Apple Music vs. Spotify Buyer's Guide

[Rigtee]

Interesting article and thread, thanks MacRumors! I’ve also been bouncing back and forth between Spotify and AM over the years - tough decision and I fully agree that knowing if you’re a “music librarian” (AM feels like going to a record shop) or a “social listener” (Spotify feels like listening to radio) helps a lot! What if I would like to be both?

I decided to unsubscribe from AM recently because of some bugs/missing functions (duplicates/split of albums in my library, subpar and slow Mac app, abyssal web app…), but also for redundancy. I settled on Spotify (already having a Family Subscription), because listening to music is a great social activity : finding a lot of good public playlists (e.g., songs from a video game or a festival), making collaborative playlists/blends, sharing audio to any device (+ Spotify Connect which allows me to control music around my house from different devices - still baffled Apple doesn’t have this except the obsolete iTunes Remote)… Spotify is also good at recommendations but I have the feeling it keeps throwing you the same songs if you don’t dig deeper in the app.

Then I have my “personal” music collection which is work-in-progress and consists of CDs bought in stores or online (also secondhand!), that I rip to FLAC/ALAC and use Music.app to listen to it (also the iPhone 15 PM allows for high-speed transfers so it’s really easy to drop your whole collection like back in the days with the iPod). Feels good to own my collection and to listen more in “album mode”. It will also still be there should I stop paying for Spotify!

Just my 2 cents

 

[Dahl]

Spotify is definitely and by far the best.

For me the main thing is discovering new songs. I get so excited every Monday and Friday for my Discover and Release Radar playlists. General discovery is lightyears ahead of Apple Music. Also, 98% of the time I'm listening to music is at my desktop which is Windows. The desktop app is a much better experience that what I had to deal with when trying Apple Music. I know Apple have a native Windows app now but I haven't tried it yet and it's still in "Preview". When I tried it my options were A) use iTunes (lmao what year is it?), B) Use the web browser which would log me out often or sometimes refuse to play a song until I reloaded the page, C) use a third party app which was also a buggy mess. i don't know if it still exists but I won't name it because the developer doesn't deserve to be supported.

My spotify is paid up to 29th December so I'm not going anywhere but maybe around October/November I'll sign up to Apple Music again to give it yet another try. As much as I enjoy Spotify I am always open to alternatives because I'm not loyal to any particular brand, service, or company.

Do you use both equally? I‘m a massive music fan and find no issues with finding new music on Apple Music. Add better UI and you have a great product.

 

[Dahl]

i dread every time a friend sends a Spotify link. I find Apple Music has what a poweruser needs and the app is better looking.

 

[xSushi]

While there's always room for improvement, Apple Music is far superior to Spotify.

Far better sound quality, Spatial Audio, more exclusive features/content (music videos, broadcast radio, shows and live DJ Mixes), and a very large library of human curated playlists.

The integration with my HomePods scattered around my home is a seamless cherry on top.

Love Apple Music.

 

[ht5pilot]

While there's always room for improvement, Apple Music is far superior to Spotify.

Far better sound quality, Spatial Audio, more exclusive features/content (music videos, broadcast radio, shows and live DJ Mixes), and a very large library of human curated playlists.

The integration with my HomePods scattered around my home is a seamless cherry on top.

Love Apple Music.

I will have to agree with you on better sound quality. Apple Music has much higher audio resolution (CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz), Apple Music Lossless (up to 24-bit/48kHz), and Hi-Res Lossless (up to 24-bit/192kHz)than Spotify(320kbps) can match.

I did an experiment the other night to see whether I could tell the difference between the two services. I currently have a subscription to Apple Music and a free two month free trial to Spotify premium. I made sure each app was set to the highest possible audio setting. I used both AirPod Pro and Apple EarPods to test each track on both services. I keep the volume the same on each song as well.

The result should not be surprising to which one sounded better. Even without a premium, studio quality headphones, Apple Music hands down crushes Spotify. Music loudness is higher than Apple Music, but the sound is more detailed and has more bass than Spotify. You can notice the song thins out at higher ranges on Spotify than Apple Music.

