Honestly, I can't imagine switching to Apple Music. Speaking as a guy who owns an iPhone and a Mac. I love being able to smoothly control playback from any device. I love how seamless the experience is, I've only tried the Apple Music Trial when it first came out and I can't see any possible reason to switch to it now.
Spotify is excellent for music discovery, and I love the top songs and everything. It's perfect. It's the kind of software I wish I could make someday.
I live in a fully Mac/iOS household, and I had no idea until I saw this article that Apple Music was a thing that competes with Spotify. That's probably due to iTunes and iCloud being such a confusing mess that I just don't use Apple services and I haven't launched those apps in years.
Another perspective: I am less concerned with music discovery or seamless device hand-offs. I know what I want to listen to. As a former club DJ, I accrued a large amount of records that are simply unavailable via streaming networks. I recently starting ripping a lot of those vinyl records to mp3. I have tried spotify, google play music, and Apple Music. Apple Music is the clear winner when it comes to the importing, tagging, artwork curation workflow. I am really enjoying building my up library from scratch (forgive the pun).
I feel like the only person on the planet who finds spotify annoying and its library shallow. I really am not trying to sound pretentious.
Full disclosure I say this as someone who doesn't pay for their service, so I don't know how it is if you do, but if you shuffle play an artist- it will automatically play suggested songs. This makes 0 sense to me. I specifically wanted to listen to that artist and if I wanted suggestions why wouldn't it simply have an additional button for suggestion songs in addition to shuffling songs by the artist?
This is why I normally stay away from Apple services. My household runs on an eclectic mix of Android and Apple devices, and this is exactly how we like it. Google seems to have embraced the presence of Apple devices in its ecosystem, so why not the other way around?
It’s really interesting you say that to me because one of the reasons I loathed Spotify (aside from its awful UI) is that music discovery was so achingly bad.
IMO - Pandora > Apple Music > Spotify for discovery at least.
Then again I like that Apple Music throws me a curveball occasionally, it’s usually something I wouldn’t expect but quite like.
I tried Apple Music for 6 months, and spent that time diligently training it to my tastes. My latest "favourites mix" had 12 songs that I had to mark as "dislike" after all that training. Likewise the "for you"playlists are garbage - just because I like a couple of songs by guitar bands doesn't mean I want to listen to hours and hours of them.
Apple Music on Apple Watch 3 is amazing - leaving a phone at home is strangely liberating.
But, for me, the big advantage of Spotify is I don't always need to think about what I want to listen to - I can pick an artist and listen or I can be lazy and just hit a Daily Mix which plays stuff I really like. Asking Apple Music to play "some reggae" or whatever invariably ends up with it playing a load of music I really don't like, even after all that training.
> the big advantage of Spotify is I don't always need to think about what I want to listen to
This is huge when I'm trying to stay in the flow while programming. Spotify is like a personal DJ that really groks how I work, especially now that it silently continues playing matching tracks when a playlist ends.
With Apple Music, I ended up switching back to iTunes at least once an hour. I really hope they won't be able to crush Spotify.
I totally agree with this sentiment. The auto-generated lists on Apple music suck compared to Spotify. I do think the curated stuff on Apple music is formidable but that's about it. For people who want to discover music...spotify is still the way to go. Apple is just really good at shoving their stuff on people. Spotify has no ecosystem to leverage like apple
> But, for me, the big advantage of Spotify is I don't always need to think about what I want to listen to
I haven't tried Apple Music but I do listen to Spotify. What is highly dislike is that it's so terrible about suggesting or playing songs. I don't think it's good at all. Further, the shuffle doesn't seem to shuffle well enough (often seems to play in a similar order).
I'm terrible at knowing artists, song names, etc. I've noticed people liking Spotify often know the names or various artists plus create their own playlists. I think it's all terrible.
Same for e.g. listening to songs. I might be in the mood for some salsa songs. Spotify will have me listen to Salsa songs for hours on end. It should be way smarter. Some slow songs, then some quicker.. but not too sudden, etc.
I don't want to pay for Spotify because of this. It's terrible in song selection IMO.
I'm on the same boat. My 3 month trial for Apple Music just ended and switched back to Spotify. Most of the time I don't want to bother to choose what I listen to and for that the discovery features in Spotify just seem to work.
Google Play has really misogynistic algos, it seems to get really hung up on the gender of an artist.
