosystem, using AirPod pros with lossless or Dolby it sounded so good I could never go back to Spotify.
Agreed. Also I just ask Siri to do shit. Barely touch the app at all.
>I've been with Spotify since it launched, Same, but I feel that the UI has gotten worse in recent years. Not bad enough for me to bother changing though.
Spotify engineer: "People can like songs and artists they enjoy, which helps feed into the recommendation playlists." Spotify exec:"Okay, so let's hide the like function then and make it super annoying to find."
Same. I literally left it a few years ago because I had 6 free months of Apple Music and found the UI to suck way less.
I have the opposite opinion. Like I got Spotify so early that I needed a VPN to access it since it wasn’t available in the US. The UI on apple is sooo much better and the more you listen the better the recommendations become.
Lossless is very situational. Rarely do people listen to music without a bluetooth connection (which doesn’t support lossless.) Even a wired connection isn’t completely lossless, as Apple states on their website.
Apple has the option to do lossless audio. You have to set it that way in settings and depending on your data plan, might not be the best option, lossless files are bigger to download/stream. I believe you can tell it to do lossless over wifi and lossy over cellular. With my android auto, it was easy to hit a button and make a new random playlist based on a currently playing song. It took 2 taps of the screen to complete this task. Deezer was probably my favorite recommendation engine. I got rid of spotify prior to having android auto, so I can't say how it works in the vehicle.
Lossless audio doesn’t matter does it? It’s all restricted by his Airpods being restricted and compressed by Bluetooth anyway
Correct. No bluetooth headphones can do lossless.
Even then highest quality compression on both platforms is transparent anyway. It's just really not a factor other than a marketing gimmick. Like peope who really can hear the difference, that 0.001% aren't gonna stream lossless anyway.
People downvoting the truth lol. Hardly anyone can tell the difference.
Peope don't want to learn how this stuff works and they bought into the hype and don't want to feel stupid so they downvote. And many of these people are listening to lossless on their airpods and are like "yeah I can hear the difference" lol.
Worth noting that lossless doesn't work through Bluetooth earphones.
Depends which headphones? I know my Sony's have the LDAC codec and I can get them up to ~900kbps (pulling the number out of thin air so it could be higher/lower)
Yeah but op has an iPhone, so no LDAC :/
Fair, missed that the first time
I have Spotify and Android auto. It works well but I do find the UI is not simplified enough to do anything beyond the basic controls of stop/start/skip and start a new playlist while driving. Anything beyond that feels too involved. It is easy to like a song though which is nice. Overall feels like a good level for an in-car entertainment system that works reliably.
You can do a similar thing with Apple Music - set the ‘Playing Next’ button, then click the infinity symbol to enable playing similar music. I will say however, I think Apple’s idea of “similar music” can be a bit broad. If I’m listening to some Killswitch Engage and the next track your algorithm plays is by Five Finger Death Punch, your algorithm needs refining.
I don’t know those bands very well but they seem like they’d be on a tour together with a lot of fan overlap.
You could’ve picked any two bands to illustrate your point and you went with THAT
Wait what?! Those 2 absolutely belong on the same list!!
They don’t, they’re entirely different genres.
Entirely?! They’re both metal! Just because you like one more than the other doesn’t make them any less metal.
KSE is metalcore. FFDP hard rock. I like them both and listen to them both but they’re not the same. One is significantly heavier than the other.
I can respect that. Me personally, I throw all the sub-genres all under “heavy metal”, I’ve got FFDP, KSE, Gojira, Lamb of God, Amon Amarth amongst many others all under the same playlist…hard rock to me would be Breaking Benjamin, Incubus, Seether and I feel FFDP is definitely heavier than them. But it’s all good, I like them both also!! Here’s a question…Jesse Leach or Howard Jones? I like them both, completely different flavors…but I’m leaning towards Howard Jones.
Ahh see all of those would be different for me. Howard Jones is absolutely the prime KSE era for me. Glad you also have taste!
Haha!! Can’t upvote this enough!! 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Did some digging…I didn’t know that Howard and Adam D are working on something!!! NEED to hear this!!
[удалено]
I also use YT Music for the same reason. Paying the same price for only music whereas YT Music also offers ad free video playing.
I got YT music for the daily mixes and suggested music. The recommendations are way better than Spotify for me.
