Apple Music vs Spotify: what's new for each service? Apple Music: Last year, Apple announced that the Beats 1 radio station will be renamed "Apple Music 1" and that two new stations will be coming to the service. Apple Music Hits will celebrate "everyone's favorite songs from the '80s, '90s, and '2000s," while Apple Music Country is set to spotlight country music (you guessed it). Spotify: It's official: Spotify subscriptions are now more expensive in the US and UK. The biggest price increase comes to Premium Family, from €14,99/ €14.99 to €15.99 / €16.99 per month. Spotify says it's "so we can continue to bring you new content and features that you can enjoy as a family and as individuals." The world of music has always revolved around rivalries. There's Taylor Swift vs. Kanye, Tupac vs. Biggie, Eminem vs....everyone? Now the rise of the music streaming service over the past decade means you can add a new rivalry to the mix: Spotify vs Apple Music. While there are a number of streaming services you can choose from, the only two contenders you need to worry about are the Swedish-born Spotify with its freemium music model and Apple Music, the iTunes replacement that offers exclusive albums and a monster one. . Library of 50 million songs. That being said, Spotify has the upper hand right now with a much larger user base. Spotify is currently the most popular streaming service in the world, with 113 million subscribers in October last year and growing; and this despite increasing competition from Apple Music, as well as Jay-Z-owned Tidal. This is because Spotify doesn't ask for money up front and you can go years without paying a penny. Sure, Apple might offer a free trial, but at some point you'll have to pay. So which service should you spend your entertainment budget on? To help you choose the right one for you, we've broken down the pros and cons of each service so you can sign up and start listening.
Apple Music
What is the size of your music library? Apple Music has a huge library of songs, numbering around 50 million, across a wide range of genres. So if you're into French skiffle or Brazilian electro pop and are struggling to find your more obscure artists, chances are Apple Music has you covered. Plus, being an Apple product, its interface is easy to navigate on both a Mac/PC and more portable forms like a smartphone or tablet, and you can download tracks to take with you when you're not. Wi-Fi link. It's a feature that Apple Music shares with Spotify, but it's a vital feature if you want to keep users signing up for the paid version. How much does it cost? Unlike Spotify, which offers free and paid versions, Apple Music only offers a free trial before asking you to sign up. It's understandable from a professional perspective, especially with so many exclusives serving as a golden carrot for potential users, but not having a free version in the long run ultimately worked against desire. Apple to increase its overall user base. Free trials are limited, especially for those who want to take advantage of the service for the long term. Giving users limited access to the full experience of their service may seem like a better deal in the short term, but it suffers in the long run compared to the free/ad-filled version that Spotify offers. However, having three different payment plans shows that Apple wants its users to be prepared to take a more aggressive approach. Having a cheaper plan for students ($4.99 / £4.99 / AU$5.99) is a good deal (but not exclusive, as Spotify has something similar), especially since that fee will get you there. It always gives access to all facets of your service. . For everyone else, it's $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$11.99 for one person, or £14.99 / £14.99 / AU$17.99 for a family membership for up to six people Today's best Apple Music deals
What exclusive benefits does Apple Music offer?
Of course, Apple has used great ways to eliminate Spotify and smaller music streaming services by signing some of the biggest names in popular music with exclusive deals on new albums.
Apple Music has boasted exclusive album releases from Drake, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Frank Ocean, Future, and more, and it's a strategy that has truly ranked Spotify over the years. Of course, if you're not a fan of artists initially releasing exclusively on Apple Music, this feature might not be a game changer, but if you are, it's a huge plus.
Apple Music also offers Apple Music 1 (formerly known as Beats 1), the cutting edge for a broader push toward streaming originals on the service. It is a 24/7 radio station that has playlists and live DJs 24/7. It's an Apple-backed internet radio station, so it's about as classy as you can imagine with former Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and more on its roster. With Apple already planning more stations for the service, this quirky viewing angle is one facet Spotify simply doesn't have the answer for.
There's also an exclusive social feature called Connect, which is part of the Apple Music package. Basically, it's a way for artists to connect with fans in a more intimate way, providing access to new singles, videos, and posts.
Connect may seem like something designed for larger groups, but it's open to all artists, offering a service not unlike MySpace in its heyday. For followers, it's just a simple but effective way to get a little closer to the groups you love.
Finally, there is the exclusive video content. With its iTunes integration, the ability to browse and play tons of music videos adds a dimension that Spotify simply doesn't offer. And Apple Music doubles down on its visual side with original shows like Carpool Karaoke: The Series (a longer version of James Corden's hugely popular celebrity singing sketch on The Late, The Late Show) and Planet of the Apps (a of Dragon's Den for the application). and software developers).
How does it feel to use it?
While the desktop and laptop versions are easy on the eyes (the aesthetics, after all, is Apple's thing), there's a disparity in user experience between the two: the Mac, PC, or laptop version of the computer. 'Apple Music is far superior to what you'll find on your phone or tablet. This is because the continued use of larger images and frames accommodates a larger screen, and it's really easy to navigate your playlists, exclusives, and imported iTunes library.
That said, the settings are fine for using larger tablets, as having more screen real estate makes the icons larger and the higher concentration of content a much more enjoyable experience.
The smartphone-optimized version isn't broken by any means, but its large icon design often makes it a bit tricky to use, as it doesn't use a phone's small screen to its advantage.
Spotify
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What is the size of your music library?
Spotify currently has over 50 million songs. Spotify's strong influx of tracks helped it get off the ground in its early days, and with an average of 40,000 tracks added each day, it shows no signs of slowing down.
Spotify's strong influx of tracks has helped launch it into the stratosphere, with a heavy focus on promoting new tracks and innovative artists. Organized playlists are almost always the first thing you see when you load up a version of the app, and the service apparently creates playlists for just about every subgenre of music. These are also constantly updated, so your favorites never hail after long use.
Discover Weekly's playlist based on your listening preferences has made giant strides in recent years with nuance of its suggestions, though Apple's For You playlist (introduced in 2016) now offers much the same functionality, so it is no longer a special bargain. once was.
What are the prices for the premium plan?
Now we come to one of the main reasons Spotify has always kept Apple Music at bay: paid and unpaid access. Although it has tried several different versions over the years, Spotify has always gone back to the basic formula that worked best: anyone can sign up and access every track in its catalog for free.
There are ads every few songs, but you can customize 15 playlists that feature the songs you want. You also have access to the best curated playlists, like Discover Weekly. In the past, you didn't have full control over playback and could only skip a limited number of times per hour.
It's a business model that may seem crazy on paper, but it's the perfect way to grow your user base by making the entire experience annoying enough for those users to listen to premium paid accounts.
Rather than lock content behind a paywall, Spotify wisely seals in features that simply make the service more dynamic. Do you want to listen to music without ads? Do you want to download as many tracks as you want on your smartphone to listen to them when you are away from home? Want the ability to skip songs as and when you want on your tablet/smartphone? Then it's time for Premium.
If you want everything Spotify has to offer, including choosing the song of your choice with unlimited skip privileges and no ads, you can get a personal Spotify Premium plan for € 9.99 / € 9.99 / 11, AU € 99, while Spotify's family plan, which offers simultaneous listening for up to five users, is priced at € 15.99 / € 16.99 / AU € 17.99.
Like Apple Music, Spotify also offers discounted plans for students, with full access to the Spotify library priced at just €4.99 / €5.99 / €5.99. However, you will need to check the status of your registration.