Want to listen to artists like a female? Then obviously you only want to listen to female artists! I once tried it on a few different female artists, Tori Amos, Laura Marling, etc. It really just focuses in on the gender, which is annoying as I just want to listen to the genre.
A slight loophole - If you can find a way to pay your Spotify subscription through a supported country (e.g. US card/billing address), then there are no restrictions on where you use it[1], unlike Netflix for example who do geo blocking.
This. This is the only reason I continue to tolerate Apple Music. My job requires me to travel extensively across countries. With Apple Music, I can be assured that music in my playlists works across countries.
When am in the US, I honestly find YouTube Music to be the best (probably since it has a lot of my listening data already hence gets the prediction accurate). But Apple Music still remains the only music subscription I pay for.
This. Definitely, only Apple music and Tidal accept world wide subscribers. We (third world countries) also have internet and valid credit cards to buy whatever we want as like US citizens, what make others discriminate regions?
I have very few complaints about apple music, and most of them are because I regard the Atomic Unit Of Music to be the studio album.
1. No Tool. :(
2. No easy way to reorder search results to be album first.
3. Date of original album release is buried.
4. Hard to filter by "studio album" vs "live album" vs
"compilation album" vs "greatest hits album".
5. Siri can't help; "play me the third album by the rolling stones" doesn't help, and neither do i have a voice-controlled "tell me what the album names by X are and let me pick one" interface.
My impression is that no streaming service does these things.
Sad. The UI of Spotify is much better - less taps to get where you want to go, dark theme, and it actually has song handoff between devices and a dedicated desktop app for the Mac, none of which Apple Music has. I can't help but think this is because of Apple's monopolistic practice of only allowing Apple Music to integrate with Siri.
I like I'm sure many predicted this would be inevitable regardless how better one product is over another. At the end of the day Spotify can't compete with Apple's budget, and music streaming isn't a long term profitable business on it's own. I love Apple and deep into their ecosystem. However, certainly not a fan of Apple Music. When using on the Mac iTunes is rather horrific since everytime I search it searches local music rather than Apple Music or vice versa, or its in the Podcast tab, etc. They need a dedicated Music app for Mac and universal search without the iTunes store. I'm sure they are moving towards this but until then rather miserable. The Spotify app isn't as clean looking but is much more practical and enjoyable to use. Finally, Apple is about curated playlists, where is Spotify is about algorithms which in my experience is the better route. So while Spotify maybe the better product, at the end of the day, Apple Music is more seamless for people in the Apple Ecosystem of Siri, HomePod, AppleTV and all and in the end will win out. Let's hope Spotify stay's long enough to make Apple Music better.
Forgot to add, that personally, I love YouTube Music. The algorithms and search and pool of countless remixes, live performances and old videos/music not on other places is unmatched. It lacks the Apple Ecosystem benefit, but is a hidden gem
I have grown increasingly disgusted with Spotify pushing a political agenda inside their app. The last place I want to have politics shoved in my face is my music streaming service, whether I agree with the stance or not. Yet it seems, at least once a month, the banner of the desktop app is decidedly pushing a playlist promoting one side of the political agenda du jour.
With them recently banning the personal playlist of a conservative Australian senator, simply because they don't agree with his politics[0], I'm about ready to jump ship.
"pushing political agenda"
"politics shoved in my face"
"don't agree with his politics"
It's always the same boring meme phrases.
I know that having a persecution complex is effective politicking but it comes off immature.
I read the article you posted.
You should understand that an individual artist is more important to Spotify than an individual user to Spotify.
Especially artists like: Men At Work and Savage Garden
The playlist was called Australian Conservatives and was a public playlist. If you're advertising it, then it's not personal.
Normally if you want music associated with your brand, a company or political party has to pay. And artists have the right to refuse.
It looks like Darren Hayes posted this:
Hi @CoryBernadi and @AuConservatives. I do not want to be associated with you, your party or your views. Remove my music from this stunt or expect contact from my publisher.
Responding like this doesn't really work in the real world:
“Get over yourself darrenhayes. Music is for everyone.” Bernardi tweeted.
It looks like the senator breached terms and conditions by trying to use songs to promote HIS agenda and the artists objected, and Spotify doesn't allow that anyway, so canned his playlist.
