Should I switch to Apple Music or stick with Spotify?
Spotify recently increased their price, making it the same price as Apple's service. I've had Spotify since 2016 (started with the free version), and got premium in 2018 when they had the college student deal where you would get that and Hulu for only five bucks a month. I've been an off and on Premium subscriber since 2019. Only re-subscribing to it when Spotify would send me offers to sign up for three months for the price of one. This is actually the first year that I've consistently had Spotify all year since I was in college.
But now that they're the same price I was wondering if I should switch over. I don't want to get into the whole quality thing and lossless (I don't even know what that is) but I haven't been happy with Spotify's algorithm for a while. Streaming services have always been how I discovered new music, going back to me using Pandora while I was in high school. But now Spotify keeps suggesting the same songs whenever it's on smart shuffle. For example, if I play a song from the late 60s or early 70s, I know the next song Spotify plays is going to be Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Whenever I play an indie pop song, like a Lana Del Rey song or something, I know that the next song is going to be Borderline by Tame Impala.
I'm kind of sick of it at this point, and I feel like it's limiting the scope of what I'm listening to. I'm not sure what Apple Music's algorithm is like, I've heard mixed things with some saying it's better than Spotify and others saying it's worse.
I'm also happy taking recommendations on other things to do or try with Spotify to correct this.
I was a Spotify user for more than 10 years but switched over last year to Apple Music when the Joe Rogan anti COVID stuff went down. I’m in the minority but I’m a firm believer in not paying for services that give platforms to people like Joe Rogan.
Spotify’s UX is better but Apple’s audio quality is better. I do really miss the end of year mashups that Spotify made.
Hear hear!
Cancelled my subscription the month after the rogan deal was announced and moved over to Deezer. I really enjoy the Deezer Flow automatic playlist and don't plan on switching out.
Spotify platforming and financing hate speech and disinformation is a dealbreker for me, I don't want my money to pay for rogan's next luxury car.
Same here! It was an easy enough switch for me. It just grosses me out to think that Spotify apparently paid $200M~ to get Joe Rogan.
At least as far as the mashups, Apple Music's started doing them, too, as of last year. Replay 2023 is already available, just showing your year so far, and you can access the playlists for previous years, too. It's under Listen Now all the way down at the bottom.
Apple wins from an audio quality perspective, but that doesn't mean everyone will care or even notice the difference.
Spotify has a much better UI and algorithm for recommendations etc than Apple does however, so if you find yourself using that often I wouldn't switch.
Personally I think Apple music is slightly better if you know what you want to listen to and don't use recommendations etc as much.
imo the recommendations on apple music are far better than the recommendations on spotify. it felt like some kinds of music were prioritized over others since the daily mixes were being really repetitive.
the “artist/album radio” feature is definitely better on AM though, spotify has it as a playlist that refreshes depending on how popular the artist is while apple music does an infinite stream of music for all artists, regardless of size. I listen to a lot of smaller artists so this was really important to me.
The UI is absolutely worse on desktop. I’m pretty happy with the iOS app, but the desktop app is so bad. I’m glad AM doesn’t try to shove podcasts down my throat though.
Do you mind expanding on what you mean by this?
Hard to exactly articulate it. I listen to music a lot (150k+ minutes each year) so I was able to start identifying some music that I wasn’t particularly interested in (and accordingly skipped) kept reappearing in daily mixes. I think this is a similar problem to spotify’s very strange shuffle algorithm.
Also, if I played one track of a very popular artist (think Taylor Swift, BTS), the algorithmically generated playlists would be filled with their music, probably out of some misaligned engagement incentive.
My personal theory is that the algorithm is tuned to maximize listening time, which I’d consider a good goal for a music streaming app. Based on the data, it may have come to the conclusion that people who like these artists tend to like them a lot (Swifties, BTS army, etc). Therefore it’s only logical to serve a lot of this music to users who stream it, kinda similar to the typically much-darker rabbit holes youtube is known for sending people into.
Over here we have a reality show where a bunch of musicians go to a villa and stay there for a few weeks. They pick one every week and the others make a cover song from their catalog. It's a really popular format.
