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My carrier used to offer Spotify Premium subscription with my plan. Now they've switched to Apple Music, and I have to say, Spotify is much better. Apple Music's UI is terrible. Seriously, Apple, why this UI? Spotify is not perfect, but the iPhone app is much simpler to use and to navigate. And let's not even talk about the desktop app, which is even worse. But the worst part is the lack of an alternative to Spotify's Discover Weekly and Daily Mix. I miss those playlists so much.
 
Though if you ask me, Spotify is using so many trial subscriptions to pad its numbers that its no longer relevant. Start breaking out profitability and let’s see how long Spotify can still hang around at its current rate.

This. I see Spotify giving away free subs with cell phones, computers and TVs. I’ve also seen Spotify given away when you open a new bank account or sign up for certain credit cards. I expect Home Depot to start giving Spotify away when you buy a kitchen sink.
 
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So much hate for Apple Music. I think that as long as one avoids the Browse section it is pretty great.

The recommendations and selection are good, even in more obscure genres. iTunes has never bothered me much. But then I only listen to music at work and never need to “hand off” the playlist. Spotify definitely looks better in this regard.
 
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The Spotify app is useless for managing music compared to iTunes. Do they even support libraries that contain more than 10k songs yet? o_O
Turns out the limitation appears to still be there. Not to mention a limit of 3333 songs you can download (compared to 100,000 for Apple Music). That alone disqualifies Spotify for me personally. If you're serious about your music library and don't just want to stream a bunch of playlists, Spotify seems lacking at best.

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Apple Music infuriates me. Playlists suck, interface sucks. Sticking with Spotify, thanks.

I also want to encourage competition against Apple.
 
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I use Apple music. It's ok. Could be better from a UI perspective

Yah... AM on a mobile device is definitely not my favorite way to enjoy my sub, although I'll concede the UI is vastly better now than in some earlier versions.

Mostly I use Apple Music on my laptop, in a separate iTunes library, to download assorted versions of some classical work and then listen to my "options" over some period of time to decide if I want to buy a CD of one of them.

If I do pick one of them and buy it then I delete the AM downloads and rip the CD into one of my regular libraries. What ends up on any of my mobile devices from that experience, if anything, is from my purchased CD, although I do have one old iPod touch that I sometimes stick a few Apple Music downloads on, mostly contemporary music of some sort.
 
Spotify is superior in every way. Too bad Apple Music is gaining more subscribers. For many people, it’s just the default option because Apple pushes it so hard.

I could never give up the excellent music discovery on Spotify, nor could I live without Spotify Connect allowing me to seamlessly control playback from any device.

C'mon, let's not be fanboyish about this. Apple Music has 45 million songs vs 30+ million for Spotify (and both are priced the same). Objectively, AM wins hands down on the single most important metric... it also makes discoverability superior. And there's nothing more seamless than double tapping my AirPod and telling Siri to play my favorite playlist, controlling the volume on my Apple Watch and then AirPlaying it to my speakers when I get home.
 
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I tend to think that Apple should be broken up if Spotify dies at the hands of Apple Music. If anyone is rooting for Apple to win this fight, you shouldn’t be. This is anti-competitive practice and would mean that Apple has no competitor that would force them to improve Apple Music.
 
I tend to think that Apple should be broken up if Spotify dies at the hands of Apple Music. If anyone is rooting for Apple to win this fight, you shouldn’t be. This is anti-competitive practice and would mean that Apple has no competitor that would force them to improve Apple Music.
Except for Google, Amazon, Tidal, Qobuz (about to launch in the US) and others...
 
Except for Google, Amazon, Tidal, Qobuz (about to launch in the US) and others...
All those companies combined make up about 1/4 of the market share. Apple has already squashed them, Spotify is their last serious competitor.
 
I never used my apple music free trail. I prefer spotify as its much easier to use and really like the black interface.

