this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Just wondering out here, cause Im really torn between these two. With Spotify family and Apple One I use both alternately and in both Im missing some parts that the other one have.

  • for Apple Music I mostly lack good new songs suggestion algorithm, because it very often just plays me a song that I would never ever listen to - and that's based on "continue playing" from current playlist.

  • for Spotify I lack Losseless and Spatialise.

in terms of UI, both are somewhat not great

  • Apple Music is cumbersome and hard to navigate to song that is currently playing.
  • Spotify is just too much noise on the screen for me

What are your thoughts?

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago

Apple Music. The initial reason was that my own music was uploaded to be part of it. Along the way I've been using Spotify and many others. Today, I refuse to use Spotify. Why?

  • They pay musicians an even more ridiculously low amount per stream than most other services.
  • They have attempted to leech off the open podcast ecosystem to lure people into theirs and lock them there.
  • They actively pay and host Joe Rogan's lies and bullshit
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apple Music, I listen to lots of unreleased music and iCloud Music Library works so much better than Spotify Local Files. Also just works with all my devices. I don’t love the UI sometimes but it is improving with every update. I don’t really use new music recommendations often but whenever I make a station I usually find it’s ok?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

well, the UI is totally fine on iOS and iPadOS - but on the MacOS it's somewhat archaic for me and waaay behind

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Spotify Premium - because firstly don't care about paying for it as I use it literally every single day and after using it for nearly 10 years the algorithms are perfect when it comes to music recommendations - plus it has a better catalogue as I listen to some pretty obscure non-mainstream dance and jazz/funk music. As for the UI it's fine as I guess I am used to it. As for music sound quality - if I want music sound quality I will listen to my CD collection but for streaming via Bluetooth buds out and about with ANC it's a moot point really....

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I’m on Spotify, but I’d really love to switch to Apple Music for the better sound quality and to stop paying for dumb podcasts I don’t want. The one think keeping me on Spotify is connect. Apple doesn’t have anything comparable. I can be playing music on my Sonos and controlling it from my PC. I can seamlessly transfer what I’m listening from my iPhone to my car. It’s a huge quality of life feature.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

and the problem with this is that Apple will never have this, because Spotify has patent on it and only Spotify will have such feature.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

On the other hand, Spotify doesn’t play nice with the Apple ecosystem. HomePod integration is non-existent for example.

I use Spotify because it has everything I want in terms of music and I’ve used it forever but I’d really like decent HomePod integration at some point.

Unlikely but a man can dream right?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Airplay works that way, but unfortunately it’s only for Apple devices.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tidal. Better audio quality and revenue share than Spotify, plus no Joe Rogan.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Apple Music all the way!

Under the “Listen now” tab, I always get new releases form the artists I like!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

YouTube Music. Apple Music and Spotify are both technically better products, but YouTube Music is free with YouTube Premium and so I can save on a music subscription.

Before I made that call I had picked Spotify as it gave me access to a web player, and just worked better on my Google Home speakers.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Apple Music because it doesn’t shove podcasts down my throat. I also prefer the algorithm on Apple Music over Spotify. Spotify is too safe by only recommending music that I already like, while I have discovered new genres that I now love from using Apple Music. Spotify is just too repetitive in my experience. I do miss the Discover Weekly playlist though. That was the one thing that helped me discover new music on Spotify.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Spotify because I’ve been on it since it was in beta, so my music recommendations are really good. I just don’t really feel like starting over.