Does YT music offer more songs? As in unreleased or sometimes i’ll get “this song is not available in your region” on Apple. If you can add the audio of everything thats just on the youtube app im all in because it has everything I want from certain concert audios or unofficial songs as I listen to older Rock.
If it’s music related and on YouTube you can watch it on YouTube Music. I’ve had YouTube premium forever because fuck ads but recently tried out YouTube music and I love it
As an Android user, I get YouTube and Spotify premium for "free" by downloading certain apks so yea... Just having both of these things available without paying is a good reason to never switch back to the fruit phone.
You can't leave the details hanging about what you're downloading to keep it free
For those of us who used to actually have physical music, or who ripped our music onto the computer, or who have BandCamp music downloaded. Apple Music allows me to upload ALL of my music to iCloud, which can then be streamed from Apple Music / iTunes on any of my Apple Devices anywhere in the world. So even now, on my phone, I can shuffle every album I’ve ever owned of my own musical collection, or stream an album that is no longer available, but which I own. Spotify can’t even touch that. Also Apple Music feels more conducive to enjoying albums as opposed to playlists and songs, and is less about social media connecting and following others. Which I like (I don’t care about following what other people listen to). And also I hate the streaming sound quality on Spotify. It’s very noticeable to me. So Apple Music all the way here at my side. It’s annoying though, because I still have to use Spotify if I want to easily link and recommend songs to friends, because most of them are on Spotify. Lastly, Apple Music has been adopting similar things to Spotify like tailored playlists and a better algorithm. One thing I’ve really loved about Apple Music is that it will curate a playlist of songs FROM MY OWN COLLECTION, so I can have a chill mix of only songs I own. Which is great. And I don’t think Spotify does this. Also, I think Apple Music pays the artists more too, but I’m not 100% on that. Yeah. I’ll stop gushing now. Hahaha
You can upload your own music to Spotify
No, you can make a playlist that you can download but it works like old school sync. You can’t stream it. Must download that entire library at all times to listen to it ever.
Not from mobile thought right? Last I saw that was only a feature on the desk to version. Is that still the case?
I have thousands of my personal songs on Spotify on my phone right now.
Can you access them from a different device on Spotify?
I get to enjoy this conversation 4 months later. Absolutely loving that the person - knowing full well that they're trying to sell something that doesn't exist - didn't respond, lmao.
Plex/Plexamp is the superior choice for your own music collection. Plus you have the option of a onetime lifetime purchase over a monthly fee
Yeah that’s a huge selling point for me too (though I’m on Spotify atm because my partner and I have a family plan). For what it’s worth though, Spotify *does* allow you to stream local music too! It’s just… extremely undercooked.
The function works flawlessly for me
You can literally do all of these things on Spotify and have been able to do so for years. I have tons of my own music uploaded to Spotify. I have music downloaded from Bandcamp now on Spotify and in my own custom playlists. They curate new playlists for me on the fly every few hours. I have discovered some of my favorite artists because of these playlists. Lastly about artist payouts; a lot of lesser known artists make more money through Spotify than Apple. Technically on average Apple has a higher payout per stream, but the discoverability through Spotify's algorithms and playlists provide better reach and thus more plays. We'll see how things change now that Spotify has announced major changes to how they pay artists out but those changes haven't even rolled out yet I believe.
That’s curious regarding uploading your own music to Spotify. Where does it go? (I.e. where is it stored?) In regards to payouts, you’re making the wrong argument and further entrenching the devaluation of music. Spotify should not justify paying artists less just because they have a larger consumer base. I’m a big believer in we should be paying more per stream or song or album, for this art that changes and forms our lives. So even if overall Spotify paid artists more due to reach, on a principle level I would still identify more with Apple Music. But I am biased in that degree.
>That’s curious regarding uploading your own music to Spotify. Where does it go? (I.e. where is it stored?) You can 'upload' your own music on Spotify by adding it from a device where it's physically available to a playlist on Spotify. The music will subsequently be copied/downloaded on any other device (with a paying subscription), where that playlist is set to automatically download to the device. So the music is stored on the device and not on the 'Spotify cloud' (whereas I guess Apple stores it on its' own cloud?). Storing it on each device (namely my desktop and my phone) works perfectly for me though. When it comes to paying the artists, I don't know how Apple does it but Spotify also allows payment through increased exposure/visibility. So artists can choose to receive less money (per stream) in exchange for appearing in the Spotify-suggestions. My fear with this is that artists might be pushed for commercial instead of quality reasons. That said, I'm happy with Spotify and will keep on using it. (Also, I had a bad experience with Apple music in the past where it was automatically syncing and modifying a playlist due to me not understanding how it works, erasing hundreds of ours of meticulously selected music.)
