Apple vs. Spotify

I had the pleasure of doing a free trial of Apple Music for 6 months and throughout my entire use of it all I could think about was returning to Spotify. However, I will say that Apple Music nailed it with the classic Music app formula that they were so well known for in their iPods. Nonetheless, the age of iPods is pretty much over and the old age of the music app now shows in comparison to Spotify. The main reasons for myself wanting to come back to Spotify was music recommendations, the ability to following artists, and lack of saving playlists regardless of subscription status.

Music Recommendations

Spotify’s music recommendation feature is one of the features I missed most because it is not present in Apple Music. Apple Music is so much like its original Music app in iPods because it was. In Apple Music, you are there for the music that you have saved and that’s it. If you want to discover new music then you better go use the search bar. This is a brutal User Experience (UX) and one that I cannot highlight enough if you want to discover new music then you have to do it yourself manually. I would argue that this was one of the largest missed opportunities for Apple since Apple has had access to a huge library of music even before Spotify was born. Oh, do I remember the good old days of iTunes, do you?

Following Artists

Spotify’s ability to let users follow artists and receive status updates on new releases was something I took for granted. Also, I just noticed that Apple recently released this feature in October 2022, but it was too late for my recommendation since my free trial was nearly finished. This was a feature that was missing for a long time and Spotify has had it since about its release. The ability to follow the artists you like means you can quickly access their music without cluttering your library with all their albums and more importantly get notified when the artist releases new music. I had to manually add music from artists I did like and refer back to the artist’s page when I wanted to check out another album instead of just having them in a grouped following section. This cluttered my library very quickly with music I didn’t even want to have there to begin with.

Saving Playlists

This was the nail in the coffin and I did not know this was a thing until it happened, so I will save you the hassle because this still upsets me to this day. I had curated playlists in Apple Music while I was enjoying the free trial and used them many times. However, for the reasons I mentioned above I decided not to renew my Apple Music subscription and use Spotify instead. Also, I had not saved my Apple Music playlists outside of Apple Music because I would surely be able to view my music and not be able to play them like Spotify does right? I can surely review them later after my subscription ends, so I can put them on Spotify (they didn’t know that, duh). What UX would (1) not allow you to access your music after your subscription ends and (2) deletes your music completely on top of that after your subscription ends? Well, Apple Music does. That is a feature it does have! For this reason alone, I don’t see myself coming back to Apple Music anytime soon.

Conclusion

It is amazing to me that Apple, who has been in the music sector longer than Spotify, has more lacking features in their subscription than Spotify’s free tier model. Even though Apple has more music in their library than Spotify’s it is clear that UX goes a long way to capture the interests of users. This includes myself. Keep going Spotify! You are doing an amazing job in the music technology business.