Apple Music vs. Spotify Compared

[darkcompass]

There's one hidden gem that people miss out, and thats the library integration with Apple Music. I have 25,000 tracks of mainly independent artists, and that's all backed up in the Apple Music Cloud with iCloud Library. About 50% of it is matched.
I know there's iTunes Match, and that does the same thing for a yearly fee, but having my library stored up there, and have access to all the new content is a bonus.

I didn't see an "existing music" sync with spotify. Does it exist?

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

I tried Apple Music a couple of times, but it doesn't even come close to Spotify in my opinion. Spotify has far better-curated playlists. They are great at finding music I prefer. I usually listen to a ton of Indie. Too much corporate stuff pushed by Apple Music and all the "New" stuff they display are same old stuff. When I go to Spotify my "Discover Weekly" playlist is filled with good stuff and hidden gems. I have yet to see Apple make a decent playlist towards my tastes.

That’s how i feel about Apple. It is less about pushing a variety a music. And more like what they want you to hear. Apple has more of a radio station approach with Apple music in that radio stations say they push different artists. And end up playing the same song over and over again every hour. And that is how Apple is. I like different types of music besides hip hop and pop. But all it recommends is: Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Travis Scott etc. Probably cause they have some deal to promote some artists above others. With Spotify it seems to push more of a variety of music for me.

 

[truthertech]

In your comparison of costs, Apple music can be quite a bit cheaper than Spotify. First, remember that Apple typically gives you a free month when you renew for a year, AND a lot of people have figured out to pay for their Apple Music with the iTunes gift cards that can be purchased at discount at places like Costco, etc., for 15% off. My monthly Apple Music bill is about $6.75 a month.

 

[friedmud]

I actually subscribe to both (they're cheap!)... but, for me, Spotify is the clear winner.

For me it's all about music discovery and no one does that better than Spotify. Whether it's "Discover Weekly" or "Release Radar" there is always something new to listen to that I'll probably like.

Their curated playlists (like "All New Indie" and "Left of Center") are always updated with fresh new talent as well.

Also: lately they added "This is" playlists... which are small playlists for a particular artist that highlight some of their best tracks. So, for instance, "This is Billie Eilish" has "my boy" and "&burn" of course... but it also has her spectacular "bury a friend" and "six feet under". It's a really great way to dive into a new artist quickly.

By comparison Apple Music is just... stale. No matter how hard I look it simply keeps coming up with playlists that are centered on "top 40ish" crap. Or: if it's not... then it won't ever get updated.

Everyone has their different tastes though. If you really just love Ariana Grande... Apple Music is probably for you
[doublepost=1551799317][/doublepost]

Don’t think it was mentioned in the article - Apple Watch integration/streaming. That cuts the deal for me.

Yep - this is one of the reasons I subscribe to both... just so I can get offline music on my Watch. I think it's coming pretty quickly with Spotify though. Their new Apple Watch app is really good (and has been updated several times already with new features)... I have to believe their finally going to allow offline play....

 

[BuffaloTF]

He wasn’t wrong as he is still correct. Streaming is contracting as people buy CDs and LPs again.

Maybe in Bizarro World. But that surely isn't happening in this reality.

Streaming sales up 42.8%. CD sales down 18.5%. They're approaching niche status, like vinyl and cassette. They're not even including them in most cars these days.

 

[question fear]

Personally I prefer spotify, but I switched to Apple Music because Verizon offers a combo deal, and because Carplay works so well with Apple music that it's just easier and safer. If I listened to music more outside of my car I might reconsider, but since 90% of my music time is hooked up to Carplay, Apple music became my best option.

 

[archer75]

Personally I prefer spotify, but I switched to Apple Music because Verizon offers a combo deal, and because Carplay works so well with Apple music that it's just easier and safer. If I listened to music more outside of my car I might reconsider, but since 90% of my music time is hooked up to Carplay, Apple music became my best option.

How so? I use spotify on carplay and it works great. How is apple music on carplay better than spotify on carplay?

My main podcast app is pocketcasts though I just tested out the apple podcast app on carplay and it's missing a key feature: it doesn't have an option to select downloaded podcasts while pocketcasts does. That make it a deal breaker for me.

 

[Nati-Yolie]

I've gotta come in on this one. Non-audio philes can hear the bit rate difference sometimes. There have been multiple occasions when I'm listening to Apple music in my car and a song will almost sounds like a crappy Napster download. Switch to spotify. Sounds great. Both having the song already offlined.