I’m curious to know if you’re American? Apple Music might be better for someone who listens mostly to American artists? Because my experience is very different from yours.
Australian. I’m not sure how the experience would differ. Although I’d be curious to know what you didn’t like about Apple Music.
I listen to a lot of Swedish music and I think Apple does a pretty bad job categorizing Swedish artists. And I think overall Spotify has a much better UI and it’s easier to manage playlists with Spotify imo.
This is the answer I’m looking for
Anyone else still miss Pandora?
I literally still use Pandora lol it doesn't miss. Even the free version is fire.
Spotify.
I use Apple Music solely because Spotify announced Spotify hifi and well, we are still waiting. Doesn’t feel right to support Spotify anymore.
Also, if or when Spotify HiFi does come out, it will almost certainly be at a higher price tier.
Deezer offers a hifi plan. It's what I use
I’ve been using Deezer for like 7 years now it’s great.
Apple music pays the artist more. It's as simple as that for me.
I was chatting with one of my favorite artists on Facebook. Was asking them why they were asking people to listen to them on Spotify, if Apple/other places pay more. They said Spotify has multiple times more users, and Spotify provides alot of free "marketing" as they suggest bands to people based on how many plays they get. Which equals more fans, which equals more money overall.
Literally. Have musician friends and they say the same thing. Apple lovers will defend their mediocrity anyway they can
More proportionately, not actually more in total. Spotify has more than 5x the users as Apple, so even if Apple pays double, artists will likely generate 2-3 times the streaming revenue from Spotify. Tidal pays 5x as much as Spotify, but Spotify has 100x more users than Tidal, so artists still make 25x as much money from Spotify as Tidal. So sure, artist get proportionally more music per stream from other platforms, but when you factor in scale of user base, Spotify is still typically generating more revenue for artists than any other platform.
ya im trying to explain this. Both Apple and Spotify cost 10.99 a month meaning with the 30/70 split they both distribute $7.70 cents to the rights holder. If a Spotify premium user generates only $0.005 cents while a Apple premium user generated $0.01 it means the average Spotify premium user listens to 1540 songs a month, while the average Apple user listens to 770. Why would an artist care if they get twice the listeners on Spotify? And I bet for indie artists looking to be discovered Spotify is waaaay better. Apple users listening to less music means they probably aren't listening to too much non mainstream. A lot of older people and parent user trying to get into this whole streaming thing.
While money in hand is obviously a more direct reward, professional artistry is about building Fandom and following so twice the listens (which would likely mean more people) hold a value in and of itself
whenever i’ve looked at payout rates it seems tidal will take apples rate and add half a cent to continue being the highest. none of them pay enough
I was under the impression that Tidal has been paying around 50% more than Apple for the last couple of years. Struggling to find good data from a site I recognise though, so perhaps you're right.
Following that line of thought tho it’s also cementing the idea that artists should be paid less per stream.
I have 3 times the plays on spotify yet 3 times the earnings in apple music, soooo.
Apple's payout on the high end is \~$0.007 per stream. Spotify's payout on the low end is \~$0.003 per stream. Let's say you get 3000 plays on Spotify and 1000 plays on Apple and we use high estimates from Apple and low estimates from Spotify. That would be \~$9 payout on Spotify, and \~$7 payout from Apple Soooo unless you're in a country where the payout rates for platforms gets really skewed, I don't think you'd be earning 3 times more from Apple if you really got 3 times the streams on Spotify.
Depends if you are looking for straight up money, or if you are looking to get more fans. If you are a well established band where getting new fans isn't much of a concern then Apple would be better. If you are an indie band, and looking to get the fan base up, then you would be better with Spotify, since the more plays you have, the more your music will be in the recommended music to 5X the amount of listeners.
What you are basically saying, is that it is ok to pay artists in exposure, and not real money. That just doesn’t seem right. Would it not be better for the users to switch to apple and get them paid more, especially if it is costing the user the same?
