Music streaming has come a long way from the days when viruses threatened to infect your computer because of downloading songs. With music streaming apps becoming so popular, there has been a great debate on which one to commit to.
It seems like the latest Twitter beef has been the battle between Apple Music users and Spotify Premium. In order to look at who is really coming out on top, it’s best to lay out the facts.
Apple Music
In order to have Apple Music, people looking to get a subscription must be an Apple user (iPhone, Macbook, iPad, etc.) or download the iTunes app on Android or Windows devices. Subscribers pay a monthly fee of $9.99. Apple Music also offers family plans for multiple devices and users for a monthly fee of $14.99. Luckily for college students, Apple Music reduced the monthly price to only $4.99. Apple Music also offers a three month free trial for those who just want to try it out before they commit.
Like any typical music streaming app, Apple Music allows users to download music from their 45 million+ song library. Subscribers get the opportunity to customize their own playlist, and on lazy days it generates a favorites mix and new music mix, which are playlists that are made for you based off of your interests. Apple Music also offers the Beats 1 online radio station, where artists get to debut their new music. The latest iOS 11 allows users to add friends and have their icons appear next to albums they’re listening to. While users can pick over millions of songs to play, they have no choice in the order they get played in. Apple Music does not offer a queue or play next option, so music will either play on shuffle mode or in the order it has been put in.
Besides music, Apple music has several video options, from music videos, behind the scenes exclusives, even TV and movie options. Along with these great visuals, Apple Music also exclusively has their own version of the James Corden’s hit Carpool Karaoke series.
Spotify Premium
Just like Apple Music, Spotify has the same payment fees: $9.99 a month, $4.99 for college students and $14.99 for a family plan. However, what Spotify offers that Apple Music does not, is that subscribers can use the application for free on any device as long as they don’t mind the pesky advertisements, but even then, they always give the option to watch an additional advertisement to get up to 30 minutes of ad-free music. The downside to free streaming is that many albums and playlists automatically play on shuffle mode and there’s a limit of six skips per hour. Similar to Apple Music, Spotify Premium also has a free trial option for those with the fear of commitment, however, it’s only for one month.
Unlike Apple Music, Spotify allows users to stream music from more than just iOS devices and desktops, but is available on Amazon Alexa speakers and Google smart speakers. Another cool addition is if a device is certified as Spotify Connect Compatible, it means you can use the Spotify app as a remote to control playback. Spotify is also available across different game console devices like Xbox and PlayStation.
With over 35 million songs to choose from, Spotify Premium gives you the options to create, share and customize your own playlists and music library. Similar to Apple Music, Spotify Premium’s discover weekly and release radar playlists collect music that you haven’t listened to and newly released tracks that match your taste. Users can also watch music videos, listen to podcasts and find out which artists are currently on tour.
Spotify also has a Facebook integration feature that allows friends to track each other’s listening habits and send links to songs. With premium, users get the queue option, allowing users to pick whatever song they want and the order they want to play it in.
While music and podcasts are the main focus on Spotify, those who have the student subscription get extra perks. Recently, student Spotify Premium accounts now come with a free subscription to Hulu and Showtime.
Which is better?
Although Apple Music and Spotify Premium have several common attributes, when it comes down to convenience for all people and the amount of perks each subscription has, Spotify Premium absolutely takes the cake.
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