However, Apple could improve more on interface and needs more playlists with their music service. Perhaps Apple might bring major improvements to their music app in iOS 18 this year. We will see.

 

[inuragon]

Trying apple music since i bought a homepod mini and it seems for us Finns apple has a big weird downside that is the lack of lyrics, i have to wonder why that is, i'd assume spotify and apple music both would use a third party for the lyrics.
Just recently listened to the whole "toppatakkeja ja toledon terästä" concept album from YUP and while spotify has lyrics for every song apple music has lyrics only for "soljan käsittely" which is doubly weird since that is a deep album cut so it would make way more sense to have lyrics for "minä olen myyrä" which is one of YUP's hits from 90s.
EDIT: turns out they have no lyrics for any of YUP's hits, just few deep album cuts

 

[inuragon]

Man, i wanna like apple music since apple one would be a good deal but more i use it more issues i find, now i noticed that atleast on windows the UI design is typical apple form over function style.
Here's how spotify shows currently playing track info:

Notice how not only they show the times but the bar has ok contrast so you can see it easily even if you don't have perfect vision?
Now let's see apple music:

Oh, the times only appear if you mouse over it and the playback bar contrast is ridiculously bad so good luck seeing where you are if you don't have perfect eyesight.
I can understand apple using bad contrast when marking their power adapters because most users don't read that info, but doing it in UI is just awful.

 

[wbeasley]

Man, i wanna like apple music since apple one would be a good deal but more i use it more issues i find, now i noticed that atleast on windows the UI design is typical apple form over function style.
Here's how spotify shows currently playing track info:
View attachment 2352874
Notice how not only they show the times but the bar has ok contrast so you can see it easily even if you don't have perfect vision?
Now let's see apple music:
View attachment 2352875
Oh, the times only appear if you mouse over it and the playback bar contrast is ridiculously bad so good luck seeing where you are if you don't have perfect eyesight.
I can understand apple using bad contrast when marking their power adapters because most users don't read that info, but doing it in UI is just awful.

Maybe it's a theme issue?

I'm using Dark Mode:
(hovered over it in this capture hence the marker):

not hovering:

 

[inuragon]

Maybe it's a theme issue?

I'm using Dark Mode:
(hovered over it in this capture hence the marker):
View attachment 2353041

not hovering:
View attachment 2353043

Is this on windows or mac? I got dark mode enabled too so shouldn't be that.

 

[wbeasley]

Is this on windows or mac? I got dark mode enabled too so shouldn't be that.

mac. and i have dark mode enabled too...

 

[inuragon]

mac. and i have dark mode enabled too...

Yeah, noticed it's fine on ipad too so it's just another case of apple doing a bad job with their windows apps

(maybe no one tested the dark theme on windows, light theme works fine)

 

[wbeasley]

Yeah, noticed it's fine on ipad too so it's just another case of apple doing a bad job with their windows apps
View attachment 2354151
(maybe no one tested the dark theme on windows, light theme works fine)

maybe you have found the reason.
Windows has a lot of different display options and accessibility settings.
Would be interesting to see if it is Apple code or whether other Windows apps have issues in dark mode as well...

You may be able to fine tune some to help you see that progress bar better.
Happy hunting!

 

[deeppurple114]

i really think to move to AM from Spotify but the process so hard
The playlist transfer, the followed artists, the fact AM don't have release radar thing and i need music harbor for it. Just wish in some day it's will build in option to move between apps and via versa as today whatsapp have to telegram.

 

[sdz]

i really think to move to AM from Spotify but the process so hard
The playlist transfer, the followed artists, the fact AM don't have release radar thing and i need music harbor for it. Just wish in some day it's will build in option to move between apps and via versa as today whatsapp have to telegram.