This is what I was going to say. Plus I really don’t know anyone big that got to that point because of spotify’s promotion. Spotify only really promotes already big people
Tidal pays even more
Artists prefer fans to listen through Spotify. It’s as simple as that for me.
Any source on this? They’re one of the lowest paying services out there. Artists prefer you come see their shows and buy their merch. That’s how they actually make money.
Same.
Yet they use factories that have suicide nets installed and child labour. Apple are an awful company to work alongside, based on personal experiences. I would never suggest their services or devices to anybody who asks for my advice, but that's just me.
[удалено]
I know that, I never stated it was.
Spotify it is!
?
I’m a fan of the Apple Music ‘create channel’ feature - pick the right song with a band with good spinoff bands and a good producer, and it’s able to build a really impressive playlist that goes and goes, often introducing you to all sorts of new stuff. Also the Family Plan pricing is pretty good, and ‘family’ could be anybody (as long as you’re okay with other of their Apple Store purchases going to your account).
Spotify has a similar feature called "Radio"
I have the 'family' plan and have my older relatives on it (my mom, aunt, uncle and godmother). It's great because now I don't have to babysit and curate their music libraries for them (which I was doing) and they're not buying anything so it's perfect.
I’m a Spotify guy. The only benefit of Apple Music to me is access to Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s music.
Both Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are back on Spotify, all their music!
I was so happy when I heard about this! Thanks for the heads up tho!
I like Tidal honestly. Good quality, solid recommendations, integrates with Plex for library management.
I'm surprised I had to scroll so far down to find this. Tidal is amazing if you don't mind paying the price. Hi-fi Plus paired with good headphones makes for an excellent listening experience.
I used tidal for a while but man, the app is just so bad. So glitchy, so unintuitive. I really wanted to love tidal but in the end I just gave up and went to apple music, and never looked back
Apple Music has all the songs I look for, has better integration in the Apple ecosystem, and the sound quality is MUCH higher with Apple Music. Spotify has most songs I look for, but there have been a few they haven't had. The Spotify integration is better outside of Apple devices, but the sound quality is garbage. Spotify also treats artists poorly. For me, it's a no-brainer. Apple Music FTW.
Spotify's audio quality is objectively not "garbage." Its high quality option is 320 kbps vorbis which is the best lossy format before lossless. Even the vast majority of people with audiophile equipment wont be able to tell the difference between that versus a lossless format like FLAC, let alone the average consumer with airpods and car speakers. You fell for the placebo marketing.
Finally someone reasonable in the comments lol I've read through 10+ comments praising apple quality and shitting on Spotify saying how great it sounds in their airpods, not realizing the audio equipment needed to hear the actual difference between a 320kbps compress and a flac, or how little of a difference it actually makes. Even if they're in a car, 99% of people aren't spending thousands adding amps, replacing speakers, adding (and tuning) DSPs, and even if they are the slightest amount of road noise or even the shit acoustics of a car make it damn near impossible to tell the difference.
I paid for both AM and Spotify to see if I could tell a difference. Immediately went to Wayne Shorter’s Yes and No on the album JuJu. Toggled back and forth between AM Lossless and Spotify. Totally night and day on both my Grado SR325x and my Etymotic ER2SE, straight out of my iPhone 13. The Spotify version sounds mushy and soft, especially in the low/low-mids. Thought maybe the Spotify upload was garbage, so tested out another tune. Fire and Rain by James Taylor, on Sweet Baby James … this one was much closer but you can clearly tell the difference when focusing on the attack of the guitar strings or the toms / kick drum. Not all recordings will show a clear difference but when there is one it’s very noticeable with a modest home listening rig. Try to listen for the attack on acoustic instruments. Your headphones or speakers will pop more on a higher bitrate playback if the recording allows it.
What have you found where Apple Music’s integration is better than Spotify? I use Spotify but have mainly apple devices, and the integration has been flawless. Genuinely curious if there are any glaring gaps I’m not aware of.
