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Apple Music vs Spotify (Late 2017)

  • Apple Music

    Votes: 102 54.8%
  • Spotify

    Votes: 84 45.2%

  • Total voters
    186

marlman

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
386
294
I use Apple Music and very happy with it I currently have over 15,000 tracks in my library and adding more every week. I am sure i read somewhere that Spotify has a limit of 10,000

If that's true its a no brainer for me to stay with Apple.
 

LizKat

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2004
6,770
36,283
Catskill Mountains
I realize I may be an outlier, but, personally, I've continued buying a fair amount of music even though I've also been subscribing to Apple Music since the very beginning. A lot of the purchases I've made would not have taken place had I not first discovered the artist or been made aware of an album release through Apple Music. Other things that I've streamed but did not buy I almost certainly would never have bought (or listened to) if I hadn't had access to them through a music subscription, meaning, if anything, artists are now making more money off of me regardless of how little streaming revenue they see.

I could not have said this better. I'm not about to buy an opera without spending a lot of time listening to alternate takes and in their entirety... but then I do finally want to buy the thing and rip it lossless. I just want to make sure I'll be happiest with the one I end up choosing. Meanwhile I'm playing multiple versions a lot of times via downloads I saved off Apple Music.
 

markyd803

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2018
2
0
Hi guys.

Long time user of Spotify, and last 2 years(?) user of Apple Music.

At the stage where I don’t know which one i prefer anymore.

Which one do you use and why?

Thanks so much

Warning Apple Music Can Destroy Your Existing Library! We tried it for a few months and then canceled it. Now we can't access 13 years of over 1500 songs that we have either purchased from iTunes or copied from CDs that we had purchased but no longer own. Apple's answer: "sorry"
[doublepost=1525612224][/doublepost]Warning Apple Music Can Destroy Your Existing Library! We tried it for a few months and then canceled it. Now we can't access 13 years of over 1500 songs that we have either purchased from iTunes or copied from CDs that we had purchased but no longer own. Apple's answer: "sorry"
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,450
9,321
Warning Apple Music Can Destroy Your Existing Library! We tried it for a few months and then canceled it. Now we can't access 13 years of over 1500 songs that we have either purchased from iTunes or copied from CDs that we had purchased but no longer own. Apple's answer: "sorry"
Music you purchased can be redownloaded: https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht201272

Music you ripped from CDs must be restored from your backups. This is 2018. You do backup your data, right?
 
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whsbuss

macrumors 601
May 4, 2010
4,264
1,094
SE Penna.
Warning Apple Music Can Destroy Your Existing Library! We tried it for a few months and then canceled it. Now we can't access 13 years of over 1500 songs that we have either purchased from iTunes or copied from CDs that we had purchased but no longer own. Apple's answer: "sorry"
[doublepost=1525612224][/doublepost]Warning Apple Music Can Destroy Your Existing Library! We tried it for a few months and then canceled it. Now we can't access 13 years of over 1500 songs that we have either purchased from iTunes or copied from CDs that we had purchased but no longer own. Apple's answer: "sorry"
Why would anyone even begin a streaming music service WITHOUT a backup? Or like many of us did, start AM with a new library.
 

augustya

Suspended
Feb 17, 2012
3,331
464
Ok I don't consider myself a pro in this, but I have spent a lot of time and thinking behind this and this is what I feel in short...The Tidal Music Quality @ 44.1 kHz/16 bits the quality is Wow ! It is mind blowing ! It is really a commendable job for a streaming music station to relay this kind of music quality. It is very good !! Second in quality for me comes Spotify (I am talking about Spotify Premium) and last comes Apple Music, in terms of content I thought Spotify content was more detailed, the music discovery, suggestions are very good ! Especially the Radio of Spotify is fantastic compared to Apple Music and Tidal. The UI for me of Spotify is very minimal and simple and easy to navigate, so is Tidal, Apple Music looks so much loaded with features that it gets mind boggling ! So at a the moment for its content I would rate Spotify much higher than Tidal & Apple Music !!
 

whsbuss

macrumors 601
May 4, 2010
4,264
1,094
SE Penna.
Ok I don't consider myself a pro in this, but I have spent a lot of time and thinking behind this and this is what I feel in short...The Tidal Music Quality @ 44.1 kHz/16 bits the quality is Wow ! It is mind blowing ! It is really a commendable job for a streaming music station to relay this kind of music quality. It is very good !! Second in quality for me comes Spotify (I am talking about Spotify Premium) and last comes Apple Music, in terms of content I thought Spotify content was more detailed, the music discovery, suggestions are very good ! Especially the Radio of Spotify is fantastic compared to Apple Music and Tidal. The UI for me of Spotify is very minimal and simple and easy to navigate, so is Tidal, Apple Music looks so much loaded with features that it gets mind boggling ! So at a the moment for its content I would rate Spotify much higher than Tidal & Apple Music !!
Interesting. Apple Music sound so much better (IMO) than Spotify premium. This includes listening on Sonos, AirPods, and QC35s
 
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NOATAK

macrumors member
May 8, 2018
72
258
I'm switching between these apps for a while but I am always ending with Spotify again ...

The discovery functions in Spotify are great. Everytime a weekly playlist or mix gets updated I find some new songs which I like. In Apple Music I rarely find some new music. The 'For you' tab is a joke.

What's great about AM is the seemless iOS experience and of course Siri. I also love how I can add some songs to my library (upload them) and change every album art I don't like :D. AM offers a bigger library of songs and for example kpop.

But that's it really.

I'm listening to music most of the time on my iMac and using iTunes for Music is really really horrible. It's nowhere near as smooth as the Spotify desktop client, you can't click on Artists and albums in the songs list (except while surfing the 'New' tab).

