If you are a music fan, there are basically two options: Spotify and Apple Music. Of course, there are other music streaming services – Tidal, Amazon Music, Qobux – but if you want access to as much music as possible, Spotify and Apple Music are above the rest.
But just because they’re the two best services doesn’t mean one doesn’t have advantages over the other. Apple Music may have gotten off to a rocky start, but if you haven’t checked it out in a while, there are plenty of reasons to consider deleting your Spotify Premium account and signing up for Apple Music. Here are six:
Apple Classical Music
The new Apple Music feature is actually a whole new application dedicated to classical music. Included free with Individual and Family subscriptions, the Apple Music Classical app includes more than 5 million classical music tracks, with “hundreds of Essentials playlists, insightful composer biographies, in-depth guides to many key works and intuitive navigation features”. If classical music is your thing, you won’t find anything on Spotify that comes close.
Descriptions of albums and songs
For years, Spotify has been the best place to discover new artists, but Apple Music has come a long way. From radio stations to playlists, Apple Music is a great place to find new music and learn a little more about the music you love. Click inside an album and you’ll find an informative description that adds context to the recording, artist information, and a track-by-track breakdown for certain albums. It’s a fantastic way to get to know a new artist beyond the songs you listen to and helps you appreciate the work while exploring their music.
A more user-friendly interface
Much like music, user interfaces are in the eye of the beholder, but Apple Music does a great job of putting new music, old favorites, and related artists into a great interface that’s easy to navigate at a glance. Spotify, on the other hand, is going through something of an identity crisis with a recent UI overhaul that brings “a more active experience with advanced recommendations, a spotlight on visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive”. Some might like it, but it definitely needs some work.
Apple Music, on the other hand, has slowly refined its interface into a smart and responsive interface. Music that I really want to hear, probably want to hear, and might want to hear is accessible without getting in the way. The Listen tab does a great job of collecting artists and genres I like, and the Browse tab has a great mix of playlists, new releases, and events I might have missed. . For example, on the Monday after Taylor Swift’s Eras tour started, there was an official playlist of her entire setlist as soon as I launched the app. Many people have created similar playlists on Spotify, but you have to search for them.
Apple Music sing
In December, Apple launched a new feature called Apple Music Sing which essentially turns your iPhone or Apple TV into a karaoke machine with real-time animated lyrics and the amazing ability to adjust the voice to make it a solo or a duo. Considering that high-quality machines cost hundreds of dollars, that’s probably reason enough to switch if you like karaoke.
HomePod
Now that the full-size HomePod is back, it’s the best way to listen to Apple Music. While you can listen to Spotify on any number of smart speakers, HomePod gives Apple Music subscribers a sleek, fully integrated speaker with amazing sound you can’t get anywhere else.
Audio quality
In 2021, Apple introduced lossless Hi-Res Audio in Apple Music, making almost all tracks available at a maximum resolution of 24-bit/192kHz versus 24-bit/48kHz for ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) and 16-bit /44.1 kHz (CD quality). Despite promising a similar service for years, Spotify offers nothing close to that quality, hitting 320kbps for Premium subscribers. Your ears may not be able to tell the difference, but we still prefer to spend our money on the highest quality service possible.
Speaking of money, Apple Music costs $10.99/£10.99 per month for an individual subscription or $16.99/£16.99 per month for a family subscription with up to six people. There’s also a student plan for $5.99/£5.99 and a Limited Voice option for $4.99/£4.99. Apple also offers several ways to get free Apple Music if you want to try it out before giving up your Spotify subscription.
