Anyone Using Both Spotify & Apple Music?

[ID.]

So Spotify has finally gotten its act together and become available in Japan.

I have mixed feelings because I'm pretty heavily invested in Apple Music already.

At this stage, I think Spotify sounds better, and (although I'm yet to blind test it and I know in theory they shouldn't sound different ) the music playing software seems to sound slightly different compared to iTunes. With some of my favorite artists, the selection is better in Apple Music.

I generally prefer the interface and experience with Spotify and find it easier to discover new music, but the ability to upload my own music to iCloud and have it available anywhere is a great feature, and I'm still trying to work out whether there's an equivalent feature on Spotify.

Does anyone pay for both? I'm also interested to know your thoughts on which you prefer in terms of sound quality and music availability, or other factors.

Thanks!

 

[Macspur]

So Spotify has finally gotten its act together and become available in Japan.

I have mixed feelings because I'm pretty heavily invested in Apple Music already.

At this stage, I think Spotify sounds better, and (although I'm yet to blind test it and I know in theory they shouldn't sound different ) the music playing software seems to sound slightly different compared to iTunes. With some of my favorite artists, the selection is better in Apple Music.

I generally prefer the interface and experience with Spotify and find it easier to discover new music, but the ability to upload my own music to iCloud and have it available anywhere is a great feature, and I'm still trying to work out whether there's an equivalent feature on Spotify.

Does anyone pay for both? I'm also interested to know your thoughts on which you prefer in terms of sound quality and music availability, or other factors.

Thanks!

I did have both for three months while Apple had a free trial and my experience was pretty much the same as yours... preferred the SQ of Spotify, but Apple slightly better selection.

However, I find the Spotify playlists much better and they seem more intuitive to my tastes, plus it's interface via Sonos seems better so I stuck with Spotify.

Mac

www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net

 

[ID.]

Yeah, I'm finding the playlists and social aspects (ability share lists, etc.) to be better on Spotify.

I might try using both for an extended period until I can decide. Both Apple and Spotify do that shitty conversion where they say, well $10 in the US so we'll charge 10 pounds in the UK. Here it would cost about 15 pounds per month to have both ($9.99 or whatever becomes ¥980, which is pretty cool because the US dollar is usually worth 5-15% more than the yen, or at best be on par at around 1 cent per yen.)

 

[ChrisIRL]

Like you I've a lot invested in Apple Music so I assumed I'd move to it from Spotify. However 2 things made this not happen.

Firstly the interface is slow vs Spotify, takes much longer to scroll, browse, load up albums etc.

Secondly, and the main reason for not moving, was the lack of an Apple Music "connect" feature that Spotify has. Not just the Spotify connect built into my streamer, but the ability to control one device playing Spotify with another. Very handy feature I couldn't do without.

 

[davedotco]

I ran Spotify and Apple Music simultaneously during the free trial.

I was used to and much preferred the Spotify interface, music selection was even for me, neither 100% but no great asdvantage one way or the other.

The big thing for me is Spotify Connect, preferable to 'regular' Spotify in a number of ways. For portable music I use an iPod Touch and download in 'Offline Mode', not a big iPod user but that works fine for me.

I might be imagining it but Connect sounds better than regular Spotify to me, maybe just the security of having a wired connection...*unknw*

I would be happy with either but right now I use Spotify Connect.

 

[chebby]

I've paid for Spotify Premium and Apple Music.

I stuck with Apple Music. It doesn't look as good but it sounds better* (to me) and indulges me with better 'radio' streams when i'm playing music from other countries. (Spotify tends to 'nudge' everything back to mainstream gradually whereas Apple Music 'radio' streams stay in the area/genre they are pointed.)

* With my old system Spotify Premium would have occasional, but random, moments of distortion that no other digital source (iPlayer Radio, my own library, internet radio etc.) would suffer from. It didn't continue after migrating to my Quad Vena + ATV3/AirPlay set-up despite both systems being connected with ethernet.

