I switched from Spotify to Apple Music a while back, and while having a few issues at the beginning, I never looked back:
- The good thing about Spotify's excellent algorithm is that you always get new music you will mostly like but don´t know. The downside is that you will always only get the music you already like. It´s harder to "develop" your music taste because the algorithm only recommends the music genres you already listen to. For example, you always listen to American rap, but you don‘t know that you would like Jazz Music. But Spotify won‘t recommend Jazz because the algorithm thinks you don’t like it - because you never listened to it. That‘s the kicker.
I once tested the Apple Music Algorithm by creating a new Apple ID and starting on Apple Music with a free trial. I let my phone listen to only rap music playlists on repeat, nothing else, only American rap music, for like a week. Time after time, listening to my personal radio station, I got Pop songs, sometimes Electronic or very old school music. People mistake it for a flaw in the algorithm, but I think Apple does this on purpose. It feels more “human” to change the whole Genre from time to time. Spotify doesn’t do that for whatever reason. If you listen to Rap music a lot, Spotify thinks you should listen only to Rap music for the rest of your life.
- If you use Apple Music, tell Siri, "Hey Siri, play new music I like". This was GROUNDBREAKING for me when I tried it out the first time. With this Siri command, Apple Music creates an entirely new personal Radio Station that plays like 70% new music based on the theme you usually listen to and about 30% of the music you listen to often. This can not be found in the App itself, and it’s like a secret that doesn’t get advertised by Apple. You have to go out of your way with this Siri command to get this. It is so so good. When I drive to work, I usually only play this exceptional Radio station.
- Spotify is way more social, but you have to care about those social features to consider them essential. I don´t care at all that other people listen to, and I always found that Spotify Wrapped Up is nice, but only for me personally in terms of statistics. It gets so cringe when people start posting their wrapped ups on Instagram, and Twitter-like anyone cares, but maybe that’s just me.
- I learned that Spotify is perfect for the casual, young modern listener who´s always looking for a new hit that´s no longer than 2:53 minutes. While Apple Music is more for a puristic listener that listens to many older songs, mostly music he already knows. Someone who doesn’t feel the need to discover new music every day. Suppose you’re more like that kind of a listener than Apple Music is for you. It´s better for people who already know their music taste well and look for new music.
- Apple Music has come a long way, and its algorithm got optimised massively during the last couple of months. The algorithm was the main weak point of Apple Music and maybe still is, but it got a lot better.
- Apple Music is significantly louder and better quality-wise if you´re using AirPods 2, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max or Powerbeats Pro. The difference is amazing. That´s due to Apples special build-in H1-Chip in Apple's ear- and headphones that only support Apple Music. I tested this over many hours with Spotify's sound options maxed out and normalised Spotify sound. Spotify doesn’t come close to Apple Music in that aspect.
- You can sort your library perfectly, while Spotify doesn´t even have "a real library" where you can edit data of your songs, albums etc. Apple Music is cut off from any podcasts, which I like a lot. Podcasts and Music are two different things for me. On Apple Music, I can change Album covers that I don‘t like.
- On Apple Music, I can upload older music from CDs that are nowhere available to stream, and it gets immediately uploaded to the cloud and adds seamlessly to my music library. The experience feels more “Pro“ with Apple Music. It gives you more options than Spotify.
- I can not confirm at all that Apple Music is buggy. It works perfectly fine on all devices (iPhone 15 Pro, iMac M3, iPad Pro, Apple Watch Ultra). This might have been the case in the beginning phase of AM 2015-2017, but now I´m not having any issues at all.
- Apple Music pays artists almost double the amount of Spotify.
- Apple Music has its own radio stations and radio shows in many countries over the world. There are no algorithms creating playlists, but real people giving their opinions and curating music for you. The difference between what a real person curates and what an algorithm curate is still unreal.
- For me, the interface of Apple Music is levels above what Spotify does design-wise. It perfectly fits iOS and Apple’s design in general and looks so good and clean. I can change the volume right on the player's interface, which on Spotify I can not do.
- Many global also Chinese corporations like Tencent hold shares and are involved in Spotify. With Spotify, you don´t have any data privacy at all; they track everything about your listening experience and then sell your data to anyone willing to pay for it. Same as Google does. Apple also tracks you, but they keep the data for themselves and don´t sell it to third parties.
If you want to know how I enjoy music: I use Apple Music as my "daily driver" and keep my music library there. I also have a Spotify account which I can keep for free (with ads). I use Songshift to sync my playlists from Apple Music to Spotify. Sometimes, I let my Phone play my Apple Music playlists on Spotify at a deficient volume at night. The following day I opened the Spotify App. I get outstanding excellent new music. Which I then sync over to Apple Music. Like this, you can have the best of both worlds, lol.