I’ve been an unhappy subscriber since it started. Siri commands and Apple Music are essential when driving and thus I’m stuck with it(only use it while driving which is frequently).
After three years it still sucks for me because...
- bloated UX
- try asking Siri to play all your “Recently Added,” songs without creating a new playlist.
- how can I discover new music when driving? I can ask Siri play similar songs to current song playing but what I need is Apple Music to shuffle all my songs and randomly add new/similar songs that compare to my entire and eclectic song playlist.
- there are instances where Apple Music/Siri plays non-copyrighted songs ie. cheesy horrible and lame covers of public domain Xmas songs. Makes me feel ripped off
Spotify is better but totally unsafe to use while driving vs. Crapple Music.
I’m also stuck with the service due to the hands-free control with Siri. The cheesy/horrible/lame/non-copyrighted songs are awful and made worse by the fact that my kid will ask for nursery rhymes and you never know which version you’ll get because it doesn’t consistently play the same one.
> Globally, however, Spotify remains in a league of its own, with nearly twice as many paid subscribers than No. 2 Apple, and slightly faster subscriber growth.
I mean Spotify has been around a lot longer. Is it weird that new users aren't growing as fast if it already held the majority?
This is depressing, and I don't get why customers are so fanatically loyal to a service that's consistently trailing the industry in features, security, and has a bad habit of deleting people's music or "forgetting" their accounts.
One big disadvantage of Apple Music to me is I still can't listen to Apple Music through a browser without iTunes easily.
It's just so much more convenient you can just use a incognito Chrome session on friend's PC and start streaming, as comparing to install/logout/login/logout (which is referred as "mobile/app first" experience nowadays).
In Australia apple music is given away for free with a few of our mobile providers for free. Is the same in the USA? I dont know a single apple music user in Australia. Spotify is a much better user experience.
I had it free with Telstra too. Sadly this breaches net neutrality rules and shouldn't be encouraged. I eventually moved to Spotify and pay for that instead.
This is a much better strategy by Apple, than Microsoft’s strategy against Netscape in the 90’s. Here, Apple charges consumers the market price [1]. Microsoft on the other hand gave away its browser for FREE. Free is better for consumers but it sparked antitrust backlash. Apple just let time play to its distribution advantage.
[1] The $ are the same for consumers but not for Spotify. It loses margin because of the App Store’s high take rate. As a result, Apple Music makes more than Spotify on a per consumer basis, even at the same price
I rarely read the full thread on HN but read this one to see if anyone had mentioned Echo or Alexa-enabled devices. Surprising that no one did, esp given how many they have sold.
We are an Apple household primarily but also have a Google Home and recently bought an Alexa-enabled car charger (Anker/Roav Viva). The only service that will work across the board is Spotify. In that regard Spotify is like Netflix -- available on every device.
Gonna be hard to pull me from Spotify. With the Capital One Quicksilver 50% off deal I get the family plan for $7.99 a month (5 users for less than the regular price for 1 user)
At times I’m tempted to give Apple Music a shot because I admire some of the UI differences – but my wife is an Android user and she loves Spotify as well.
It’s really the most well-rounded and accesssible solution right now.
And it is not only Japanese, but most of South East Asia. if Apple Music already wasn't better then Spotify, this make it worst.
In the old days, Apple was all about being the best to win. Not it has become being good enough to win, and to make the matter worst they stop improving it after they won.
[+] [-] sanjeetsuhag|8 years ago|reply
Spotify is excellent for music discovery, and I love the top songs and everything. It's perfect. It's the kind of software I wish I could make someday.
[+] [-] sgustard|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yeahdef|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rxhernandez|8 years ago|reply
- IT doesn't block it at work(it blocks spotify)
- I don't have to install anything
- I don't see ads on youtube
- it has all of my music that came from CDs backed up to it
- I regularly discover new music through their Radio feature so long as the artist/song isn't super popular
[+] [-] tjr225|8 years ago|reply
Full disclosure I say this as someone who doesn't pay for their service, so I don't know how it is if you do, but if you shuffle play an artist- it will automatically play suggested songs. This makes 0 sense to me. I specifically wanted to listen to that artist and if I wanted suggestions why wouldn't it simply have an additional button for suggestion songs in addition to shuffling songs by the artist?
[+] [-] yash1th|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxaf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abritinthebay|8 years ago|reply
IMO - Pandora > Apple Music > Spotify for discovery at least.