 

[ID.]

I ran Spotify and Apple Music simultaneously during the free trial.

I was used to and much preferred the Spotify interface, music selection was even for me, neither 100% but no great asdvantage one way or the other.

The big thing for me is Spotify Connect, preferable to 'regular' Spotify in a number of ways. For portable music I use an iPod Touch and download in 'Offline Mode', not a big iPod user but that works fine for me.

I might be imagining it but Connect sounds better than regular Spotify to me, maybe just the security of having a wired connection...*unknw*

I would be happy with either but right now I use Spotify Connect.

im not quite up with all the functions and features, but as far as I can tell using the Spotify app on my phone to stream it to my living room speakers is functionally the same as doing it with Apple Music.

When I stream from my Mac Mini to my ATV I prefer to use iTunes and the Apple remote App so that I get my local, lossless files, playing at CD quality. Not sure whether there's a way to do that with Spotify, but I know I can use the Spotify app on my computer to play my local files.

Spotify sounds more detailed but also harder and slightly sharper (not quite sibilant). Apple Music sounds more laid back, warmer and more textured. Less fatiguing.

 

[MajorFubar]

If I was you I'd stick to Apple Music if it's what you are used to. I can't say I ever noticed much of a sound difference between the two if I'm being honest, and like all streaming services, they're both dogged by the fact the sound quality of many of their titles is ruined by digital watermarking, which is one reason why I'll never use a streaming service for anything but casual listening. I didn't originally like the Apple Music interface having gotten so used to Spotify, but IMO it has much improved with iOS10 and iTunes 12.5.1.

I was in fact a long-time Spotify subscriber, but I couldnt wait to dump it fast enough the minute I heard Apple Music would have a £15pm family pack, meaning I didn't have to buy seperate subscriptions for my wife and two kids, which would have cost me £40 a month all-in. I even emailed Spotify to ask if they were going to offer something similar, but to thank me for giving them £400+ as a Premium subscriber for more than three years, my email was met with the typical corporate wall of silence. Bye bye Shitify, hello to a company who seemed to have better thought out from the start what a customer with a family is likely to want from such a service. Spotify do offer it now, I believe. Too little too late to entice me back.

 

[Dave_]

might be imagining it but Connect sounds better than regular Spotify to me, maybe just the security of having a wired connection...*unknw*

Oh, come on Dave.

Do you even understand what 'Connect' is/does?

 

[davedotco]

might be imagining it but Connect sounds better than regular Spotify to me, maybe just the security of having a wired connection...*unknw*

Oh, come on Dave.

Do you even understand what 'Connect' is/does?

Enlighten me, always willing to learn.

I was referring to my streamer being hard wired to my cable router, that makes me feel more comfortable, once again...*unknw*

 

[ID.]

And I just realized not even my main computer is hard wired to my router

I probably will just stick with Apple Music because I've got a big library of stuff saved. It lets me cut loose and I kind of hoard huge amounts of stuff that I may get around to listening to. I still buy lossless versions music by my favorite artists, so the streaming services are good for letting me listen to stuff that I don't feel the need to commit to an CD or lossless download.

ill still play around with Spotify for a while and see how much more useful it is for me to discover stuff.

 

[Dave_]

might be imagining it but Connect sounds better than regular Spotify to me, maybe just the security of having a wired connection...*unknw*

Oh, come on Dave.

Do you even understand what 'Connect' is/does?

Enlighten me, always willing to learn.

I was referring to my streamer being hard wired to my cable router, that makes me feel more comfortable, once again...*unknw*

My point being 'Connect' is a discovery and control protocol so has no bearing on SQ.

Equally neither does WiFi vs wired networking. You may gain stability/reliability using wired over WiFi but not SQ.

 

[davedotco]

might be imagining it but Connect sounds better than regular Spotify to me, maybe just the security of having a wired connection...*unknw*

Oh, come on Dave.

