Spotify vs. Apple Music vs. No Streaming At All

I just celebrated my first year of converting to the world of streaming, I find it to be a great alternative to a physical library.

I've been using Apple Music, not Spotify- wondering if anyone using Spotfiy who has experience with both platforms can chime in on what the differences are and which you prefer and why.

Those who don't support streaming are more than welcome, perhaps you'll give it a try!

 

I'm a big fan of Spotify because of how it allows you to import music on your computer and put it in playlists. The interface is pretty nice as well and it just seems user friendly.

 

Apple Music pros:
- being able to upload your own CDs
- Essentials, Next Steps, and Deep Cuts playlists are usually thoughtful (although Pink Floyd's Essential is a mess... separating Happiest Days from Brick 2? Really?)

Spotify Premium pros:
- normalization setting (on "quiet") doesn't sound bad and is effective with playlists containing songs with wildly different mastering levels, better than AM's version
- more availability on different platforms
- user-created public playlists are abundant

Both are terrific.

 

What about accessories? Apple has the HomePod smart speaker which sounds terrific. Does Spotify function in an Alexa/Siri type fashion or only as a basic Bluetooth connection?

 

This thread needs more Tidal and Amazon HD (two of the lossless options out there, in the US)

 

I use Amazon Music. I download things I may be interested in to my phone to audition them. If I love what I hear I buy a physical copy. It’s been really useful, I’ve ended up not buying things I would otherwise have bought (when they turn out not to be much cop) and bought great albums I probably wouldn’t have previously taken a chance on.

 

Apologies.

Besides lossless, how do their features stack up to AM and Spotify?

 

I use Pandora on occasion. I also have Amazon Prime, which allows me to stream.

 

Trying to remember all the services I've gone though, over the years. Yahoo Music!, Zune Pass then Rhapsody/Napster for a number of years. Back then it was more about the sampling and discovery as the SQ was OK, but not quite on par with CD.

Finally moved onto Tidal about two years ago, mainly for the lossless option and it was a game changer for me. Suddenly there were albums that I liked...but not so much to buy and I could still get my lossless "just as good as the CD" fix. And I could actually sample what the CD would actually sound like versus a lossy guess, when it came time to purchase. Still trialing Amazon HD and not sure if I plan to keep that, or go back to Tidal.

I don't really need the playlist functionality and uploads aren't critical as I have local storage for that. Both have smartphone apps of course and offline mode which is definitely important when I'm on-the-go and data coverage is problematic.

 

Spotify caps it's "my music"/library function at 10,000 tracks, so it's completely a non-starter for me. I like to maintain a library, even if it's virtual, and then I just hit "shuffle all" in the car or when I want some music on but don't know what I'm in the mood for yet. I think my Apple Music library has about 78,000 tracks in it right now. None of the other services seem to be able to replicate that functionality.

Plus, being able to add missing artists/albums is a really nice feature, so I don't have to have one app for my streaming and another app for bootlegs/non-streaming artists.

 

I have Spotify Premium, which I love. Easy to use, large library, decent sound via Spotify Connect, good interface (except when they mess with it, though they sometimes roll back unpopular changes), always works great. For notably better sound, albeit with a limited library, I use Qubuz for a more hi-fi experience; good source of downloads, though I tend not to do that. I think these services are pretty great, but the appearing and disappearing of my favorite albums from them tethers me still to physical media plus a digital audio player.

 

I stream when I'm in the gym, but I use youtube.

 

That monthly subscription would dig into my cd single fund where I can find better mastering's from what's found on streaming services

 

I find the $10 a month quite affordable, but I can understand if you choose to invest your disposable income elsewhere. If a used CD is $2, how much is a used CD single?

 

78,000 songs, wow, that's huge! For the tracks you upload to Apple Music....any hints on good naming conventions that allow you to access them quickly? Or do you just accept whatever artist/album/song information comes up by default?

 

Depends. Some can go into the 100.00's
Someday down the road I may give it a go, but unfortunately modern remasters are what they use for my favorites.
I can completely understand the appeal and ease these services offer and think it's great

 

I've been using Spotify with my Amazon Alexa for over four years now, it works great. I believe that Spotify works with more devices than the other services, it seems to anyway, I see it everywhere.

 

So you can say "Hey Alexa, play the new Coldplay song" and it will play via Spotify and not Google Music? Is there a way to set one vs. the other in the speaker?

 

My local files are tagged and organized with the maximum possible level of OCD, so they just slide right in. Like, I had to add Yes' Talk and Fly From Here, and they just show up with all my other Yes albums in my Apple Music library.

The only catch is I have to convert them to .aac or whatever before adding them, since all my local files are FLAC. But that's not a huge deal. There's maybe 40 or 50 albums I can't find on streaming at this point.

 

Curious as to people's experience with streaming to mobile devices. I'm new to streaming, but it dawned on me that I get Amazon Music free with my prime subscription. I've gotten 'out of network' error messages several times in the car in locations that weren't exactly the boonies. One poster advised downloading what I want to listen to before leaving home, another questioned whether my experience is typical because he has immaculate reception in the New York metropolitan area. I think streaming is terrific with some caveats. Biggest for me is that a lot of the independent and small label produced music is not available on any streaming services. I expect that will change in the future.

 

Sound quality IS an issue I believe. For instance I have the 2010 Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell. It's got a heavy low end and it's too much on my old system (pioneer DC-player, NAD receiver, DALI speakers) but sounds great in my earbuds on the commuter train. How do I get the right sq via streaming? The loudness war is a general problem: do streaming platforms have different masterings? Do they have the bad new ones from 1996-2010? I don't know yet, but sooner or later I'll find out.

Btw. Thx for starting this thread.

 

I haven't had any problems, but yeah, I definitely suggest keeping some things downloaded. It's super easy to do, and will get you by in those rare instances when your network is borked. I haven't had any problems in my metro area, but they're all different...sometimes too many people in one place, signal being blocked by skyscrapers, etc, can lead to temporary issues. But I always keep a few hundred songs downloaded/sync'd for emergencies.

 

Still $2 . Actually I generally find CD singles get valued slightly higher than albums on the whole. Rarity factor I guess, but I can't personally see the value in buying singles at all. Nice if you're a bit obsessed with an artist, I guess, but th

 

You get what you get. But it's $10 a month, not like, some massive sum of money. And I still keep a lot of vinyl rips/older masterings on my local hard drive. Like, yesterday I listened to Whitesnake's Slip Of The Tongue on my HifiMan headphones and consciously picked a rip of the original '89 CD. But in my car, in my kitchen on the Sonos 3, on the train (if we had trains....sigh), etc, it isn't a big deal to me.

 

if Tidal had the ability to upload music, I’d switch to Tidal in a heartbeat

(unless they have that ability already and then I’ll feel silly)