I currently have Spotify premium family plan and Apple Music family plan. Reason i have it is because my gf has apple music and she added me to it. I must say that its only really convinient when I go out for runs as it works with the watch seamlessly.
 
I enjoyed my free trial. But not enough to keep subscribing.

Too many subscription services, so I chose not to subscribe to any.

I know I’m in the minority.

I'm with you on that. Too bad Apple Music keeps track of whom had a trial, I was hoping to re-Trial to see how it's progressed.

Spotify is superior in every way. Too bad Apple Music is gaining more subscribers. For many people, it’s just the default option because Apple pushes it so hard.

I could never give up the excellent music discovery on Spotify, nor could I live without Spotify Connect allowing me to seamlessly control playback from any device.

Yeah I couldn't live without Spotify Connect.

With Spotify, I can control the music playing from my Mac with my Apple Watch. With Apple Music, that simple action is impossible. Also I can be wearing AirPods, and switch to or from playing music on my Mac or my iPhone without ever having to open an app, go through menus, find the song I'm listening to, etc etc. It's completely seamless with Spotify, and it's such a pain with Apple Music. You'd expect it to be the other way around. Also, yes, music discovery is horrible on Apple Music compared to Spotify.

@unobtainium, and @XTheLancerX,

Both of you critique Apple in a great useful way ... yet why not submitt these gripes to Apple so that they can improve Apple Music? Most likely both of you had ... I just don't understand why Apple doesn't have a Q&A to listen to great customers that no longer are of their Music service to improve it.
 
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“Playlists suck”? Playlists are a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Perhaps you don’t know how to use them?
I didn’t mean playlists in general suck (I love Spotify’s playlists) but I simply didn’t enjoy Apple’s curation nearly as much as Spotify. I think Spotify has a much wider scope and selection for their playlists.
 
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Assumes anyone wants it. I’d guess they’d want the customers, but Apple can just slowly erode their business over time too.

Spotify is the market leader. Google has had a hard time penetrating the market because most Android users choose Spotify. Of course Google wants it.
 
Can you give some arguments to such statement (particularly define 'every') or should we take your word for granted?
I guess you didn’t read the rest of my post either? Okay, here are some specifics:
- higher quality stream (kbps)
- Spotify Connect lets you control playback from any device
- music discovery algorithms are far better (sorry but you’d just have to try Release Radar and Discover Weekly to see the difference)
- free option if that’s your thing (it’s certainly not mine)
- a bunch of fun little features that make Spotify so worth it, including yearly playlists summarizing your most listened to songs, etc. It’s the details that matter
- Again, because it bears repeating: discovery, discovery, discovery.
 
Spotify do not have AppleTV or Apple Watch apps.

I know they are both Apple devices, but just like the iPhone, they are platforms which are open for 3rd-party Apps. Apple Music offers a better overall package for me because it includes native Apps for those devices.
 
I have trouble believing this. Free users still are bringing in income because of ad-revenue. Probably a lot of the revenue comes from that alone. Then you have premium users.


Spotify's has lost hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, and is being kept afloat by VC investors who are hoping to get out and get their money back in an IPO. Problem is that Spotify has only the one source of revenue, but huge competitors who can afford to offer music, e.g., Amazon, Google and Apple, as an add on.

If you think profit picture is bad for Spotify now, watch what happens when Apple eventually also incorporates Apple Music into a combined entertainment service package with music, video and more at a great price. Again, Spotify investors know this and are increasingly anxious to get IPO out to get their money and run.
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Technically Spotify has more of a hardware advantage, considering they can run on virtually any hardware (Playstations, computers, tvs, etc etc). Apple Music is more restricted.


"Technically," yes, but not in any material or meaningful sense.
 
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Spotify is the market leader. Google has had a hard time penetrating the market because most Android users choose Spotify. Of course Google wants it.
Everything is price driven. They may want it, but not at any price. It’s a small business as a standalone for Apple and Google. They are so big.
 
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