Then again I like that Apple Music throws me a curveball occasionally, it’s usually something I wouldn’t expect but quite like.
Which, to me, is the point. YMMV ofc.
[+] [-] aantix|8 years ago|reply
And the app plays in the background on your phone. Working out, whatever, you have any video/music production at your disposal.
[+] [-] rahoulb|8 years ago|reply
Apple Music on Apple Watch 3 is amazing - leaving a phone at home is strangely liberating.
But, for me, the big advantage of Spotify is I don't always need to think about what I want to listen to - I can pick an artist and listen or I can be lazy and just hit a Daily Mix which plays stuff I really like. Asking Apple Music to play "some reggae" or whatever invariably ends up with it playing a load of music I really don't like, even after all that training.
[+] [-] gurkendoktor|8 years ago|reply
This is huge when I'm trying to stay in the flow while programming. Spotify is like a personal DJ that really groks how I work, especially now that it silently continues playing matching tracks when a playlist ends.
With Apple Music, I ended up switching back to iTunes at least once an hour. I really hope they won't be able to crush Spotify.
[+] [-] adim86|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bkor|8 years ago|reply
I haven't tried Apple Music but I do listen to Spotify. What is highly dislike is that it's so terrible about suggesting or playing songs. I don't think it's good at all. Further, the shuffle doesn't seem to shuffle well enough (often seems to play in a similar order).
I'm terrible at knowing artists, song names, etc. I've noticed people liking Spotify often know the names or various artists plus create their own playlists. I think it's all terrible.
Same for e.g. listening to songs. I might be in the mood for some salsa songs. Spotify will have me listen to Salsa songs for hours on end. It should be way smarter. Some slow songs, then some quicker.. but not too sudden, etc.
I don't want to pay for Spotify because of this. It's terrible in song selection IMO.
[+] [-] doikor|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattmanser|8 years ago|reply
Want to listen to artists like a female? Then obviously you only want to listen to female artists! I once tried it on a few different female artists, Tori Amos, Laura Marling, etc. It really just focuses in on the gender, which is annoying as I just want to listen to the genre.
[+] [-] freddie_mercury|8 years ago|reply
Google Play (after years) still doesn't exist in the country I live in.
Apple Music has been available from day one.
They also have country-specific pricing, instead of expecting the right price for Americans to be the right price for a developing country.
[+] [-] snowwolf|8 years ago|reply
[1] https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/system_settings...
[+] [-] ashraymalhotra|8 years ago|reply
When am in the US, I honestly find YouTube Music to be the best (probably since it has a lot of my listening data already hence gets the prediction accurate). But Apple Music still remains the only music subscription I pay for.
[+] [-] a012|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] slezyr|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hprotagonist|8 years ago|reply
1. No Tool. :(
2. No easy way to reorder search results to be album first.
3. Date of original album release is buried.
4. Hard to filter by "studio album" vs "live album" vs "compilation album" vs "greatest hits album".
5. Siri can't help; "play me the third album by the rolling stones" doesn't help, and neither do i have a voice-controlled "tell me what the album names by X are and let me pick one" interface.
My impression is that no streaming service does these things.
[+] [-] ClassyJacket|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dfischer|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CamperBob2|8 years ago|reply
Yeah, that goes great with my dark desktop. I love not knowing where the Spotify window actually is.
/s
[+] [-] heavymark|8 years ago|reply
Forgot to add, that personally, I love YouTube Music. The algorithms and search and pool of countless remixes, live performances and old videos/music not on other places is unmatched. It lacks the Apple Ecosystem benefit, but is a hidden gem
[+] [-] fortythirteen|8 years ago|reply
With them recently banning the personal playlist of a conservative Australian senator, simply because they don't agree with his politics[0], I'm about ready to jump ship.
[0] - https://thewest.com.au/politics/federal-politics/spotify-ban...
[+] [-] Jonnax|8 years ago|reply
It's always the same boring meme phrases. I know that having a persecution complex is effective politicking but it comes off immature.
I read the article you posted. You should understand that an individual artist is more important to Spotify than an individual user to Spotify. Especially artists like: Men At Work and Savage Garden
The playlist was called Australian Conservatives and was a public playlist. If you're advertising it, then it's not personal. Normally if you want music associated with your brand, a company or political party has to pay. And artists have the right to refuse.