I’m also grandfathered in with a deal where I get Hulu with it (Hulu has commercials but whatever, I don’t pay for it), so I don’t really feel like giving that up.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I use Apple Music on GrapheneOS. Here in my country the other lossless streaming services are too damn expensive. Spotify is cheap but doesn't have lossless, and the privacy on Spotify is a nightmare. So that left Apple Music. Although I like the music quality, the rest of the experience is just kinda mid. The algorithm is okay, but the Android app sacrifices too much functionality for looks. Every single action takes one or two more clicks. Wanna heart a song? Hidden behind a menu. Repeat, shuffle? Hidden behind a menu. Sleep timer? ALSO hidden behind a menu. It really is too cumbersome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Apple Music because it’s fully functional/supported across all Apple devices. I have iPhones, iPads, Watches, MacBook, HomePods & Apple TVs. No need to screw around with trying to airplay Spotify to a HomePod when it’s just available natively with Apple Music. Apple Music can be integrated into “scenes” in the Home app. Apple Music can stream over cellular on an Apple Watch. I pay for Apple One Premier and share with 5 family members, FWIW.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'd be subscribed to Apple Music of it were available on more platforms. It's definitely my favourite music streaming service and I've tried A LOT.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I used to prefer Apple Music because the audio quality is higher.

But I've gone back to buying music on iTunes. I don't want to spend the rest of my life paying a subscription for music. I'd rather buy a new album every few months and keep it forever without DRM.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Apple Music because I get it through Apple Family, which includes iCloud storage and Apple TV+.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Spotify:

  1. not linked to Apple ecosystem (which I don't use at all). not part of any of the other big corps (Google, Amazon) trying get full control of our digital life.
  2. properly multi-platform. has a Linux client
  3. cheap enough, no ads. advertise
  4. great family plan, the best of all subscription services I have seen. Single payment, but each family member has their own separate account with their own password, not just a profile like on Netflix
  5. most of the music I care about is available there
  6. great remote control between different Spotify apps and devices. When I start Spotify on my Linux box I can control it with my Android phone, just like that
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Spotify with a family deal. Recommendations and daily playlists make the difference

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Spotify because the duo subscription.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Using Spotify Premium, and thanks to it I discovered a lot of great artists (just recently Yosi Horikawa) Once I switch to iPhone, I might give Apple Music a try.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Kind of in the same boat right now. I'm using Apple Music right now for the following:

  • Lossless should be the base level at this point, not a premium.
  • The library management in Apple Music is way superior to Spotify, especially for uploading local files. Going to upload some Bandcamp stuff to my Apple Music library in the future.
  • I have an issue on Spotify for Android where my 10k+ liked songs list slows to a crawl. This doesn't happen to Apple Music. Yeah, it's choppy when scrolling but I'd rather that than Spotify taking seconds to load the list.

Though it's not perfect...

  • there's no Linux client at all, and though Cider is a great effort there's some things that I miss using it (gapless playback is one, it's essential for album listeners like myself) so I'm having to install a Windows VM to run Apple Music.
  • There's some weird gaps in some artists' libraries. I listen to quite a bit of Kaskade, and I find it weird that some of his music isn't on Apple Music in the UK even though it is on Spotify.
  • Scrobbling is an issue. I actually coded a manual scrobbler plugin for MusicBrainz Picard to deal with this.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I use Spotify.

I used to go back and forth a lot but I think I'm sticking with spotify.

I like the design of Apple Music but their recommendations suck.

I find most of my new music by using a button on spotify that's called enhanced shuffle or something. but you click it on a playlist and it will insert random recommendations that you can easily add to the playlist if you like it.

i love it cause it just mixes it in with your regular music so you can really tell if it flows nicely in that playlist or if it kills the vibe a little.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I use both but overall prefer Apple.

It is very nice to just open my Library tab by default without any pop ups or ads/suggestions/promotional anything.

Also prefer the way Apple implements the way you go back to the main album/list.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have both and like Spotify better. It‘s WAY easier to navigate. It‘s also possible to listen/resume on several devices (eg. switch from iPhone to Mac to Alexa to TV etc.) without interrupting or restarting the playlist.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Apple Music because it's part of my Apple One subscription. I'd use it over Spotify regardless.

