Sending a song to someone is always a risk.
What if they don’t like it? What if they think you’re trying to make a move? What if they use a different streaming service?
People often debate the advantages of Spotify compared to Apple Music, and according to respected sources, there’s not a lot of difference.
According to The Verge, Spotify has the best services because it is consistent across iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. Apple Music and other services either take longer to roll out Android versions or the app won’t load. Additionally, Spotify is essentially available on all platforms. Spotify also has a downloading option for certain subscriptions, allowing listeners to listen to their music on a plane or locations without using up data.
However, Spotify fails in its performance with a weak connection, it also does not have what Verge calls a “hi-fi option,” which is a high quality sound that reproduces how the artist wants the music to sound, with limited noise and distortion.
Apple Music, according to the Verge, has the element of exclusivity. With many high-level artists using Beats 1—what Apple Music 1 was called before 2020—, the first chance to hear an artist’s work is usually on Apple Music. Additionally, Apple Music has better sound quality for the base level subscription, with Apple Music using an expensive codec—an encoding device which enables faster transmission and decompresses received data— that is difficult to license, while Spotify uses a free codec.
Sound Guys maintain that Spotify Premium still has a better sound quality than Apple Music because Spotify uses a higher level of codec for their web player than their desktop or mobile player. While Spotify’s mobile player uses Ogg Vorbis, the free codec mentioned earlier, its web player uses AAC, which is the same codec Apple Music uses.
If Apple Music nor Spotify tickle your fancy, another streaming platform available is YouTube Music.
General Manager of the Hillsdale College radio station Scot Bertram uses YouTube Music because it pairs easily with his Google Home devices and connects throughout the house.
“When it comes to quality, I always go into the settings and jack it up to the highest level possible,” Bertram said, “I find that YouTube Music’s highest quality level is passable enough, if not perfect.”
The debate comes down to cost. If you’re willing to pay for a subscription, Spotify Premium has better sound quality than Apple Music. However, Apple Music has better base sound quality than the free Spotify.