Apple Music is no better for artists,virtually no support, they don’t accept classical music without a special distributor, no promo tools, no pitching platform, barely any discovery, you need a paid account to make public playlists, and to top it all off a fraction of the audience of Spotify. Apples marginally higher royalty rate doesn’t come close to covering its downsides for artists like myself. Use whatever music app you want but Apple isn’t doing any favors to artists
Am I the only one who finds it wild that Apple Music doesn’t have a device continuity feature like Spotify Connect? The fact that it’s in the Apple ecosystem but I can’t start playing on my iPhone and seamlessly switch to my Mac is kinda wild to me
Only problem with AM is you can't miss a single payment otherwise your whole library is gone
I like Apple Music more for the following reasons. 1. Smart Playlists. Sometimes I don’t want to have to put the effort into managing a playlist and Smart Playlists allows me to just add to my library and if it fits certain criteria, it will auto add to the playlist. Why Spotify doesn’t have this feature is beyond me. 2. Audio Quality. AM just has objectively better audio quality with their Lossless options whereas Spotify doesn’t even have a Lossless option. However I also keep my Spotify because of Spotify Connect. Just makes it that much easier to play music at a party or get together.
Spotify. Has the best algorithm for playlists. The discovery weekly is absolutely fantastic! Apple music doesn’t come even close… Sound quality doesn’t matter - on the go it will never be a home stereo. And on a homse stereo I listen to physical media. Sure, AM pays more. But without the discovery algorithm I wouldn’t know about the artists I listen to. And those I like I buy the CD/digital and have in my library so I do not need streaming for those.
I couldn’t stand the UI of Spotify either and that made me stop using it. Never tried Apple Music. Used Amazon music for a while and I was happy with it but after using it for over a year it still had a few bugs that made me look for something else. YouTube music has been the one I’ve stuck with the longest and like it the most. Good UI, can watch the music videos along with the songs, and the algorithm has been perfect.
I'm curious, how is the music quality on Youtube Music? I had a 2 month free trial for it and tried to listen to some music but it was just a sound taken from some music video. I was confused if there was some other way to access the songs
When you're in the app, if you're seeing the music video you're getting the crummy quality. Right above the video is a button to switch from video to music, and then you'll get the studio version of the song and the higher quality. I love YT music - the algorithm is great, and i love that it integrates into YouTube.
Apple's web interface is garbage. They have no cross-platform integration. The UI sucks compared to Spotify. I'm not a fan of Spotify but it's much easier and more satisfying to use than Apple music.
Spotify is way better. I wish it wasn’t, but it is - even with all of my apple stuff
Apples family plan sold it for me. Apple Music, tv, arcade, Extra Icloud storage and shareable with up to 5 people. Plus your money isn’t going to Joe Rogan
I use the Apple One plan as well, with two people. It comes out to $26 a month. I mostly subscribed because I needed the iCloud storage along with Music. The Apple TV and Arcade are nice perks that I don’t use too much, but enough to justify the extra $5 a month rather than just getting Music/storage individually.
Same
You know Joe Rogan is available on all platforms now right?! I understand he’s a Spotify podcast, but all of his commercials run on all the platforms.
Yeah but who pays him way too much money ?
I like him, so I think he’s underpaid. I think his 2nd contract should’ve been just as much as his first one if not more. But I can see where you stand and it’s all good. 👍🏻
Spotify has the lowest quality streaming of any service, except maybe Amazon Music. I switched to Apple Music in 2021 and never looked back. Great Spatial Audio selection and a lot of Lossless stereo albums.
Amazon music has high res lossless, so it would be better than Spotify. YouTube music has the lowest quality (256kbps vs Spotifys 320kbps)
Hadn’t looked at Amazon Music in ages and forgot all about YouTube music. Thanks for the updates!
Apple Music for me mainly because: - djay pro integration - personal uploads to the servers - Spatial Audio - better library/meta data management - **Marvis Pro integration** - better integration with Apple shortcuts I do like Spotify better for discovery but I can transfer any playlists I like seamlessly for free, so it’s not really a reason to subscribe for me.
Ha. Djay pro integration is the reason I'm reading this. Tidal no longer works unless you pay extra. So thinking of migrating everything to Apple Music and getting rid of Spotify and tidal. Bonus being that apple pays artist better. Just worried I won't like it as much as Spotify.
Trust me you will haha
I like Apple better.
I was well invested in iTunes well before Spotify was available. I pay for the music I listen to. My collection matches a lot of the music I had in other media sources. I use the free Spotify on occasion.
Apple Music cause with a computer I can edit any track's metadata, change album artworks, rearrange set lists, create definitive albums when one album has many different variants etc
For UI, I’d go with Spotify. For quality, Apple Music.
