The basic version is free. If you want to remove ads, play any song at any time, download the music, and more, get Spotify Premium. Get the Spotify app for Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile, Kindle Fire, and your Windows, Linux, or Mac computer. Apps like Spotify: Top 7 Alternative to Spotify for Streaming Music 2019. Deezer is a music streaming website that gives you access to millions of songs and is available on a variety of platforms and devices. Google Play All Access.
It's never been easier to listen to any music you could possibly fathom, no matter where in the world you are, but that doesn't mean the choice of how to do that is easy.
While alternatives like Pandora, Tidal, and Amazon Music exist and have their audiences, it certainly seems like the big battle right now is between Spotify and Apple Music. Spotify has offered a premium subscription for longer, but Apple has picked up considerable steam in recent years.
Which one should you actually use, though?
That's sort of a tough question to answer. Both services cost $10 per month, so it's not a simple math problem. The biggest differences between the two streaming juggernauts exist in the margins, so that's where we'll look as we try to determine who has the better value between Apple Music and Spotify.
What exactly do I get for $10?
The content offerings for the two paid services are remarkably similar. For $10 per month, you get access to tens of millions of on-demand tracks from artists both major and obscure. You'll never hear an ad if you pay for Spotify Premium or Apple Music, either.
On top of that, you can make and share playlists, check out playlists other people have made, and browse official playlists curated by Apple and Spotify. Both services have radio features as well as algorithmic music recommendation, which we'll get into later.
On the surface, using both Spotify Premium and Apple Music is a remarkably similar experience. You'll be fed a bunch of hand-crafted and mathematically generated playlists up front before you most likely just go back to listening to the playlists you made again and again. As such, it's hard to crown a champion based on a bullet-point features list.
Discovery isn't just a Daft Punk album
One of the things that makes streaming services novel is the ease and quickness with which a user can discover new music on them. Both Apple Music and Spotify Premium can help you out here, but I think one service is a bit better than the other.
Spotify's 'Discover Weekly' playlist is one of the service's flagship features. Every week, Spotify will build a playlist of music you may not have heard but you might like, based on what you've been listening to. There's also 'Release Radar,' another regularly updated playlist that feeds you new music from artists you like.
Aside from that, the app will generate several 'Daily Mix' playlists made up of things you've listened to before. Apple Music also brings weekly new music and old favorites playlists, but it feels barebones by comparison. It's totally fine, but just not as good as what Spotify does.
Both services let you browse by genre and mood, with themed playlists centered around holidays and whatnot popping up in both apps from time to time. This really does feel like splitting hairs, but I think Discover Weekly gives Spotify an edge over Apple in this regard.
What can I actually listen to?
Apple Music's iCloud integration is one department in which Spotify lags behind. Turn on the iCloud Music Library feature and you can sync any music you've put in iTunes on Mac or PC to all your Apple Music-enabled devices at once.
In other words, you can use Apple Music to listen to things that aren't actually available on it or any other streaming service. That's pretty awesome, and Spotify doesn't really have anything comparable.
In terms of native music selection, there doesn't seem to be a massive difference between the two. Chances are anything even semi-recognizable is going to be available either way, but if not, Apple Music can help fix that via iCloud.
Anecdotally speaking, Spotify seems to have somewhat looser restrictions on what people can put there. That means there seem to be more parody rap songs about Fortnite and other nonsense on Spotify, but Apple Music certainly isn't lacking in things like that, either. Still, Spotify gets some points for having more of a Wild West feel in terms of content.
Also, one minor point in Spotify's favor is the community playlist feature. It's fun to share a playlist with several people and build one monstrous collection of music without a singular creative vision.
Apple wins the cloud game, but what about device support?
In terms of pure volume, Spotify wins the device support competition pretty handily. Spotify has apps basically anywhere you can get apps, from Android and iOS to smart speakers, smart TVs and even the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It's hard to beat ubiquity.
Apple Music is no slouch in that regard, either, as it's available on Android and Windows PCs as well as Apple devices. Since Apple's hardware and software ecosystem is one big, happy family, Apple Music will work well for people who own and religiously use multiple Apple devices.