 

[kalafalas]

How do you upload your own tracks to Apple Music? I have songs in my iTunes that are not available on Apple Music. I have attempted to sync these across to the Music app, but this is not working. Everything else I’ve read around this suggests that I am unable to do this if I have Apple Music?

Mine just upload? Do you have iCloud music library enabled on both your phone and iTunes?

 

[shpankey]

I guess I'm weird. We use Amazon Music unlimited (free for now w/ prime, I think. Either that or I'm on some trial). No complaints at all and on every device out there.

 

[Defthand]

I've gotta come in on this one. Non-audio philes can hear the bit rate difference sometimes. There have been multiple occasions when I'm listening to Apple music in my car and a song will almost sounds like a crappy Napster download. Switch to spotify. Sounds great. Both having the song already offlined.

Interesting. Just curious... in both cases, are you listening to the same recording (track from album x)? As you probably know, not all recordings or album cuts are identical. Some recordings, for example, are remastered.

Otherwise, the final audio codec used for streaming purposes is the culprit.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Interesting. Just curious... in both cases, are you listening to the same recording (track from album x)? As you probably know, not all recordings or album cuts are identical. Some recordings, for example, are remastered.

Otherwise, the final audio codec used for streaming purposes is the culprit.

To add to...

You'd want the albums remastered for the format they're being presented on -- mastering is the most important part of the presentation. CDs in the 80s, for example, were incredibly loud and -- frankly -- garbage to listen to, which is where the fallacy that vinyl sounds better was born from. As it relates to digital music, AAC 256 is transparent to the lossless when listening. You'd need to watch your music on a meter to see where the losses are happening.

 

[NaimNut]

I’m stream Tidal HiFi through my Naim Uniti.

There is a difference.

Just wanted to add Tidal has an Apple TV App.
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I think apple can edge Spotify and tidal if they start streaming in lossless quality (Hi-Fi)

I was hoping Apple would purchase Tidal.

 

[BuffaloTF]

I've gotta come in on this one. Non-audio philes can hear the bit rate difference sometimes. There have been multiple occasions when I'm listening to Apple music in my car and a song will almost sounds like a crappy Napster download. Switch to spotify. Sounds great. Both having the song already offlined.

256 AAC is of higher quality than 320 mp3... the difference in that number is due to mp4 (AAC) being better at compression than mp3... you're hearing a placebo, or you're streaming and have a poor connection at that moment.

 

[JGIGS]

It's all about smart playlist after putting in so much time 5 star rating songs in itunes for so long that's why I'm sticking with AM for now.

 

[archer75]

256 AAC is of higher quality than 320 mp3... the difference in that number is due to mp4 (AAC) being better at compression than mp3... you're hearing a placebo, or you're streaming and have a poor connection at that moment.

There's more to it than that. There's a youtube video of an audio engineer(youtube channel white sea studio) comparing the services and he said apple is doing something weird with their files. And it noticeably sounded worse than spotify. This engineer also ranked spotify just below tidals lossless. Spotify is also not using MP3, it's using ogg. And at lower bitrates OGG is superior to AAC. At higher bit rates AAC should take the lead. However that isn't the case here.

There's a website that has several audio files, lossless, 320, 256, 128, etc. and you can listen and vote on which sample is what and you'll see your score at the end. Google the site I'm sure you'll find it. Anyways, I can absolutely tell a difference in the samples. Though it is really hard with 320 and lossless to tell which is which. I can still do it though. I don't care about lossless for music but I do for home theater as the difference is much greater to my ears.

 

[Liam Steven]

Regardless of which service is superior, this article is extremely Apple Music biased.

 

[BuffaloTF]

There's more to it than that. There's a youtube video of an audio engineer(youtube channel white sea studio) comparing the services and he said apple is doing something weird with their files. And it noticeably sounded worse than spotify. This engineer also ranked spotify just below tidals lossless. Spotify is also not using MP3, it's using ogg. And at lower bitrates OGG is superior to AAC. At higher bit rates AAC should take the lead. However that isn't the case here.

There's a website that has several audio files, lossless, 320, 256, 128, etc. and you can listen and vote on which sample is what and you'll see your score at the end. Google the site I'm sure you'll find it. Anyways, I can absolutely tell a difference in the samples. Though it is really hard with 320 and lossless to tell which is which. I can still do it though. I don't care about lossless for music but I do for home theater as the difference is much greater to my ears.

oh boy... youtube.

