Streaming services are now one of the main ways people listen to music. Apple Music and Spotify are two of the world’s most popular streaming music platforms, offering instant access to millions of podcasts and songs.
Both platforms offer users unique features to meet demand, and understanding how to compare these differences is essential to finding the service that best meets your preferences. Let’s take a deeper look at Apple Music and Spotify.
Comparison Between Spotify and Apple Music
We will compare Spotify with Apple Music in 7 aspects for you:
Price
Spotify Premium | Apple Music Premium | |
Individual | 1-month free trial + $11.99 per month | 1-month free trial + $10.99 per month |
Student | 1-month free trial + $5.99 per month | 1-month free trial + $5.99 per month |
Family | $19.99 per month | 1-month free trial + $16.99 per month |
Duo | $16.99 per month | No |
Spotify provides both free and paid versions for users. Apple Music only supports a paid version. To be honest, if you are not a hot music fan and don’t mind ads, Spotify can meet your demand.
Both of them provide a one-month free trial for the new subscribers. However, after the free trial ends, Apple Music is cheaper than Spotify, and Spotify doesn’t offer a free chance for a Family plan. Apple Music is better.
Apple Music doesn’t offer a Duo plan for users. If you prefer to enjoy music streaming with your close friend, and you live in the same place. Spotify’s Duo plan is the best choice.
Related: How Much Is Spotify Premium? 4 Different Plans
Audio Quality
Spotify Premium users can only use the High audio quality setting, which is equivalent to approximately 320 kbit/s. And Spotify Free users can listen to up to 256 kbps. Spotify supports AAC and Ogg Vorbis formats.
By contrast, almost every song in the Apple Music library is available for lossless streaming. This is an uncompressed format that provides a CD-like listening experience. In addition, Apple Music’s albums can be streamed in a high-resolution lossless format, which, with the right hardware, can provide better sound quality than CDs.
Apple Music supports AAC and ALAC formats. It also offers Dolby Atmos sound, also known as spatial audio. And it’s available at no extra charge.
Of course, Apple Music has its drawbacks. Its lossless sound is not yet available via Bluetooth, so you’ll have to use wired headphones. So in terms of sound quality, we recommend Apple Music.
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Podcasts
If you like your music, podcasts, and audiobooks all rolled into one, then Spotify is for you. While Apple Music’s music catalog is huge, it doesn’t let you switch between your favorite podcasts on the software at the same time.
The Apple Music offers a separate Apple Podcasts app. It is a little more cumbersome to use than Spotify, which combines podcasts with music.
But Apple Podcasts is free for all Apple users. Spotify’s podcasting feature is only available to Spotify Premium subscribers for 15 free hours per month.
So comparing the two in terms of podcasting features, there are advantages and disadvantages of each. Which one you choose depends on your actual needs.
Algorithms for Users
When it comes to push content, Spotify’s push is entirely algorithm-driven, while Apple Music uses a combination of algorithms and human curation.
Spotify automatically generates playlists on a daily or weekly basis based on the songs you’ve listened to. It curates recommendations for similar artists and songs based on your favorite artists. But after a long time, you’ll realize that Spotify’s algorithms aren’t smart enough. The same songs appear over and over again in your recommendations.
Apple Music’s weekly personalized playlists are based entirely on algorithms when you first start using it. But as you use it longer, Apple Music refines your recommendations. Apple Music’s algorithms discover your unique tastes.
Download Limitation
Spotify Free doesn’t allow users to download any songs. Spotify Premium allows users to download up to 10,000 songs on each of 5 different devices.
There’s no limitation on Apple Music to download songs. Apple Music allows users to download the whole music library without limitation.
Related: How to Download Songs on Spotify for an Offline Listening
Library
The content curation and exclusive offerings in Spotify and Apple Music are the main differences of the library.
Spotify has a massive catalog of over 100 million tracks like Discover Weekly and Release Radar. It also heavily integrates podcasts, offering a wide range of exclusive content, including Spotify Originals.
Apple Music also offers 100 million tracks. It is closely tied to the Apple ecosystem, allowing for seamless integration with other Apple devices. Apple Music also provides exclusive releases from artists and has a strong focus on higher-quality audio, supporting lossless audio and Dolby Atmos.
In terms of exclusive content, Apple Music tends to offer more early releases and special collaborations. Spotify’s strength lies in its playlist culture and podcast offerings.
How to Sign in Them Respectively?
All you need to sign up for Spotify is an email address. You can also sign up with an Apple ID, Google account, or Facebook.
But if you want to sign up for Apple Music, you must have an Apple ID. Because Apple Music is highly integrated with the Apple ecosystem, the features you can use are limited if you want to use it on Android or Windows.
Final Words
After comparing these two streaming services, it’s hard to say which one is better. Your choice should depend on what device you use and what your listening needs are. Hope this post can give you some help.