If you have an iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and HomePod, you might as well keep it in the family and use Apple Music with them.
What about the actual audio quality?
If you're not an audiophile, this one is easy to answer: It doesn't really matter.
Apple Music and Spotify stream using different audio formats, and Spotify has nice quality controls within the app. That said, the difference is going to be negligible to most people. CNET performed a nifty test comparing the two and found that it shouldn't be a deciding factor between the two services.
If you are an audiophile, just subscribe to Tidal, I guess.
So who is the winner?
I don't think there's a clear victor in the value competition between Spotify Premium and Apple Music. All things being equal, I'd go with Spotify; I've already got years of playlists built up, the recommendation engine is better, and community playlists are a lot of fun.
That said, there's a clear case for Apple Music. If you're the kind of person who has spent the past decade or more building up a massive music library on iTunes, there's a ton of value in the iCloud syncing feature. You could have all of your favorite music as well as anything you don't own that's on the streaming service, all on one device.
From an ethical perspective, it doesn't seem like either of them is particularly great for artists. Pretty much every major streaming service has come under fire for severely underpaying artists. If that matters at all to you, it might be best to just buy your music.
But if streaming is the way to go, Spotify is probably the better option for someone who is starting from scratch.
If you're an early Spotify user, you may be looking for a new, free music-streaming service as Spotify's six months of free listening comes to an end.
Trendsetting music lovers who signed up for Spotify when it first hit the U.S. on July 14, 2011 will soon encounter roadblocks. For instance, come the six-month deadline to switch to Spotify Unlimited ($4.99 per month) or Spotify Premium ($9.99 per month), Spotify users will only be able to play their favorite songs a maximum of five times, and free streaming will cap at 10 hours per month.
It's no doubt the unlimited access to a huge library of music — about 15 million tracks — is one of the features that loyal Spotify users love.
Other features include the ability to make playlists of favorite songs (up to 10,000 tracks per list) and social integration to Facebook. Songs you play automatically display on your Facebook Timeline and desktop sidebar. Plus, access content via share buttons and a convenient search bar. With Spotify Premium, users enjoy an offline mode, which means they can listen to playlists on the plane, train or beach. Finally, radio stations specifically tailor to a user's specific artist or genre preferences.
As fun and convenient as Spotify is, for many, the honeymoon phase is over with the service's free music cutoff. Here are five free music-streaming websites and applications that act as alternatives to Spotify.
1. Grooveshark
Grooveshark is a comparable service that provides free on-demand music streaming with ads. Over 30 million people use Grooveshark globally.
How it compares to Spotify: Comparable features include the option to share songs or playlists with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other social networking platforms. Like Spotify, Grooveshark offers a downloadable desktop application. Other capabilities include radio-streaming and uploading your own music. Grooveshark also offers song and artist suggestions related to your listening habits.
Differences: Since anyone can upload music to Grooveshark, audio quality of tracks may vary. With Grooveshark, there is no monthly limit for free accounts, as opposed to the 10-hour cap soon to occur on Spotify. However, ads play on both systems.
Size of Music Library: Over 7 Million Songs
Paid Options: Grooveshark-Plus ($6 per month) provides unlimited, ad-free listening. New application Grooveshark-Anywhere offers to-go music streaming at $9 per month.
Mobile Availability: Free radio streaming or on-demand access to music with paid subscription for Android, Nokia, Palm, Blackberry and 'jailbroken iPhones,' as listed on Grooveshark's website.
2. Pandora
Pandora's desktop and mobile free radio-style music-streaming service provides tailored sets of tunes based on the artist or track you input.
How it compares to Spotify: Pandora allows users to easily listen without having to search for tracks or create a playlist. 'The Music Genome Project' behind Pandora generates music related to your search terms. The radio will tweak itself according to your thumbs-up or thumbs-down ratings. However, there are limits to songs skipped per hour. Pandora's social sharing capabilities are pretty weak compared to Spotify's wide range of Facebook, Twitter and Messenger capabilities.