Aaaaand last but not least – at least in Germany – I get spammed with german music especially german rap which I absolutely can't stand!!! Almost every week a new german singer/rapper gets promoted heavily and the weekly playlists are full of german (c)rap. Maybe this is related to the taste of the majority in Germany, but there should be at least the option to get rid of stuff like that...

In Spotify there is much less german music and I can use the 'New Music Friday' playlists of other countries as well as I can switch the country to a english speaking one.

However the biggest issue I have with Apple Music is that when I put a song in both my library and a playlist (or first in a playlist and add it to my library later) and delete the song one day from my library it also gets deleted from every single playlist. I also miss the drag and drop in iTunes to add new songs to a playlist while in the 'New' tab.
 

Banglazed

macrumors 603
Apr 17, 2017
5,005
9,478
Cupertino, CA
I use Spotify because it allows me to download high quality songs for offline listening, simple or minimalist UI, music discovery, radio stations, and Hulu bundling.
 

whsbuss

macrumors 601
May 4, 2010
4,264
1,094
SE Penna.
I use Spotify because it allows me to download high quality songs for offline listening, simple or minimalist UI, music discovery, radio stations, and Hulu bundling.
I download high quality music from AM. Not sure why you think Spotify has the inside track on that feature.
 
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iterva

macrumors 6502
Jun 16, 2013
397
289
Sweden
Actually it's 10,000 divided by the three allowed devices so that's only 3,333 per device.
Yeah, but that 3,333 limit is for content downloaded to 1 offline device.

Is that 3333 locally DOWNLOADED songs?
Otherwise it doesnt make sense.
Your library will be identical on however many devices you have?
Correct.

But the thing to keep in mind is that the 10.000 limit only applies to the "Your Music" library, not playlists. So if you are a person that uses playlists to curate your content, that limit won´t be an issue.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/26/15700768/spotify-music-saving-cap-time-to-stop

Note: You can save a maximum of 10,000 songs and albums to Your Library. For albums, all its songs plus the album itself count towards the limit (e.g. a 10 track album counts as 11 tracks toward the limit). If your collection is so awesome you run out of room, you can always add songs to playlists.
https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/the_basics/what-is-your-music/
 

AidenL

macrumors 6502
Jan 19, 2013
445
222
Ireland
I put a lot of effort into Liking the music I was listening to, now I'm getting better results in For You recently.

I'll stick with AM a while longer now.
 
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billsmith007

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2018
1
0
Easily transfer your tracks and playlists to Apple Music, Spotify, Google Music, Amazon Music with https://***********/ .
Thanks, Bill Smith
 

augustya

Suspended
Feb 17, 2012
3,331
464
The Sound Quality you get on Spotify is million Light Years ahead and better than of Apple Music !! Apple Music Sound Quality though is OK for some people, for me it Sucks big time!! Yikes !!
 

whsbuss

macrumors 601
May 4, 2010
4,264
1,094
SE Penna.
The Sound Quality you get on Spotify is million Light Years ahead and better than of Apple Music !! Apple Music Sound Quality though is OK for some people, for me it Sucks big time!! Yikes !!
We all have our opinions, but for me Spotify does not have the fullness and soundstage Apple Music has. I have and continue to compare them.
 
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augustya

Suspended
Feb 17, 2012
3,331
464
We all have our opinions, but for me Spotify does not have the fullness and soundstage Apple Music has. I have and continue to compare them.

Compared to Spotify Apple Muisc sounds compressed, muffled and kind of muted ! Apple only plays 226KBPs where as Spotify plays 320KBPS VOB ORBBIS which sounds much superior, try to listen to the same track on a good speaker on both the platforms and you will notice what I am saying. I was a regular subscriber of Apple untill I switched to Spotify about a year back and could not be more happy !!
 

whsbuss

macrumors 601
May 4, 2010
4,264
1,094
SE Penna.
Compared to Spotify Apple Muisc sounds compressed, muffled and kind of muted ! Apple only plays 226KBPs where as Spotify plays 320KBPS VOB ORBBIS which sounds much superior, try to listen to the same track on a good speaker on both the platforms and you will notice what I am saying. I was a regular subscriber of Apple untill I switched to Spotify about a year back and could not be more happy !!
Yes I have and still do every so often compare both on a Sonos Play 5 system.... Apple Music wins every time.
 
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Arcade

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2012
410
212
Bronx, NY
I signed up to AM a few days ago the reason I did was because it's integrated to macOS. After using it for more than 10 hours I got to like it a lot. Now that I can add songs that are playing from the radio stations right into my playlist by clicking ... next to the song name.
 

Ted13

macrumors 6502a
Dec 29, 2003
670
353
NYC
Apple Music -
Music Videos
Also, some of the shows on Beats 1
Lastly interface with my own huge iTunes music collection which contains plenty of CDs that don’t exist on any streaming service

Does Spotify even have an AppleTV app yet??
 
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Ted13

macrumors 6502a
Dec 29, 2003
670
353
NYC
We are talking about Music Streaming APP !! Who the bloody hell wants a TV APP ??
Anyone who likes watching Apple Music Music Videos on their large screen?

Also anyone who is listening to audio via their high end receiver/large speakers that are also used for 5.1 sound for movies and doesn't feel like switching back and forth when all of it - movies, TV shows, streaming service and Apple Music/iTunes can be run via their AppleTV?
 
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ZeitGeist

Suspended
Mar 22, 2005
302
222
Spotify wins hands down.

For starters, Apple Music can never remember where you left off. Relaunch it, and bam it plays the first song on your library.

Spotify not just picks up wherever you left off, but it does so across devices.

For the same price, you also get access to a wider global library of music, without having to jump through hoops.

It’s no contest - Spotify.
 
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