Those songs kept appearing to my Discover Weekly playlist every week they were released. I've never listened to any of the artists nor did I listen to the songs. They were popular yes, but not to me.
I don't have a similar issue with Apple Music, it stays pretty well in my wheelhouse.
Personally do not agree that Spotify's UI is better. That's not to say that Apple's is amazing either, but it's much more consistent/unchanging over time (Spotify loves twiddling with their UI) and AM doesn't feel nearly as much like it's trying to push the most profitable artists or types of content like Spotify tends to. Also last I knew, AM's UI is a bit better for users who listen to albums more than they do individual songs.
Protip for Windows users: you don't have to use iTunes if you don't want to. A few months ago Apple released a beta of their true native AM app for Windows, which is built with WinUI and fits in perfectly with Windows 10/11 complete with dark mode support and everything. It can be found on the MS Store here: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/apple-music-preview/9PFHDD62MXS1
Additionally, Apple Music has a web app at https://music.apple.com/.
AM means Apple Music? I just searched google for AM streaming service because it sounds like AM radio.
Yes, AM is short for Apple Music.
I'd actually recommend giving Tidal a shot. The library isn't as exhaustive as Apple Music or Spotify, but I've found their recommendations to be better than the other services. They pay better dividends to artists too.
If you're willing to experiment, YouTube Music could also be an option. It is more expensive than the other two (mainly bc it also includes YouTube Premium) but I find YouTube Musics algorithm to understand me best. I'm always listening to one-off songs that are different from what I normally listen to and the algorithm understands that it's a one-off and won't change things. YouTube Music's quality is passable imo though according to others it's the worst of the three so you'll have to judge that for yourself. The biggest benefit with YouTube Music is the library. They have a separate music library but if there's a song that's only available as a video, you should be able to play it and listen to it as a song.
This would be my recommendation too. If you're not all-in on Apple, YT Music has a better value because of ad-free Youtube than Spotify.
I was a Google Music user from the original days when you had to upload all your own stuff, then I just let it ride as YTM rolled out.
I have to say, ad free YouTube at all times is a huge benefit. Now when someone shows me a YT video and I have to see an ad I feel like I'm about to be sick.
I'd also recommend YTMusic, and the key selling point is Ad Free YT on mobile and TV. Made the switch when I started getting several Unskipbable ads per vid and never looked back.
But it also feels like I'm more likely to discover new music through other videos and also smaller projects or once off stuff that won't make it to the dedicated music apps.
Also appreciate that it keeps things on one app since YouTube is by far my primary media source. I subscribe to a lot of artists and their new stuff will reliably turn up on my feed. Content ID can also pick up the primary source for a lot of music if it's clear enough but I can easily add a cover or remix that I prefer.
While I'm not an audiophile, I've been told that the sound quality is not as good as other apps and would be wasted on higher end speakers/headphones. And the UI is a bit of a mess and seems to constantly rearrange itself.
Before YT I used Deezer and it probably had the best dynamic discovery Playlist. Getting far more value now so I can't see myself switching back.
It might depend on your region but where I am I can get youtube music premium independently from YouTube premium: https://music.youtube.com/music_premium
It's cheaper than the combined subscription but not by much (6.99€ vs 8.99€ for me) so I don't find it worth it but it may be an option for OP.
Misread your comment by reading your username first and thought you were calling me a Google Sheep for a second haha.
Anwyays, I think the plan you mentioned is also available in the states, but just like you mentioned, you aren't saving much compared to the regular. It showed up as $10.99/mo for me, compared to $13.99 for the combined subscription. I also noticed an annual plan which seems to save you a decent amount (~$20 USD for the Music only premium, $30 for the combined) annually. Can't find a way to switch my plan to the annual plan however. Need to do some more digging on this.
I've been using YTM since back in the Google Play Music days, which I was forced over to because they had acquired Songza. It was a rocky transition from GPM to YTM, but things seem to have gotten better. They do have a really good algorithm for discovery based on what you like.
