Spotify vs Apple Music: The Biggest Music Streaming Services Compared

Today we’re going to be comparing Spotify and Apple Music head to head to tell you which service is better in 2022.

We'll be comparing the following four categories:
👉 Audio Quality
👉 Compatibility
👉 Music Discovery
👉 Price/Value.

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[matthewryan]

I seem to be going back and forth between the platforms. Because when it comes to discovering new artists, new playlists under my favorite genres, Spotify was able to do that for me. On top of that, you could control your music no matter what platform that you are on. PC, PlayStation, car LCD, and more.

[fobz]

I was a spotify user for 8 yrs+, made the change to Apple Music. I can’t believe I didn’t switch sooner.

[sillvvasensei]

There's a hidden music recommendation feature in Apple Music. If you turn off shuffle and repeat and play the last song in a playlist, it will start playing similar songs to what is in your playlist after that song. These recommendations are generally better than your personal "New Music Mix" playlist.

[kennethwalton]

I've had both and I prefer Apple Music, they just have more of the music that I like and I think it sounds better.

[i_Lunardi]

I always lean more towards Spotify it’s such a social music stream all tho Apple Music has become better over the years and the apple one is a great value.

[danhiggins]

I currently use both. I prefer the quality of Apple Music for my Hi Fi system and I am mostly invested in the Apple ecosystem except of one thing. I use a BluSound streamer and it has Spotify Connect. So very convenient! Yes, I can use Airplay but with Airplay I need to keep whatever music playing app I have running going on my Mac, iPad or iPhone. With Spotify Connect, I can start up a playlist, set it to run on one of my BluSound devices and then turn off my phone. I can then control the volume, advance songs, switch BluSound devices (or merge them) all without having Apple Music running. That said, I have been somewhat frustrated with Spotify's music recommendations. And if I forget to turn off recommendations for a playlist I create Spotify throws in a bunch of songs that I then need to delete. I also found that Spotify seemed to prefer live performances which some people may love but not me. Soooo. What I do now is use Spotify to create a playlist based on certain criteria. Then I quickly go through that playlist for any new pieces Spotify added that I may be interested in. If I like them they I move over to the Apple Music window and see if Apple Music has it. If so, I add that piece to my Apple Music playlists. Yep. Most people would think I am crazy for going through all that. And if I wasn't using the BluSound streamers or if Apple had something like Spotify Connect I would drop Spotify altogether. But that hasn't happened so I am stuck with a foot in each world.

[tornow]

I use Spotify and YouTube Music, Because when somethings not available on one platform, I find it on another.

[DukeBX]

I remember when Pandora music was a thing.

[Andersljungberg]

The advantage of Apple Music is that it is the same price whether you listen with the highest sound quality or the lowest sound quality, whether it is hi-res or spatial sound

[differencetom]

I would argue that in terms of price/value, Spotify is better for my family because they offer Spotify kids under the family plan so my young kids can listen to age appropriate music and have their own ability to create playlists and enjoy themselves with music. That's worth more than $1 a month

[DanLewisNatsFan]

It's funny this comparison is on YouTube but did NOT address YouTube Music or YouTube Premium. For my viewing and listening preferences, it's YouTube. But I moved my music collection to Google Music a decade ago and when they shut it down and seamlessly moved my collection to YouTube Music, I was sold. No commercials, videos, movies, old TV clips, content creators. I was more of a fan when I also used YouTubeTV for the first three years it was out but then the cost moved into the same price point as cable and they lost me.

[random-pdgf]

yes.
1. library customization is way better in apple music. with diffrent views and star ratinig system.
2. Apple music smart playlist where you can create dynamic playlists based on multiple query criterias (like : genre: house, released later than 2021, exlude artist: Y, BPM: 128, is liked by me, has more than 4 star rating)

[alexluvzfire]

02:45 slightly? Hell no son. It's night and day. Even the volume range is totally noticable. With Spotify i would turn it up louder to try and gear more of the sounds space but turning it up just makes it sounds louder but not clear. With apple music the songs sound much more clear and as you turn it up you can hear the instruments in their own sounds space.
I was a huge Spotify supported for a long time but after hearing better quality audio from other platforms I left them. Even Amazon music has better quality.
Spotify may have a bigger library but sound quality is a huge deal breaker for me.

[taner]

apple music pays its artist slightly better and the ceo seemingly doesn’t spend his money on military organizations which the spotify ceo does

[christochacko]

Apple Pay decent royalties for artists. Choose when you listen.

[MarcP]

Spotify caters to those that are always looking for something new and want the constant change, whereas Apple Music is like looking and listening at your record collection and deciding which one you want to listen to

[pascalhibon]

I've had Spotify in the past but didn't use very much because it was sort of competing with my own personal library (ripped CD's, vinyl and downloads). In the end I cancelled my subscription. I'm currently in a one month free Apple Music subscription. I'll probably will keep the subscription going because it is easy to use when on the road (phone and car). Apple Music also works fine in my home stereo through my Squeezebox system. The sound quality is very good even in my home stereo system. I also like the Siri integration while in my car.

[alexluvzfire]

Doldby works best with home systems with 5.1 set up. Headphone don't have mutiple channels to make the Dolby give the experience it's promoting.

[BillyKueekSG]

I switch to Apple Music because I use MacBook Pro, iPhones and iPad Pros when they introduced lossless and high resolution music. I could find all the music I had in Sportify, except maybe 2 songs. Created my playlists all over but now, I may move to Qobuz so I can use Roon and make better use of my small collection of DACs, headphone amps and headphones. My concerns are whether I can find all the music I want and have to recreate my playlists all over again.

[johnsutton]

Great review. I have Apple and was looking for better playlists. Spotify sounds great!