I did it and moved back to Spotify.
Apple Music is awful.
Basically everything: UI, Responsiveness of Streams, Recommendations

 

[deeppurple114]

I did it and moved back to Spotify.
Apple Music is awful.
Basically everything: UI, Responsiveness of Streams, Recommendations

Yes it's can be very different from what we got used to Spotify, but the recent UI changes on Spotify are getting worst and worst, and it's brake my joy to listen music!

 

[sdz]

Yes it's can be very different from what we got used to Spotify, but the recent UI changes on Spotify are getting worst and worst, and it's brake my joy to listen music!

then give it a try... There are a few services that help you migrate your current favorites and playlists

Spotify to Apple Music - Transfer playlists and favorites with Soundiiz

Import Spotify playlists and favourites tracks, albums, and artists to Apple Music in one go. Follow this tutorial and move to Apple Music in just a few steps.

soundiiz.com

 

[deeppurple114]

then give it a try... There are a few services that help you migrate your current favorites and playlists

Spotify to Apple Music - Transfer playlists and favorites with Soundiiz

Import Spotify playlists and favourites tracks, albums, and artists to Apple Music in one go. Follow this tutorial and move to Apple Music in just a few steps.

soundiiz.com

Thanks, I already checked this. As I mentioned, the playlist might be not the big problem here,
the more complicated to me, it's the missing release radar option in AM and the moving of my following artists that the only option i saw it's use another app for it.

 

[salutcemoi]

I did it and moved back to Spotify.
Apple Music is awful.
Basically everything: UI, Responsiveness of Streams, Recommendations

I agree

Used Apple Music twice - the 2nd time a few months ago thanks to a Shazaam promotion - but I just hate AM for the same reasons you mentioned (and spotify connect is awesome)

I don't like Spotify trying to shove podcasts and audiobooks down my throat but I'll still take it over AM anyday

 

[sdz]

Thanks, I already checked this. As I mentioned, the playlist might be not the big problem here,
the more complicated to me, it's the missing release radar option in AM and the moving of my following artists that the only option i saw it's use another app for it.

I recommend to you. Just forget it. Stay with spotify. You will regret Apple Music.

 

[IamScotty]

Okay for those people who say Apple Music has better sound quality than Spotify. Do this… make sure on Spotify settings that you have audio quality set to very high AND most importantly under playback you have the option “Enable Audio Normalization” off! Now go and listen to the same songs on Apple Music and Spotify and tell me which one sounds better?? For me these Spotify settings are better quality than AM lossless audio. Check it out!

 

[wbeasley]

Okay for those people who say Apple Music has better sound quality than Spotify. Do this… make sure on Spotify settings that you have audio quality set to very high AND most importantly under playback you have the option “Enable Audio Normalization” off! Now go and listen to the same songs on Apple Music and Spotify and tell me which one sounds better?? For me these Spotify settings are better quality than AM lossless audio. Check it out!

Nah Loseless is lossless not some compressed and otherwise manipulated sound to make you think it sounds better.

Also the playback device has a huge impact on perception.
What are you listening to this on?

 

[IamScotty]

Nah Loseless is lossless not some compressed and otherwise manipulated sound to make you think it sounds better.

Also the playback device has a huge impact on perception.
What are you listening to this on?

Listening on my iPhone and in my car via Bluetooth. Honestly before I made this changes in Spotify, Apple Music sounded way way better but now since I have changed these settings I can notice sound quality a little bit better on Spotify. Would be interesting in what others think, make sure to compare the same songs.

 

[wbeasley]

Listening on my iPhone and in my car via Bluetooth. Honestly before I made this changes in Spotify, Apple Music sounded way way better but now since I have changed these settings I can notice sound quality a little bit better on Spotify. Would be interesting in what others think, make sure to compare the same songs.

Well car and Bluetooth aren’t the ideal quality listening experience.
Whatever settings you changed probably suited that environment. I’d be sure you could have achieved the same in Apple Music with an EQ system setting…

Once debated with a “hi fi nut” who compared FLAC and but rates… and then played them in his car. He could “hear the difference”. LOL