It seems that everyone loves Apple Music. A combination of exclusive artist partnerships and an ever-expanding track catalog has seen the service make giant strides since its launch in 2015, while the recent arrival of Lossless and Spatial Audio for its iOS and Android users threatens to take you to the front of the queue when it comes to the best music streaming platforms. In addition, Apple announced in 2019 that its music service surpassed 60 million users worldwide, a figure that is growing at a rate of around two million new subscribers per month. It hasn't released updated numbers since, but that pace would have the platform showing around 110 million users right now, just 50 million fewer than Spotify's 160 million. But for me, Spotify is still the star of the streaming world, and it's about time someone stood up for the Swedes, especially after TechRadar music and audio editor Olivia Tambini declared Apple Music the best choice for they. iOS users earlier this week. It should be noted that I am not an opponent of Apple. On this very site, I professed my unwavering love for iPhones and the Apple ecosystem as a whole. But I don't feel compelled to ditch Spotify for its American counterpart just yet, for a number of reasons.
Scandinavian style
The first is Spotify's premium user interface (UI). Across its mobile and desktop apps, accessing music, artists, playlists, and podcasts is as easy as it gets, with good-sized tiles and cover art arranged in an easily digestible format. This is especially true on mobile, where content is divided into just three tabs: Home, Search, and Your Library, to keep the experience simple and not demanding. Spotify's user interface is also super dynamic. The latest tracks or episodes from my favorite creators are always placed at the top of my feed, and while the Home section is the least useful of the three, it often becomes a dumping ground for new content, so I'm never in danger of missing out. something. . in surprise releases that might otherwise be doomed to roulette's uncovered playlists.
(Image credit: TechRadar) Founded in Stockholm, Spotify's app embraces the simple, clean, and playful philosophy that's so iconic in Scandinavian design: think IKEA and Volvo, but for music. There's no doubt that using Apple Music has become a much better experience since its iOS 14 update, but it still suffers from a thick and complicated menu system so unworthy of a brand known for its design.
Voyage of discovery
Yes, Apple Music has a bigger library of tracks, but what's a few million here or there? The most important metric is the one that measures how well this library is made accessible to the user in a way that is not visible as old stock in a storefront. This metric isn't quantifiable as a number, but Spotify's ability to get me to listen and care about artists I wouldn't blink an eye at is pretty remarkable. Spotify's ability to make me listen and care about artists I wouldn't have scared off is pretty remarkable. Have you ever heard of Tom The Mail Man? Me neither, until Spotify cleverly added his tracks, which at the time were recorded in his friend's bedroom, to my Discover Weekly playlist. Now I have alerts for all your new releases. The point is, I'm all for discovering up-and-coming artists as long as their music doesn't sound amateurish, and Spotify does a great job of finding tracks that never sound out of place on my playlist. Apple Music, for all its exclusive creator and curator partnerships, can't come close to Spotify's algorithmic approach to song recommendations. Of course, it's nice that Tim Cook and co. using the services of real people when curating discovery playlists for their platform, but Spotify has managed to solve this problem with an awesome code sequence that delivers a pleasant surprise nine times out of ten. This is the main reason why the "Apple Music has more songs" boat doesn't really float with me. 5 million more tracks in an ocean of 75 million is irrelevant, especially when Spotify does a much better job of exposing users to its library of 70 million people. Again, this is not an infringement on the quality of Apple Music as a service (I've used both and it's a great platform) but rather a defense of a competing service being unfairly criticized on the basis of library statistics without sense.
Sharing is loving
And then we come to the social features of Spotify. Granted, it's decidedly lower in the pecking order of the streaming service's most important features, but I actually find myself using the platform's many social options all the time. Sharing tracks with other apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp is a breeze, and made more interesting by the automatically generated music videos that sometimes accompany songs posted to your social media stories. It is also very useful that users of these platforms can listen to the same songs at the touch of a button, without the need to log into an account. Integrating the app with Facebook is also a good idea. On the computer, it's always fun to see what your friends are listening to in real time, especially when you catch a gym enthusiast playing Les Miserables.
(Image credit: Spotify) Spotify also gives you the option to post your recent listening history to Facebook, allowing your Facebook friends to like or comment on your activity. Okay, not something I've done before, not everyone rates Justin Bieber, you know, but it seems like a good idea, on principle. At this point, however, Spotify extensively tracks listening history, and if you're okay with Mark Zuckerberg knowing that he rehearsed with Olivia Rodrigo for three days, features like Spotify Wrapped allow for entertaining and informative streaming at the end of each year. . . Apple Music also offers some of these social features. You can also see what your friends are listening to and share playlists between users, and these Spotify-only options, like Facebook integration and Spotify Wrapped, might seem like redundant novelties to those who prefer to keep their music to themselves. And it's fair. However, the superior social features tick another feather in Spotify's hat, and a value worth pointing out to opponents reluctant to give the platform credit.
Truce?
The purpose of this article was not to disparage Apple Music. Think of it less as an attack on one serve and more as a defense on another. Spotify is still great, even for iPhone users, and it's a fact easily forgotten when its biggest rival introduced amazing new features left, right, and center. It's not impossible that Apple Music will be ahead of Spotify for years to come, but for now, the latter's exceptional user experience and recommendation intelligence make it as impressive as ever. Now what all the fuss about Tidal? Subscribe to Spotify today: