Welcome to the world of streaming; music streaming that is. It can be overwhelming to figure out which streaming platform best fits you. There are so many to choose from but today I am going to talk to you about some of the most popular platforms: Spotify and Apple Music.
As a kid of the 90s, I was very big in getting a new CD whenever I could or even creating mix CDs with my favorite songs of the moment. When MP3 players came around, everything changed. I was able to upload any songs I wanted to my iTunes library and create specific playlists to fit any mood. It took me years and a lot of money to perfect my iTunes library. You could say I was a pretty dedicated Apple user.
Enter Fall 2012. The idea of streaming music rather than buying seemed a bit off to me. As someone so used to buying CDs or artists singles, it took a bit to grasp. One thing that I did like was the ease of discovering new artists. The fact that you had to link a Facebook account meant that whatever you were streaming on Spotify showed up on your activity feed on the desktop. Honestly, I used to pretend everyone noticed this and I used that to look “cool”. However, the ads did get rather annoying and even the “30 minutes ad free” went by too quickly.
Then came Apple’s attempt at streaming: Apple Music. Like I said earlier, I am an avid Apple user so of course I tried it out. I started with the 6 month trial and I honestly loved it. It was easier to have all my music and playlists on one app rather than switching between the two different platforms. However, it wasn’t discovering new artists as easily as Spotify. Apple Music did create new discovery playlists but I noticed the artists were not similar to the other artists or genres I preferred to listen to. Another issue I had with Apple Music was the fact that any song you previously had in your iTunes library had to match up with whatever was on the streaming side, regardless of it coming from the CD format.
I will say that I was completely satisfied with Apple Music the whole time I had it but I still found myself switching over to Spotify to discover new music. I finally caved a few years ago and started paying for Spotify Premium, though I wasn’t quite ready to give up my iTunes library yet. After a year and a half of having both, I realized I’d only use Apple Music when my Spotify account was being used elsewhere. So I finally said goodbye to Apple Music and it honestly hurt less than I thought it would have.
Whether you are a dedicated Apple user or just wanting a quick way to listen to music, it really all comes down to how you prefer to use the music discovery. In the end, I preferred Spotify’s curated discovery playlists to Apple Music’s and it became a huge deciding factor.
