But Apple Music also has live digital radio stations that are broadcast all over the world. Spotify and Apple Music both let you create 'radio stations' inspired by certain tracks. Spotify and Apple Music each offer a range of tools to help you find new music, including curated playlists and radio stations. The best part of a music streaming service is discovering new music that you might have never found without it. The same goes for any music you purchased in iTunes, which automatically appears in your Apple Music library. It also lets you upload to the cloud with iCloud Music Library, so you can stream or download local files from anywhere in the world, like you would stream anything else. In contrast, Apple Music integrates local files with the rest of your library. Spotify keeps local files separate from the rest of your music collection and forces you to sync whatever you want to listen to from a computer.

Spotify even uses your musical preferences to suggest new podcasts you might like.Īlthough Apple Music doesn't offer podcasts in the same app, it's much better than Spotify at handling local music files. All the biggest podcasters are there-some of them exclusively on Spotify-making it possible to keep all your audio entertainment in one place. Spotify also expanded upon its music library with a huge selection of podcasts available directly in the app, later expanding again to include audiobooks. Both streaming services require you to be a college or university student, with Apple Music limiting you to a maximum of 48 months on the student plan. To get a student plan, you need to prove your eligibility using UNiDAYS for Apple Music or SheerID for Spotify. Spotify also offers a Duo plan for couples, which is cheaper if only two of you are signing up. In contrast, Spotify only asks that you each have the same address linked to your account. With Apple Music, you all need to be part of the same iCloud Family Sharing group. So it's only worth considering if you only listen to music through a HomePod.īoth services let you link six accounts for a discounted family plan. The cheapest Apple Music option is the Apple Music Voice plan, but this plan is severely limited and only lets you play music through Siri commands. You can't listen to music in the highest available quality.

Mobile users can only listen in shuffle mode, with six skips per hour.

It's not possible to download music for offline listening.

Adverts appear in the app and play after every few songs.

There are a few important differences between free and premium Spotify plans.

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