But since they discontinued grandfathered pricing and raised their rates by 40% of what I was paying, I'm going to give some other services a shot (Tidal, Deezer and Amazon to start).
Yeah the transition from GPM to YTM wasn't the smoothest and I think there are still many features that were left behind in the transition. However, it works well for me so I still use it.
The price increase is annoying though, I agree. I think about switching services every now and then, especially to Apple Music as I get it through my parent's Apple One subscription, but the YouTube algorithm understands me best so I'm sort of stuck.
I don't really do music streaming all that much, but there are a few notches in Apple's belt that make me favor them.
There is one feature that I feel is underrated about apple music. Apple created an API for third parties to create apps that integrate with apple music. There are a few people in this thread that think the app UI of spotify is way better or way worse than apple music. That ultimately doesn't matter if you can just replace the app with another one. Here is a wonderful showcase of some of the different players available.
I personally use Albums. As the name implies, it focuses on listening to entire albums instead of individual songs (although it does support individual song playing). It is a much better way to interact with music in my opinion, and Albums is an excellent app. As far as I know, this type of app would be impossible on Spotify or Youtube Music.
Super underrated! It’s the best thing about Apple Music.
I use Albums for listening to albums (obviously) and Marvis Pro for listening to singles and playlists.
The coolest thing about this setup is that neither “overwrites” the other, so if I leave off mid-album in Albums and hit up some singles on Marvis Pro, I can then return to the album later and pick up right where I left off.
I realize it can seem like using two apps for music is needlessly complicated, but honestly it’s the best music “workflow” I’ve ever had.
Spotify used to have a highly capable API and library (libSpotify) that third party devs could develop alternative players around. These players were limited to paying customers only since the library/API didn’t pipe ads through which was perfectly fair.
Unfortunately several years ago right around the time I started writing my own alternative UI for Spotify, they pulled the plug on that API/library and promised a replacement that never came to fruition. The API they currently offer is neutered and can only control Spotify Connect devices (no direct playback), making third party clients impossible (or at minimum awkward, since the official client has to be running in the background).
It’s a real shame, I think they’re missing out on a significant number of customers who’d happily subscribe if they could opt out of the constant UI design churn, podcast pushing nonsense, etc with a third party client.
I also love Marvis, it’s super customizable and is what I always imagined an "iPod of the future" to be like
another marvis pro user here. was highly skeptical, but easily the best money i've ever spent on the app store. marvis is the primary reason i shifted from tidal to apple music.
Personally I find that Spotify's release radar is substantially better than Apple's new releases if you're interested in finding a lot of new music, which made switching from it not worth it for me.
Tidal would probably be my second choice after Spotify assuming I hadn't saved a ton of music over the years. As far as I know, Apple and Spotify are the only services that support over 10k songs. (Side note - back in like 2011 I posted a comment on reddit saying that there weren't 10k songs worth saving... years later I'm realizing how stupid I was 🙂)
Apple released a new "Discovery Station" a few weeks ago, it seems to work a bit better than the New Music Mix.
In NMM the first 10 or so are usually bangers, but the rest vary way too much. With the new Discovery station the quality is a bit better.
If you're not completely in Apple's ecosystem of devices, I wouldn't recommend Apple Music. I'm in Apple's ecosystem except for my desktop computer and Apple Music, even with its recently updated preview version for Windows, is simply a terrible experience compared to Spotify. Spotify isn't great either, but it does its job whereas with Apple Music I had connectivity issues, crashes and general sluggishness with loading up songs that are not in cache on both platforms.
I'd say stick with Spotify. To alleviate your problem, you might try creating a new account and "reset" its algorithm.
I loved Discover Weekly and looked forward to it every Monday for 5+ years. Then I made the mistake of listening to some "lofi/ambient" music (nowhere near my normal genre) for a few nights one week, and it poisoned my recommendations forever.
This is easier said than done. Spotify will absolutely not allow 2 accounts to share a CC# past or present. I tried every credit card, debit card, and those of some of my family members - if the card had ever been observed by Spotify before it was rejected - presumably an anti fraud measure. So now I still pay for Spotify, with the poisoned recommendations, and I'm not happy about it.