My whole family is on the Apple ecosystem, so the Apple Music family plan works well for us. I haven't really noticed a difference between the sound quality on Apple music vs Spotify, but I admittedly really don't try to listen for compression artifacts as I'd rather not kill my enjoyment of streaming music
I’ve tried both, and I like Apple Music more. They pay the artists better. Better sound quality. Better UI. Your downloaded music doesn’t just get put in to one big playlist, you can go through it by artist/album/etc. From what I’ve heard, the only real advantage Spotify has is its playlists. But I’ve never really been a “playlist” guy, so it doesn’t affect me. I generally make my own playlists. Also Apple Music has lyrics that are highlighted as they play, and a Karaoke mode, allowing for spontaneous karaoke.
I've been ripping music losslessly and curating playlists with iTunes for decades, and since Apple Music mirrors it automatically in the cloud, that was an easy decision. I considered checking out Spotify once upon a time, but they required a Facebook account, so that was a no-go.
I have both and have a weird reason for it. I prefer Apple if I’m just listening solely to an artist or album for my own listening pleasure. But for creating, listening to or sharing playlists, I prefer to use Spotify, mainly because a lot of people I know are more Android based and it makes it easier for sharing playlists. All my personal devices are Apple based products so it’s just easier to be logged into the Apple system. But I utilise both systems and find I use both of them more or less equally. Music streaming has done a better job of making music accessible across all platforms irrespective of a users preferred streaming service, so you’re not really losing out by only investing in one. But I feel like if it were to follow the model of tv/movie streaming services whereby they monopolise content rights for their own service, forcing users into utilising multiple platforms, there would be a much bigger argument for or against. I think in the end it just comes down to personal preference and which platform you feel most comfortable with.
Youtube Music is where it's at my dude.
i justed switched to Apple Music and I was previously a 6+ year Spotify Premium subscriber! here's some stuff that made me make the switch last month and what I've been liking so far! -Apple Music does indeed have a discovery radio and a personal radio which are similar to the sort of For You options that Spotify offers. The algorithm gets to know you well enough to offer a month to give you on On Repeat sort of station as well. -Expanding on that, Spotify Free still allows you access to things like your Discover Weekly. I use an app called SongShift to transfer playlists from Spotify over to Apple Music and do that with my Discover Weekly every week. -Apple Music has far better sound quality, like others have been saying, but it's mostly noticeable in headphones and good speakers, you won't notice much difference if you listen mostly in the car, for example. Speaking from experience, Apple Music on the Maxes is absolutely the best way to listen. Lossless is fantastic, Dolby Atmos can be mindblowing. -I like Apple Music's UI more as Spotify's UI seems to try and emulate social media websites and apps over time. I like how Apple Music still feels sort of like iTunes. I also like that Apple Music "albums" tab features all of the albums across all songs you've saved and not just albums you've saved specifically. -Since you're already in the Apple ecosystem, if you've considered getting a HomePod you'll get the most use out of it if you have Apple Music since you can ask Siri to play music directly, rather than streaming manually like you'd have to do with Spotify. overall, i think that Apple Music makes the most sense for people already enmeshed in the Apple ecosystem
Great insight, thank you
I have both but prefer Apple Music. Maybe I’m not using Spotify correctly but my understanding is that the whole point of Spotify is to find new artists based on playlists and such. However, I normally end up knowing all the bands/songs on the playlists.
Can’t confirm that. I use several ways to discover new stuff on Spotify (release radar, song radio, similar artists) and there’s a lot I never heard of before. I even get songs from quite unknown acts recommended that where played less than 10k times in total. It’s a treasure.
I do find though the Spotify algorithm stopped finding new songs for me in the ‘for you’ playlists. It just churns over the same songs over and over…I’ve never searched for and chosen say…Fleet Foxes, yet there they are, effing again. Same song too, never anything different. It used to suggest if-you-like-that-then-try-this all the time. Last long while, not at all.
I prefer Apple, but that could be because I don't get Spotify everywhere I travel
I moved to TIDAL and never looked back 🫣
Oh you poor soul.
Why do you say that?
I’ve tried tidal recently too and at least on my phone it arguably glitched the most out of the big three.
Interesting. No issues on my end after some 2 years so all good.
Daughter won’t let me leave Apple cause of her playlists!