Differences: Spotify is clearly better if you want a wide selection of on-demand music streaming. Pandora Internet radio plays from a smaller collection of 700,000 songs, compared to Spotify's 15 million-song vault.
Spotify Premium App For Iphone
Size of Music Library: 700,000 tracks
Paid Options: Pandora One ($36 per year) comes with unlimited music play, higher-quality audio, unlimited song skips and no advertisements.
Mobile Availability: Free radio streaming and premium listening via Pandora One options are available on Android 1.6 and later, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod touch and Palm Pre devices.
3. RdioSpotify Premium Free Download Pc
Rdio is a desktop music streaming application that allows new users in the U.S. to access ad-free, on-demand music streaming for an undisclosed amount of time a month. From the co-creators of Skype, Rdio began to offer Rdio Free with a set amount of ad-free, free on-demand music with its Facebook integration in October 2011.
How it compares to Spotify: Both non-paying users of Rdio and Spotify can play music on-demand, share their playlists and favorite songs on numerous social networking websites, receive music recommendations and listen to artist-tailored radio stations. We like how Rdio and Spotify allow free users to browse and listen to top tracks lists, albums and new releases.
Differences: Rdio Free comes ad-free and on-demand, whereas Spotify plays ads in between song sets. The company will not disclose how much time is free for users who opt out of the premium service. Rdio states, 'We’d rather do it this way than bombard people with ads…When you run out of free music in any given month, you can choose to upgrade to any of Rdio’s existing pricing plans or start free anew the following month.'
Size of Music Library: 12 million songs
Paid Options: Rdio Web ($4.99 per month) offers unlimited web streaming from browser or desktop platforms. Rdio Unlimited ($9.99 a month) offers unlimited web streaming plus unlimited mobile streaming. Unlimited Family ($17.99) offers two unlimited web and phone subscriptions.
Mobile Availability: Available on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android 1.6 or higher, Windows Phone 7 devices and Blackberry phones.
4. MOG FreePlay
MOG FreePlay is the free version of its original subscription-required application.
How it compares to Spotify: Like Spotify, MOG FreePlay offers free music streaming with ads. However, for 60 days, new users can listen to MOG FreePlay without ads. Similar to Spotify, MOG FreePlay logs users in through Facebook and shares music with friends. The service provides recommendations based on bands and artists you have Liked on Facebook. Both players have options to create playlists, favorite songs and much more.
Differences: MOG FreePlay also offers an undisclosed amount of play, like Rdio; however, this platform gives you a chance to earn more free music every month by earning points for inviting friends to join MOG. https://rrsglw.weebly.com/spotify-pc-app-really-slow.html.
Size of Music Library: 13 million songs
Paid Options: Paid options for unlimited music include a MOG Basic plan ($4.99 per month), which comes with unlimited, on-demand music for your computer, sans mobile access. The MOG Primo plan for $9.99 per month comes with computer and mobile access and unlimited streaming to your phone.
Free Music Apps Like Spotify Premium Subscription
Mobile Availability: Only available through Primo plan to iPhone, iPod Touch and Android phones.
5. YouTubeSpotify Premium Free Download
While YouTube is a video player, we recommend using YouTube for free, on-demand music streaming if you love listening to songs on-demand. You can use YouTube Disco to find songs by artist. A search for Beyonce turned up 100 videos, mostly from her official VEVO site.
How it compares to Spotify: Create playlists of your favorite songs for listening at work or play. You can also easily share YouTube videos on various social networking platforms.
Differences: Listening to music on-demand on YouTube may be more work — you will have to search for songs to listen to them. However, access plenty of playlists others have pre-packaged.
Mobile Availability: YouTube's pre-installed application works on Android and iOS devices. Downloads are also available on Windows Phones. Web-based versions are available for most smartphones.
What music streaming applications or services do you use? How do they compare with Spotify? Share your thoughts in the comments.
https://rrsglw.weebly.com/how-do-you-sign-out-of-the-spotify-app.html. Image courtesy of Flickr, Andreas Blixt
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