Do you even understand what 'Connect' is/does?

Enlighten me, always willing to learn.

I was referring to my streamer being hard wired to my cable router, that makes me feel more comfortable, once again...*unknw*

My point being 'Connect' is a discovery and control protocol so has no bearing on SQ.

Equally neither does WiFi vs wired networking. You may gain stability/reliability using wired over WiFi but not SQ.

Disapointing.

I was hoping you were going to teach me something I didn't know.

In my setup, using Connect simplyfies things considerably, no wifi or Airplay involved in the signal path. I know that shouldn't (can't?) make any difference but I just feel more comfortable.

If this leads me to prefer the Connect setup over Airplay, that's just the way it is, real or not.

 

[thewinelake.]

Maybe reduced jitter?

<fx: retires>

 

[davedotco]

Maybe reduced jitter?

<fx: retires>

I doubt it, that is a clocking issue that happens after the music files are converted into a digital (music) datastream.

To be fair, it should not matter which route the files take to get to the streamer, they either arrive intact or they don't, producing an error if they are not correct.

The oldschool 'audiophool' that I am (beneath the surface I hope) tells me, quite irrationally, that;

Spotify Server > internet > modem > streamer path, must be superior to;

server > internet > modem > wifi > iThing > Airplay > streamer path, with all the extra packaging and unpackaging of data and extra compression/decompression stages.

I can't help it, it's ingrained in me, so it sounds better, even when it err, doesn't. Good eh...

 

[ID.]

Maybe reduced jitter?

<fx: retires>

I doubt it, that is a clocking issue that happens after the music files are converted into a digital (music) datastream.

To be fair, it should not matter which route the files take to get to the streamer, they either arrive intact or they don't, producing an error if they are not correct.

The oldschool 'audiophool' that I am (beneath the surface I hope) tells me, quite irrationally, that;

Spotify Server > internet > modem > streamer path, must be superior to;

server > internet > modem > wifi > iThing > Airplay > streamer path, with all the extra packaging and unpackaging of data and extra compression/decompression stages.

I can't help it, it's ingrained in me, so it sounds better, even when it err, doesn't. Good eh...

I know the feeling. Intellectually I know there shouldn't be a difference (and I've made them disappear through blind testing), but when I know...

im ok with wired/non-wired connections, but for downloads I'll always choose the hi res version if it's available, even paying slightly more. Just in case...

 

[davedotco]

Maybe reduced jitter?

<fx: retires>

I doubt it, that is a clocking issue that happens after the music files are converted into a digital (music) datastream.

To be fair, it should not matter which route the files take to get to the streamer, they either arrive intact or they don't, producing an error if they are not correct.

The oldschool 'audiophool' that I am (beneath the surface I hope) tells me, quite irrationally, that;

Spotify Server > internet > modem > streamer path, must be superior to;

server > internet > modem > wifi > iThing > Airplay > streamer path, with all the extra packaging and unpackaging of data and extra compression/decompression stages.

I can't help it, it's ingrained in me, so it sounds better, even when it err, doesn't. Good eh...

I know the feeling. Intellectually I know there shouldn't be a difference (and I've made them disappear through blind testing), but when I know...

im ok with wired/non-wired connections, but for downloads I'll always choose the hi res version if it's available, even paying slightly more. Just in case...

We are all crackers...*ROFL*

 

[ID.]

Now I've just gotten the latest iOS update and Apple Music now has a much better interface. Not quite as good as Spotify, but it feels like a major improvement, even though I'd gotten used to the original style.

 

[drummerman]

For best SQ go Tidal Hifi.

Not a good interface though imho but hey.

 

[ID.]

For best SQ go Tidal Hifi.

Not a good interface though imho but hey.

Not available here and I'm not desperate enough to use proxies, etc.. I'm amazed Spotify even made it to Japan.

At this stage I guess I'm settling for a streaming service for convenience and music discovery, and buying CDs or downloads if I feel I need a full fat version of anything.