I listen to music all the time. I play it while I’m in the shower, in the car during my one-mile commute to work, and then all day long at the office. I’m playing music right now as I write this article. Yet, I’m also a little lazy when it comes to how I access my music.
I do not want to go out in search of music, and often have a brain block just coming up with the name of an artist I want Pandora to create a station around while prepping dinner in the kitchen. “Alexa, play Alexi Murdoch radio in the Kitchen.” (Note, if that is the station playing, chances are it was not a good day.)
I’m a huge fan of Pandora, but our family still desires the ability to listen to a specific song when needed. Sometimes you need to play “Into the Unknown” for your kids (or to belt out yourself). For this reason, we added Apple Music to our lives a few years back. This also gives me the ability to play any music any time for a client. True story: I once sold an entire home system to a client by playing his favorite song as he got out of his car at the Experience Center and having it also playing inside as he walked in.
Apple Music also made sense for us because we’re a very Apple-Friendly household. Yet, after years of giving them more money, I found myself unsatisfied. Apple’s playlist was never good, and I like a mix of music not just an album. Their suggestions lacked personal touch so this month I announced to my family we were switching over to Spotify.
Here is a breakdown by the facts and figures:
First Launched:
Spotify: 2008 vs. Apple Music: 2015
Paid Subscribers:
Spotify: 113 million+ vs. Apple Music: 60 million+
Available Songs:
Spotify: 50 million tracks vs. Apple Music: 60 million tracks
Podcasts:
Spotify: 5000 Thousand Podcasts vs. Apple Music: You need the Podcast app, 750,000+
Playlists:
Spotify: 3 Billion Playlists vs. Apple Music: Unknown. However, in November of 2019 Apple announced Replay which creates playlist around music you already listen to. My personal experience was fair. Sometimes its nice to take a drive down the nostalgia highway, but it was not enough to keep us with the steaming giant.
Works with Car Play (and Sonos):
Spotify: Yep vs. Apple: Of course
Lyrics Available:
Spotify: Yes for some songs, not super easy vs. Apple Music: Yes, makes every song a Karaoke song
Subscription Price:
Both: Student $4.99 / Individual $9.99 / Family $14.99
That all being said, music is an emotional experience and how many paid subscribers and available tracks don’t tell the entire story. Here are some cool features found on Spotify that we are really grooving on:
Your Daily Drive is a new Spotify playlist that combines news talk shows (including the relevancy and personality of the hosts) with the convenience of audio streaming (on demand, personalized playing and discovery.) Now, I’ve already admitted my commute is not far, but I do a fair amount of driving to jobs and estimates, and I love this feature, which I’m betting will only get better over time.
Family Mix provides exclusive access to a personalized playlist packed with family-friendly songs. Family Mix is updated regularly, and you can control who is in each session to optimize your family’s favorite shared listening moments. This feature makes me want to take the family for a drive! Full disclosure, not everyone has been playing on Spotify yet, so our Family playlist isn’t quite there yet, but I can’t wait to see how well it works.
And, if I have not made it clear, the playlists available have been easy to access (for my lazy bones) and fantastic. For our holiday party, I created a queue using multiple playlists that took me minutes to combine, and each time I use the service I’m learning more (as I’m sure its learning me!) For my family, Spotify has been the clear winner.