It looks like Darren Hayes posted this:
Hi @CoryBernadi and @AuConservatives. I do not want to be associated with you, your party or your views. Remove my music from this stunt or expect contact from my publisher.
Responding like this doesn't really work in the real world:
“Get over yourself darrenhayes. Music is for everyone.” Bernardi tweeted.
[+] [-] chrisgd|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vr46|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paul7986|8 years ago|reply
After three years it still sucks for me because...
- bloated UX
- try asking Siri to play all your “Recently Added,” songs without creating a new playlist.
- how can I discover new music when driving? I can ask Siri play similar songs to current song playing but what I need is Apple Music to shuffle all my songs and randomly add new/similar songs that compare to my entire and eclectic song playlist.
- there are instances where Apple Music/Siri plays non-copyrighted songs ie. cheesy horrible and lame covers of public domain Xmas songs. Makes me feel ripped off
Spotify is better but totally unsafe to use while driving vs. Crapple Music.
[+] [-] ClassyJacket|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] finaliteration|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1123581321|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xirdstl|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jakereps|8 years ago|reply
I mean Spotify has been around a lot longer. Is it weird that new users aren't growing as fast if it already held the majority?
[+] [-] rahulchowdhury|8 years ago|reply
Can't even think of switching back to Apple Music after witnessing Spotify's magic.
I guess the recommendation system will keep on giving an extra edge to Spotify over the years to come.
[+] [-] KozmoNau7|8 years ago|reply
Add to this that Spotify's auto playlists are a hell of a lot better than Apple's, and I really don't understand why people bother with Apple Music.
[+] [-] KirinDave|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freewizard|8 years ago|reply
It's just so much more convenient you can just use a incognito Chrome session on friend's PC and start streaming, as comparing to install/logout/login/logout (which is referred as "mobile/app first" experience nowadays).
[+] [-] seanvk|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mexicanandre|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pxeboot|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] movedx|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vm|8 years ago|reply
[1] The $ are the same for consumers but not for Spotify. It loses margin because of the App Store’s high take rate. As a result, Apple Music makes more than Spotify on a per consumer basis, even at the same price
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_C....
[+] [-] putlake|8 years ago|reply
We are an Apple household primarily but also have a Google Home and recently bought an Alexa-enabled car charger (Anker/Roav Viva). The only service that will work across the board is Spotify. In that regard Spotify is like Netflix -- available on every device.
[+] [-] ethiclub|8 years ago|reply
- Fix Prime's song catalogue size issue (still an issue?)
- Grab massive market share and upsell/bundle other services
- Provide bargaining power to Spotify - Get access to very advanced IP
- Integrate with voice ui further (i.e. smarter voice commands including play list creations, complex requests and vague requests)
- Clock / alarm integration for music upon wake from echo/dot
- Fix profitability concerns of Spotify's revenue stream
- Provide high quality music, podcast services etc. alongside their soon-to-be-formidable film offering
- Use Spotify's algorithms and data to potentially improve film/tv recommendations and discovery
- Provide the gateway to becoming a record label, thereby cutting out the middle men à la netflix/Amazon film strategy of content creation
Would anyone more knowledgeable be able to comment further or point out flaws with this theory?
[+] [-] whalesalad|8 years ago|reply
At times I’m tempted to give Apple Music a shot because I admire some of the UI differences – but my wife is an Android user and she loves Spotify as well.
It’s really the most well-rounded and accesssible solution right now.
[+] [-] MarkSweep|8 years ago|reply
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.andr...
Anyone have any idea if it is any good?
[+] [-] ksec|8 years ago|reply
I have heard Apple Music in UK or US are great. That is when only one languages is being used, and mostly English.
Whenever Apple Music has to deal with two lanagueges, it sucks.
https://atadistance.net/2018/02/04/homepod-and-the-apple-mus...
And it is not only Japanese, but most of South East Asia. if Apple Music already wasn't better then Spotify, this make it worst.
In the old days, Apple was all about being the best to win. Not it has become being good enough to win, and to make the matter worst they stop improving it after they won.
[+] [-] statictype|8 years ago|reply
Apple Music was the first music subscription service to work in my country and did so pretty much as soon as it came out.
A few months later it got support for my Sonos.
Done and done.
Spotify may be better but I'll never know now.