There's Privacy.com where you can create virtual debit cards that are locked to a specific vendor. Otherwise, companies like Citi and Capital One provide virtual credit cards as well.
Same thing happened to me. I had to turn off all recommendations based on listening history and only allow it to use what I heart and add to my library. Like, I love lo-fi for reading and other more study or focused office tasks, but I'm not following any lo-fi artists or want anything other than pre-made playlists.
But yes, adding on to the top comment, we are totally Apple everywhere (finally on my office computer now, too), so Apple Music with it's systemwide integration, plus the fact that we have the high tier family Apple One package, makes a ton of sense for us.
I’m much more happy with Apple Music than I was with Spotify the last years. I feel the recommendations and Siri auto playlists I get there are more aligned with what I want.
The audio playback quality is a bonus - Apple Music is actually how I get the best quality playback on my Windows Desktop.
I’m mostly on Apple devices though, and so the smooth sharing and control of playback through all my devices is a plus as well.
Lastly, I use Apple TV+, iCloud and Apple Fitness as well, so I basically get Apple Music for free with the Apple One subscription.
I really miss the pandora that was. It’s ability to find classic deep cuts that i both hadn’t heard already and was really into was amazing. Along the way, they lost a licensing battle (or something) and now suck.
Spotify seems to be enshittifying. I switched to Apple Music about two years ago because i wanted arcade and more iCloud and sonApple one made sense. It seems to be improving in recommendations, whereas spotify seemed to be regressing right before I left.
What I miss most about spotify are all the amazing user playlists.
Regarding those user playlists, I use the app SongShift to replicate them to Apple Music. SongShift can copy playlists across all the streaming services, so you can bring your own playlists with you, as well as your favorite community playlists. (Spotify asked SongShift not to copy Spotify’s own editorially created playlists. Annoying, but a fair request. I found a workaround anyway.)
https://songshift.com
Are there any guides for improving your Spotify algo? I used to love song radio and artist radio, but like you said, it's just a constant pool of the same 50 songs, no matter what I ask for!
ok, so I've got Deezer and Spotify and I've tried the others. The audio quality is better with the others, but if you want discovery, none of the others even come close to the radios and mixes on Spotify.
... but it seems that not everybody is on board with this. Clear your cache for Spotify and you'll get new stuff across the board.
I used Spotify since it launched in the U.S. and made the switch to Tidal around 2021 because of Joe Rogan's misinformation. Besides the Android TV app being trash, I don't regret it at all and enjoy being able to search by writer, producer, etc. Don't really understand how people are able to tolerate Spotify's pivot to podcasts and their aggressive advertising in their UI (unless of course that's where you listen to podcasts)
Edit: Also highly recommend Last.fm for music tracking. It's better than Spotify's year-end thing
Spotify is no longer a music app, it’s an “audio” app obsessed with being the one stop shop for everything from podcasts to audiobooks. This has led to app bloat, the addition of what feels like ads even if you’re paying for premium, confusing UI, random unwanted visual noise in their interface, and it’s even degraded their recommendations and autoplay systems which were the biggest advantage they had over Apple Music imo. Even if I wanted to have a single app for all those things, it wouldn’t be the bloated ugly mess of Spotify.
Only problem I have with Apple Music is that the iOS app doesn’t support Chromecast (but the Android app does, just a silly level of platform lock-in pettiness). Otherwise, it’s clean, simple, and actually feels like it’s made for music. Only thing to keep in mind is that I’m not much of a recommendations guy outside of specifically seeking out new music at certain times. I usually like to listen to full albums in order, or playlists that I made myself, and Apple Music makes that a much nicer experience as well.
I'm gonna come at this sideways and ask if you've tried using Amazon Music? It's not great, but works well enough. I pay for that even though I sail the seas, hum the sea shanty songs using Lidarr to collect my favourite artists, then use Jellyfin and the accompanying Android app "FinAmp" to listen to my content.
All the devices in the house use the Amazon Music service and the kids like it. It supports all the playlists and they even use it on their phones. Downside is that it is bloated and without a good connection it's slow to start, however you can download tons of music locally as long as it can check in and relicense every so often.
