Spotify vs. Apple Music: The Answer

When Apple Music came out 3 months ago, I committed to it. For three months, my only streaming service was Apple Music. I think I know it really well now. Here’s why I am switching back to Spotify:

• A lot is exactly the same: The price is exactly the same. The quality of the audio is (as far as I can tell) exactly the same. They are both available in the browser, in a desktop app and a mobile app. The performance is the same.
• Apple Music wins in User Interface: The UI of Spotify for me is a hot mess. A lot of clutter; strange use of only half the screen on iPad; options that I use a lot are buried in weird places. On the other hand, Apple Music is elegant, mostly easy to navigate and performant. It’s a pleasure to look at and to use.
• Spotify wins on selection: Yes, this is very subjective. I play classical and jazz almost exclusively. Throw in a bit of modern singer-songwriter folk music and practically no current popular music. For my selections, I (unscientifically) see dramatically more selection in Spotify than in Apple Music. And by the way, The Beatles are not available on Apple Music streaming.

So my current favorite is Spotify. Unlike politicians, I reserve the right to “evolve”, as the two products evolve and change. There’s no reason to expect either Spotify or Apple Music to “fix” the problems I have with them and cause me to reassess.