Nope. Spotify is better.

Music is of the utmost value in my life. When I am down, it can bring me back up again; when I am up, it can keep me there. It is the perfect companion for any ordeal that I might take part in. If I’m not actively listening, music plays in the back of my mind. Because of this, it is extremely important to me to have the best possible streaming service. A service worthy of something that can change entire generations. And this service is Spotify. 

To be completely honest, I find it comical that anyone would consider Apple Music to be superior to Spotify. This is like comparing a skateboard from Zumiez to one from Target. Zumiez can assure the quality of their one product while Target simply has too many other things to focus on. And the same goes for Apple. It is a massive corporate company, catering to millions of people around the globe. Providing music to its customers is simply one of its many side jobs. Spotify, on the other hand, has always been, and always will be devoted to music and music only. Since the early 2000’s, the company has been working devoutly to arrange its users with the best music experience possible. And it has certainly succeeded. 

One frequent argument of Apple Music users is that, unlike Spotify, it has a library encompassing all of their songs. This library, though, only isolates the listener, keeping them from further discovering songs that they could have enjoyed. And when it comes to music discovery, there is no beating Spotify. Upon opening the app, the listener is greeted with a friendly “Good Evening!” banner and a colorful display of what has recently been played as well as suggestions for new songs, artists, and even genres. Spotify makes personalized playlists in case its listeners are looking for something new and exciting, fun flashbacks to songs once forgotten, a list of songs just for their taste, a certain genre, a genre inside of that genre, and even playlists for specific situations. The playlists have catchy titles, ranging from “Antipop” to “Chill Hits” to “Your Daily Mix” to “Study Beats”. The app has a playlist for everyone and then another ten after that one. Not to mention, Spotify automatically conforms to the listener, mastering not only the genres they prefer, but the genres that they might be interested in. Users are exposed to a splash of new music every time they open the app, keeping things lively at all times. Sitting next to Spotify, Apple Music looks bland, confusing, and frankly unhelpful. With it’s do-it-yourself style, Apple’s only option for music discovery is the puny “browse” section. This section requires the listener to manually search for new music, as if they are researching for a school essay instead of exploring a mystifying new land. 

A second terribly weak complaint from Apple Users is Spotify’s lack of song lyrics. This very complaint resulted in Spotify not only beginning to add lyrics to its songs, but a pleasant little video clip created by the artist to go with it. Spotify has also partnered with Genius to provide a story behind popular tunes. Once these installments are complete, the app will become even more of a hub for artists to express themselves and for listeners to get to know the artists. 

Now, I could easily sit here and continue to banter about things that should be obvious to the general population, but unfortunately these things aren’t obvious to everyone. Some need statistical proof that Apple Music doesn’t beat Spotify, and there is plenty  to come by. Let’s start with a painfully obvious fact: it is not possible to get Apple Music for free. Other than through it’s three-month trial, the app offers none of its already-subpar services for free. With Spotify, on the other hand, streamers can listen to music and podcasts without cost paired only with limited skipping and a short ad between several songs. For those tight on money, or simply uninterested in paying for their music, these few ads are nothing in exchange for experiencing the wonders of music. Not to mention, Spotify Premium, containing no ads at all, is the exact same price as a normal subscription to Apple Music and offers the same deals. 

When it comes to the overall streaming quality, Apple, despite it’s billions of dollars, has nothing to flaunt over Spotify. Both streaming services have roughly the same streaming quality, Apple even being a little bit lower. It runs at about 256kbps (kilobolts per second) while Spotify does 320kbps.

144 million people have chosen Spotify for their listening needs. Among them is Brandon Keller, a student at Colorado Mesa University, who has used both Spotify and Apple Music in his life. He prefers Spotify due to its excellent algorithm, friendliness towards incoming artists, major exposure to new music, and its Wrapped feature at the end of each year. Spotify Wrapped allows listeners to view an exciting summary of the year’s listening habits including their most frequented songs, artists, genres, albums, and other statistics that many may not have even have thought of. Keller specifically enjoys comparing his Spotify Wrapped that of his other Spotify-using friends. He also stated that one of his favorite things about Spotify is its extremely advantageous ‘car view’. “Spotify’s ‘car view’,” asserted Keller, “Is amazing because it makes the buttons for skip, rewind and pause bigger and only displays exactly what you could be looking to find while driving”. It is features like this and those previously mentioned that set Spotify so far apart from Apple Music. 

Whether you or a Spotify user, an Apple user, or somewhere in between, we all value music. But I would just like to remind you that you might look a little silly showing up to a skatepark with a skateboard from Target.