Just a thought that many overlook. Oh, it has a web interface, apps for all OSs and devices, yada yada.
If your Apple account is eligible, you can get a 2 month Apple Music trial via Target. I'm currently using that and have my Tidal subscription paused so I can save a few bucks. I'm using it on Windows and Android. I used https://soundiiz.com/ to transfer my playlists.
I was using Spotify before Tidal. Ditched Spotify because of its atrocious TikTok mobile UI and a dumpster fire of a webapp.
a. I find the UX to be a mess. Webapp is also surprisingly buggy.
b. Search on the webapp is awful when I'm logged into my account, but works perfectly fine when I try it in an incognito tab? I don't understand.
Casting to a 1st gen Chromecast just doesn't work for me. YT Music can cast to it just fine.Update: Working fine now. Guess it just hiccuped.a. Apple Music can cast to a Google Mini speaker with no issues.
02 November update:
No. 3 was recently implemented on web and iOS. Nothing on Android yet. So far, the recommendations suck. I have a playlist for songs that are covers of other songs and Tidal provides me great recommendations that are actually covers. Apple Music doesn't.
Search is still an absolute disaster.
It might sound trivial, but something as fundamental as song start-up time is one of the reasons I love Spotify. I don't appreciate their foray into podcasting and other content that isn't music, but having a song begin streaming almost immediately after I tap on it is something Apple Music still can't do. Aside from that, I also think they have better recommendation algorithms and a better UX.
I just tested this on random songs I don't have in my Apple Music library and it works just fine.
The other streaming services will soon increase their prices as well. Even for the ones that pay increased money, the overwhelming majority of musicians aren't making any cash on streaming platforms. I therefore recommend https://github.com/mrpond/BlockTheSpot for windows and https://www.xmanagerapp.com/ for android. This will unlock Spotify premium. Yes, it's piracy. No, I am not looking to have a discussion about the morality of it all. Fact is, streaming pays like shit, and that's for the really big guys. Most of that cash is going to big labels and Spotify. I don't care. Go to 1 concert of an artist you like (especially if they're small) and you'll have given the more money with your ticket than they will ever make off your streams in your entire lifetime.
Just to add on this - if you really like an artist, consider buying something from their website, bandcamp, or patreon.
This is the way. I think a lot of people avoid doing this because it makes them feel unprincipled - buying one album makes them feel bad that they don't buy every album they listen to, instead of streaming or pirating. But one is better than none, and even if your contribution is small, the contributions of everyone in aggregate may still be significant.
Personally, I buy about 1 in 10 albums I download. There are some factors that make me more likely to purchase an album - if it's from an artist I am already a fan of, and feel I can trust; if it sounds phenomenally good when I do a preview listen on Bandcamp; if it's a small artist with few Bandcamp supporters, for whom my individual purchase will probably provide a greater feeling of happiness; if the album is 'pay what you want' and I can decide what price is reasonable to me. But all of these factors result in an essentially random choice compared to what albums other people are likely to buy.
So, I like to think that the albums I end up pirating are being purchased by other likeminded people with different musical tastes and purchase-factors. In that sense, artists can count on certain percentage of their album downloads coming from purchases by someone. And even if this is only 1%, it still results in far more profit than what Spotify pays, which is a fraction of a cent per stream. A single $8 album purchase, after Bandcamp takes its 15%, counts as much as 1 to 2 thousand Spotify streams.
For those on Linux, you can use SpotX and Spicetify to mod the client, disabling ads and modding the skin/features. You need the native spotify client for this, snap won't cut it.
It's been an open secret for a loooong time that one can directly download the unencrypted ogg files from inside the spotify client at either 160kbps or 320kbps if you have premium. The apps to do this are available online for various platforms but I won't link them here.
Grz is right - go to a live show, buy the physical copies of the albums and any band merch there directly. That's the one place where the artists themselves get the lion's share of the cut from the money you spend. Avoid ticketmaster if it is at all possible to do so, they are pure evil.
Learned something new today. Thanks mate.