Spotify vs. Apple Music in 2023 - Choosing the Best Music App

It's 2023, and Spotify and Apple Music have significantly changed since we last compared them in 2020.

I've spent the past six months comparing both of these music services. I'll break down what differentiates them, and ultimately, I'll tell you which one I think most people should subscribe to. First, let's look at Spotify and its advantages.

The first advantage Spotify has over Apple Music is personalization. Spotify, in general, has a better recommendation algorithm that can discern different listening modes and tastes in a way that Apple Music does not. Spotify has way more personalized playlists, including Daily Mixes, Discover Mix, Genre, Decade, and Mood Mixes, customized to you and your listening history.

Spotify also has a feature that enhances the playlists you build with new tracks that will fit into the playlist. You can also exclude specific playlists from Spotify's algorithms.

The next advantage Spotify has over Apple Music related to personalization is its new DJ feature.

Spotify rolled this feature out in 2023, and it uses an AI voice plus your Spotify listening history and all of the excellent recommendation tech Spotify has to give you your own personal DJ. It plays the music Spotify knows you like and then reaches back into your music listening history to play some of your old favourites. Then, it mixes in new music that Spotify thinks you will like. It's an excellent tool for background listening throughout the workday.

Now, the following advantage Spotify has over Apple Music is network effects. Spotify has the most extensive user base out of any music service, so it's more likely what your friends and family are listening to, which can make sharing music and creating playlists together much more effortless.

At the end of the year, you'll get the coveted Spotify Rap, a celebration of the year gone by that shows you your top artists and the things you listen to. You can easily share it with friends and family. It's so popular. Apple Music also copied it and gave you a recap at the end of the year. Note that Apple makes their recap playlist available earlier in the year than Spotify does.

The next advantage Spotify has over Apple Music is Spotify Connect. Spotify Connect allows you to control and listen to music on computers, phones, smart TVs, speakers, and other devices. You can use your Spotify app as a remote control on any device, including the Spotify web player. So, ask Sonos voice control on your Era 100s to play music. The big deal with this feature is that you can now control the music from any device linked to your Spotify account after you've done that. No other streaming service can match the ubiquity that you get with Spotify Connect because Spotify is supported on so many different devices. Apple does have the Now Playing feature that will allow you to control Apple Music playing through other Apple devices in your home, but this feature only applies to Apple products.

The next advantage of Spotify over Apple Music is its superior Like system, which you use to help train Spotify's recommendation algorithms. In Spotify, the heart icon is more prominent in its UI to help prepare the algorithms. When you like a song, not only is it automatically added to your library, but it's also automatically added to a Liked Songs playlist, which Apple doesn't have. In Apple Music, liking a song by giving it a heart and adding it to your library are separate actions. The last advantage Spotify has over Apple Music, which I hinted at earlier, is the sheer number of devices that support Spotify compared to Apple Music. This includes Amazon speakers, gaming consoles, cars, and other devices.

So, that covers Spotify's advantages. Now let's look at Apple Music's. The first advantage of Apple Music is higher-quality music streaming and Dolby Atmos support. Apple Music has a 75 million-song catalogue of lossless audio at no additional cost. Apple uses its codec, Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), to preserve every single bit of the original audio file. It starts at CD quality, which is 16-bit 44.1 kilohertz, and goes up to 24-bit 48 kilohertz. They also offer high-resolution lossless audio up to 24-bit 192 kilohertz. However, you'll need a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to experience the highest quality. Spotify is rumoured to launch its Hi-Fi tier support sometime this year, but Dolby Atmos support has yet to be mentioned.

The next advantage of Apple Music is iTunes. iTunes, which dominated the music industry for over a decade, still exists within Apple Music on Apple's devices. It allows you to manage your library and local music meticulously. It offers options like iTunes Match, enabling you to match the content you ripped from CDs and other sources with Apple Music's library of songs. Once reached, your music becomes available on all your Apple devices. While Spotify doesn't have a CD-ripping feature in its app, there are third-party tools that make this possible. However, Spotify lacks a cloud library; you can only upload files for local playback. Apple Music also allows you to purchase music through iTunes, although not in lossless quality or with Dolby Atmos support. Spotify offers no purchasing option at all.

Another advantage of Apple Music is its radio stations. Unlike most modern music streaming services, where a radio station is an algorithmically generated playlist, Apple Music's radio feature is old-school radio. It features human-curated music with DJs and hosts. This includes several stations like Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country. Each station has several shows, such as the Zane Lowe Show and Rocket Hour, hosted by Sir Elton John. These shows provide exclusive interviews and a unique way to discover new artists and music.

Apple Music's next advantage is Apple Music Sing. This feature automatically removes vocals from supported tracks and uses Apple Music's real-time lyrics feature to provide an on-demand karaoke experience. Later this year, it will help Continuity Camera, allowing you to see yourself and your friends on screen as you sing along to your favourite tracks. Apple Music Sing is an example of how Apple Music benefits from integration within the Apple ecosystem. Users can listen to playlists with family and friends, collaborate on playlists, share music to their car with Apple CarPlay, and control music from their devices, even if they don't have an Apple Music subscription. Apple Music also offers Apple Music Classical, a companion app with 5 million tracks, making it the world's most extensive classical music catalogue, according to Apple. The app includes introductory podcasts that help listeners explore classical music's different eras and sounds. It supports lossless and high-res audio, Dolby Atmos and spatial audio, enhancing the classical music listening experience. Apple Music Classical is another example of Apple Music's simplicity. Unlike Spotify, which bundles various audio products into a single app, Apple Music keeps audiobooks, podcasts, and music separate, providing a less cluttered experience. The last advantage of Apple Music is library management. Apple Music offers more customization options for managing your library. You can easily edit song metadata, purchase music, and import music from CDs.

Now, let's discuss their similarities. Both services have native Windows and Mac apps and student plan bundles. With Spotify, you get Hulu bundled into your subscription in the US, while Apple Music offers Apple TV+.

Alright, now let's talk recommendations. If you're fine relying on algorithms, Spotify is the service I recommend for general music listening. However, if you want higher quality music, Dolby Atmos support, Apple Music Classical, the ability to purchase music, or finite control over your music library organization, Apple Music has carved out enough features to differentiate it from Spotify. That'll make it a better choice for a subset of people out there.

So, that's my recommendation. If you think I got it wrong or right, let me know in the comments.