Head 2 Head
Spotify or Apple Music?
March 25, 2022
Spotify and Apple Music have dominated the music streaming market for the past couple years now, and have released new features to keep putting one in front of the other. But what option is better to listen to music on, Apple Music or Spotify? Staff Writers MacKenzie Jadick and Peter Beardsley argue their personal preference regarding music streaming services.
Spotify, the more personalized streaming service
The quality that sets Spotify from Apple Music is the level of personalization. The app provides users with multiple individualized playlists to fit everyone’s different moods. The app has multiple features to help users find new music they love.
I switched to Spotify simply because of the song recommendations option.
— Staff Writer MacKenzie Jadick
The home page of the app provides the user with their top played playlist and podcast for quick access. Unlike the other top streaming app, Apple Music provides very little opportunity for users to expand their own personal playlists.
As an old user of Apple Music I switched to Spotify simply because of the song recommendations option. Spotify has an area below each playlist with multiple songs similar in style and genre for an easy way to build your playlist. The app provides playlist in categories such as “New releases for you,” giving the user constant new songs.
The Spotify app is available on all different devices unlike Apple Music is only available to iPhone users. This not only limits who can use the app but also who you can share your playlists with.
The Spotify app allows users to use the app without paying for the Premium subscription. The app allows account holders to create playlists and listen to music without paying, unlike Apple Music, which also does not allow iPhone users to access any music without a subscription.
Being able to explore the app before paying for the subscription and the level of personalization the app provides make Spotify the better music streaming service.
Apple Music, the superior streaming service
The three things I look for in a good music streaming service are simplicity, ease of use, and audio quality. Apple Music offers all of those.
The organization makes Apple Music easy to use.
— Staff Writer Peter Beardsley
Apple Music is simple and easy to use. The overall structure of the streaming service is user friendly, clean, and much less crowded compared to its competitor, Spotify.
When you open up Apple Music you are greeted by a list of options for albums, songs, artists, and playlists. Below that you have everything that you have recently added in your library. It is so simple to navigate where your music is when compared to the convoluted start screen of Spotify.
On top of the easy way to navigate your Music Library, the other features that Apple Music offers are extremely useful. Apple Radio allows you to listen to station genres and creates a radio station specifically for you. In the “Browse” tab, you can see new releases on Apple Music and the top songs in your area and the country.
“Listen Now” shows playlists that Apple makes for you like “New Music Mix,” “Chill Mix,” and “Favorites mix.” On top of that they have a playlist called “Friends Mix” that shows you any songs your Apple Music friends are listening to.
Most importantly with all those features it is just simple. The organization makes Apple Music easy to use.
New to Apple Music is its biggest feature to date. Spatial Audio and Lossless. These features have improved the sound quality for listeners with absolutely no additional charge. Spotify users are paying the same price as Apple Music for lower quality sound.
Having the highest quality sound and having user-friendly features from your streaming service should be the most important factor in deciding which one to pick. If you are paying the same, why not pick the better one?