I only pay for one other music related subscription...SiriusXM

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Apple Music because I live in the Apple ecosystem and have been in iTunes since the beginning. I tried out Spotify with each redesign. I did not like their interfaces at all. The only thing I found that is better in Spotify (for my needs) is they have way better and more user-generated playlists. That's one thing I miss in Apple Music, but there are apps that will allow you to copy a playlist across services.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

For me, the dealbreaker with Apple Music is that they nuke your library a few months after you canceled your subscription. I tried it back in the day when it was new and used it happily for some time, but the difficulty of finding new tracks that I like drove me back to Spotify. I then wanted to give AM another try recently, only to find out that my old library was empty. I immediately canceled the AM trial after that…

Also I found that Spotify has a greater pool of niche stuff that I listen to.

The other reasons why I prefer Spotify have already been mentioned:

  • better discoverability of new music
  • better cross platform support (I use both Mac and Windows)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

musi cause I'm broke, but if I wasn't I'd use spotify

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Currently Spotify. Would like to change to stop supporting them (they don’t prioritize development in Apple ecosystem, e.g. HomePod support, audio quality could improve, supporting of podcasters I wish to not support, etc.), BUT my other half enjoys Dax Shepard’s podcast too much.

Fuck you, Dax, for going exclusive on the same platform as Joe Rogan.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Damn I didn’t realize he went exclusive to Spotify. I listen to his podcast but very much on my own time and have like 50+ episodes in my queue I want to listen to someday so didn’t notice.

I tend to really only stay up to date with Conan, Smartless and sports pods

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Spotify since I use ios and android. I also prefer there algorithm more and integrations (discord, samsung watch, etc).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Using Spotify Family and the pricing is fair. I love the Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists. The auto-generated Made for are pretty good too. I absolutely HATE the Apple Watch app. It’s buggy as hell. Whoever is managing that project should be fired. @prwnr

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I like Apple Music. I don’t listen to a lot of music, and it just works for me. I have several HomePod minis and it just works. Also, being able to ask Siri to play something while I’m in the car is very important to me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I use Apple Music. I don't mind the app menus and have a fairly good grasp on where everything is now. The real draws are Apple Music Classic's new app, spatial surround sound and lossless audio. In addition, it comes with my Apple One subscription and makes it that much of a better deal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

There is one nit feature that is making me hold on to Spotify — sync “Now Playing” queue among devices. Also its extension, control music playback of a device from another device.

These are features that I use day to day, and in the 3 months I used Apple Music, I was reminded of its absence every time.

The discovery algorithm used by Spotify is also better but the aforementioned features inhibit Apple Music’s UX enough to make me not use it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Apple Music. I have a very large library and am an album listener. AM is much better at library organization for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Spotify just because I've been using it almost since it came out and especially because Apple Music is absolute chaos for scrobbling to last.fm

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

last.fm! That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There are dozens of us still using it! I don't quite get how they haven't shut down yet but I'm not complaining, I get to have a music listening history database across streaming platforms and mediums, just for that feature I find it so incredibly useful.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Maybe I should dust off my account.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've used both Spotify premium (for 3 years) then switched to Apple Music to try it, keep it for a couple of months, back to Spotify premium, then finally back to Apple Music. In my opinion Spotify has better suggestions, but it may be because I used it for longer, but I hate the app and if your privacy conscious it's a nightmare. Apple Music has a superior audio quality in the base plan, if you are on an Apple system it's worth the price for its integration and at least your not selling your data to others as much as spotify. I think both web interfaces works really well anyway, if you don't like the apps

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Spotify. I'm on a duo plan at $13/mo which is my ideal price point versus need. Apple Music only has individual or family plans, and the family plan is $17/mo.

I like Spotify's recommendations and the overall style of its app. That being said, I'm sure Apple Music is much better for privacy-oriented folks, given how much data Spotify seems to collect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use Apple One family premier:

https://www.apple.com/apple-one/

Having lots of iCloud storage is handy, and I use the other services.

Also, unless things have changed, Apple pays artists more than Spotify.

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