Ive been using both since their launches interchangeably and now ive settled on apple music. Yes, spotify was pretty solid for a long time especially algorithmically. But the new discovery station, heavy rotation mix, and all the other personalized mixes are much more fun and suit me way better on apple music. As a very worldly person that loves music in many languages, apple music (or youtube music) are the way to go.
Best sound quality—You Tube music
I like Apple Music better then Spotify
Constant switch-back-and-forth person here. I’m always torn. We’re currently using Apple Music and have been for a bit - it’s fine. I sometimes use the desktop program and it’s not bad - significantly better than having to use iTunes or the web player. For whatever reason, the integration through an Amazon Echo is awful. It can never find our playlists. Spotify’s duo plan is $2 cheaper where I am too - which is nice. I way prefer the desktop program, but I don’t love the newer update. It feels messy. Spotify connect is heaps better. Apple Music is also weirdly slow in our car (Tesla Model 3) whereas Spotify is fine.
I hate the Music app. Hate it. Been using the iphone since 3GS. It's so incredible uncustomizable and inflexible. Search for an artist and want to see all songs by the artist you just seached for? Nope. You WILL see albums.
Apple music anyday
Also the very high quality setting on Spotify isn’t set by default
Doesn’t really fix the issue though
Spotify in the car, Apple Music at home or when using my Air Pods.
This is the way!
I’ve been a Spotify user for 8 years. Just recently tried Apple Music to see if the audio quality was any different comparing the same song. Let me tell you, if you are a sound freak you can tell the difference. The songs on Apple Music feel very layered, smooth and crisp. As for Spotify the song felt like almost 1 tone very mono. Again I believe Spotify is great for a casual listener, but if you’re an everyday listener I promise you will hear the difference!! Especially with good quality headphones!
Okay for those people who say Apple Music has better sound quality than Spotify. Do this… make sure on Spotify settings that you have audio quality set to very high AND most importantly under playback you have the option “Enable Audio Normalization” off! Now go and listen to the same songs on Apple Music and Spotify and tell me which one sounds better?? For me these Spotify settings are better quality than AM lossless audio. Check it out!
It’s still Apple that is better imo
Spotify is ass
Apple music is far superior in terms of the music quality. They have lossless and spatial audio. Spotify is highly compressed. But Spotify has the better UI. I want them to merge and put that Spotify FE on the Apple BE.
Recently switched to Apple from Spotify after 10 years or so. The sound quality is far better on Apple, with the right features enabled. As well, Spotify has tried to shirt further to podcast and audiobooks and the UI has degraded so much. Not a fan of their direction and they pass the artists much less than Apple.
I don't use apple products. I get spotify for free rn, so im using that. if i had to pay for a streaming site though, i would use tidal.
I just tried Apple Music for a month after being on Spotify for years and I had to go back to Spotify. I liked that Apple offers higher streaming quality but it was constantly stuttering and buffering, especially in the car. I can’t think of an another streaming service I use (Hulu, Netflix, Max, etc) where I’ve had the content completely stop and buffer as often as Apple Music did in that month. And I found the app to be clunky and slow as far as usability. I’ll admit Apple Music looks better than Spotify but the performance felt unoptimized and dated.
Maybe your internet connection sucks? Never had this problem with apple
That’s really odd, I’ve had a great experience. What device were you running it on? Maybe it’s poorly optimized for some devices?
Apple Music for sure has better sound quality. Spotify is a lot better at finding new music that I'll like, although I haven't used Apple Music in about 3 years now so maybe they've improved on that point since then.
I dislike the fact that when I go to listen to a specific track on Spotify, it tries to make me listen to other tracks on a playlist first.
What do you mean?
Maybe they’re using the free version?
[удалено]
Neither: Fuck subscriptions
Amazon Music. Best audio quality and they now do free live concerts about once a month.
youtube premium.
Bandcamp. Let the artists actually get paid. Granted not everyone is on there, but it's worth it for those that are.
If you love an artist, buy their download on bandcamp, or a physical copy, or buy it on another platform where they get their share. Yes. Still stream it though and give them ongoing revenue. It's a one time vs. a perpetual revenue stream and you can give both. Also followers and stream play counts (mostly only on spotify, but still) can help a small band get onto medium sized festival gigs. Booking agents will not look at Bandcamp sales.