7 Reasons why Spotify is better than Apple Music

Spotify finally landed in South Africa just less than a month ago. I have always been an avid Apple Music fan but after trying out Spotify for a few weeks I could tell why the rest of the world considered this to be the best music streaming service.

1. Spotify allows an unlimited amount of devices to be connected to a single Spotify premium account.

While you can only listen on one device at a time it is still a handy feature for anyone with multiple devices (laptop, cellphone, tablet) or if you need to use a friend's device. Apple Music only allows up to 6 devices. For the average user you most likely will not exceed 6 devices so this will not be a dealbreaker but it is nice not having to count how many devices you are using.

2. Spotify allows a seamless transition from one device to another.

This particular feature adds to the unlimited devices of Spotify perfectly. If listening to Spotify on one device say your cellphone but you would like to move over to your laptop you can simply open up the Spotify app on your laptop and it will pick up your other device. This then continues playing the exact playlist and song through the new device (The devices must be connected to the internet for this to work). I find this to be the most convenient feature and one of the main reasons I would use Spotify over Apple Music.

3. The Discovery tab.

This tab gives users recommendations of music they might enjoy based on what they have been listening to. While Apple Music has a similar feature in the form of the For You tab, I was impressed with how quickly Spotify gave me recommendations. After just a few days of listening I was given artist, album and playlist recommendations which weren't too far off. This feature is very similar to Apple Music so I would not switch on this alone.

4. Curated Playlists made for you.

After listening to music on Spotify for a few weeks a daily mix will be created with songs you like and new recommendations. This mix is endless and you can let it play continuously. The first mix made for me was pretty inaccurate and if you skip too many songs it starts playing the same songs over again however, after a few weeks, about four daily mixes were made for me each updated and changed everyday. Since I listen to so many genres a mix was made for each genre and its become extremely accurate. I hardly need to skip and therefore, have four endless playlists to listen to. This is by far my favorite feature and I've found many new songs and artists through this. Apple Music has something similar in that they create playlists for you as well. These playlists are not endless and consist of 25 songs. This feature compares quite well to Spotify however it lacks in accuracy at times and I do wish they would add more songs to it.

5. Music Stations.

The Spotify app for Windows includes this feature. These stations basically work as a radio station but what makes it even better is you can search an artist, song, album or genre and it will generate a station. These stations then consist of songs similar to what you searched and includes other songs from that artist or genre. It also generates songs based on what you listen to. This ensures a playlist that you will enjoy. It works similar to the daily mixes as its an endless mix. Apple Music has multiple radio stations but you have to choose from the stations given to you. This is a feature I didn't ever feel the need to explore much when using Apple Music.

6. Music Quality.

Spotify allows you to choose the quality of your music ranging from normal to high quality. This will not really affect average users but for those users who have expensive audio devices such as speakers and headphones, any hint of distortion will be picked up on. Therefore, this is a great feature to have.

7. The Concert Tab.

Included on the Spotify App is the concerts tab. This is a helpful feature for all music lovers as Spotify picks up on your location and then suggests concerts in your area. It gives you the time, date and venue of the concert and provides a link for you to buy a ticket.

Those are just some of the reasons why I find Spotify better than Apple Music. Price wise for most people the price of Spotify remains the same as Apple Music at R60 pm. For students on Apple Music who received a discount of R30, at the moment Spotify does not have this student discount and you will therefore have to pay the full R60 pm.

Spotify does have more features than Apple Music but with any music streaming service it is completely up to the user to decide which service they are the most happy with. Both Apple Music and Spotify have free trials and I would recommend trying it both out first before committing to one.

And if both of these streaming services do not work for you there is also the slightly less popular options of Deezer and Google Play Music.

*All features mentioned are that of the Spotify Premium and may not be included in the free membership.

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