256 AAC is higher quality than 320 vorbis, technically, objectively, subjectively, measured, not measured. It covers more frequencies; since it goes to 22khz instead of 20k, meaning you have more range to capture more data. There's also websites where you can listen to the residual noise that gets dropped, more noise equals more loss... vorbis is louder in the residual, meaning more lost. At any given level, it's going to be a better quality -- almost a negligible difference at around 5%, but at a much larger gain in the amount of data to get there between 320 and 256.

To add to that, Spotify's encoding is hit-or-miss... and sometimes garbage, even when you set it to Extreme. An example audiophiles and engineers turn to as a highlight, is a Nine Inch Nails track from Broken -- Last. Spotify Extreme's vorbis will be artifacted, the AAC will not.

 

[photographypro]

One HUGE advantage of Apple Music if you're not a student, is that you can get a year for between $80 and $85, vs $9.99 a month for Spotify. Apple offers to individuals a yearly cost of $99, but Ebay often has $100 Apple gift cards for $85 and sometimes even $80, or buy 2- $50 gift cards at 15% or 20% off. Then just apply it to your account just before Apple bills you, and you get a year for a terrific price. For example, the $80 yearly price works out to $6.67 a month!

 

[jst_testing]

I actually subscribe to both (they're cheap!)... but, for me, Spotify is the clear winner.

For me it's all about music discovery and no one does that better than Spotify. Whether it's "Discover Weekly" or "Release Radar" there is always something new to listen to that I'll probably like.

Their curated playlists (like "All New Indie" and "Left of Center") are always updated with fresh new talent as well.

Also: lately they added "This is" playlists... which are small playlists for a particular artist that highlight some of their best tracks. So, for instance, "This is Billie Eilish" has "my boy" and "&burn" of course... but it also has her spectacular "bury a friend" and "six feet under". It's a really great way to dive into a new artist quickly.

By comparison Apple Music is just... stale. No matter how hard I look it simply keeps coming up with playlists that are centered on "top 40ish" crap. Or: if it's not... then it won't ever get updated.

Everyone has their different tastes though. If you really just love Ariana Grande... Apple Music is probably for you
[doublepost=1551799317][/doublepost]

Yep - this is one of the reasons I subscribe to both... just so I can get offline music on my Watch. I think it's coming pretty quickly with Spotify though. Their new Apple Watch app is really good (and has been updated several times already with new features)... I have to believe their finally going to allow offline play....

I like the “dark” interface of Spotify in general. If the rumors are true and the next iOS update gets dark mode (including for Apple Music), that’ll be amazing. Plus, don’t think Apple has opened up to allow 3rd party LTE streaming on the watch - another mini deal breaker.

 

[B4U]

Am I the minority when I say I don't like the concept of music streaming?

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

One HUGE advantage of Apple Music if you're not a student, is that you can get a year for between $80 and $85, vs $9.99 a month for Spotify. Apple offers to individuals a yearly cost of $99, but Ebay often has $100 Apple gift cards for $85 and sometimes even $80, or buy 2- $50 gift cards at 15% or 20% off. Then just apply it to your account just before Apple bills you, and you get a year for a terrific price. For example, the $80 yearly price works out to $6.67 a month!

Ive found Spotify gift cards discounted on Ebay and other sites. Not to pay for a year at a time. But three months at a time. But it still adds up the same if you buy four of them at a discounted price.
[doublepost=1551828975][/doublepost]

1. That particular tracks might not be available on Apple Music, so on top of 50 mills songs Apple offers, you may slot in your own special tracks on it. No more missing tracks!!

2. You can access them anywhere as long you have internet, and sync between all your devices. Find it in Library section, then stream or download. No local network needed once it’s uploaded

3. 100k songs limit instead of 10k on Spotify

Who listens to that many songs? I couldn’t find the time to listen to 10K tracks, much less 100K.

 

[jeremiah256]

But Apple Music will upload those songs for you anyway

If your point is that there are overlaps between Apple Music and iTunes Match, point made.

If you select Apple Music as your streaming service, you get iTunes Match automatically. If, however, you'd rather go with a different streaming service, and you don't believe your unique music will be found on that service, for $25/year, you can get iTunes Match (with your Indie bands).

 

[BuddyRich]

Im surprised it wasn't mentioned in the article, but one big advantage for Spotify is Spotify Connect. It's better than itunes remote or the control center remote stuff that Apple Music has for Homepod or ATV (why is it limited to controlling only those devices and not any device?)

 

[Act3]

I'd like to see an official means from Apple to stream Apple music via a webpage. I know there are alternatives to do this but Spotify has there own app and it runs a lot smoother/faster than iTunes for the windows crowd.