As an avid Apple Music user since the age of ten, I can say that the platform has made itself an integral part of my life. From creating playlists for the books I write, to listening to my family’s favorite songs when I miss them at college, the little red and white music app holds most of my childhood and time spent toward my screen time.
Beyond this emotional connection, though, I also see the advancements of Apple Music in their better audio. Apple Music has Lossless Audio, which makes your music sound clearer while creating a surround sound effect. With Apple’s 24-bit/192kHz quality, Spotify’s 320kbps simply can’t compete with Lossless Audio.
So, the music sounds better on Apple Music. That’s a win, because what’s the point of listening to a song if it’s not up to its full potential? Some — Jacob Rozell ’27 — may say that Apple Music is more expensive than Spotify, but my response is that both Spotify and Apple Music offer similar student plans at only $5.99. At the bare minimum, everyone on campus has the potential to be paying the same amount for the app each month.
A Spotify feature that infuriates me is that yes, you can use it without paying for it, but you’re met with so many challenges if you do. You can’t play the playlists you make in a certain order — which for me, at least, is important — and you’re also surrounded by ads. And yes, Spotify offers their iconic Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year, but so does Apple Music with their yearly Replay, where you can get a full playlist of your most played songs, which is what I immediately listen to for months after. Along with this playlist, you also get rankings and statistics. I hope that someday Apple will start to get a bit more creative like Spotify, but for now, as long as my parents keep paying for my Apple Music, I’m not going to complain.
Speaking of payment, I also would like to say that Apple Music pays their artists double than what Spotify pays them, meaning that your favorite artists get more money when you listen on Apple Music instead of Spotify. As an artist myself, I feel that this is important.
Another thing about Spotify that I don’t love is the way it is so easy to put leaked songs on the platform. If an artist didn’t want the song out, we should be able to respect their wishes and Spotify’s Podcast feature doesn’t always uphold that value. This specifically makes me mad because art is always stolen, and it is one of the most undervalued professions in the world, so for Spotify to allow artist’s art to be stolen so easily is disheartening.
I also enjoy the privacy of Apple Music. Music, for some, can be a very personal thing, and I don’t love that anyone can find your account on Spotify if you allow it.
In the end, I’m going to stay with Apple Music, like I have for my whole life. I haven’t found anything on Spotify that Apple doesn’t also offer in some capacity. From live concerts to interviews and, at times, even exclusive playlists from Taylor Swift herself, I find myself going back to my childhood music app every time. Finally, I’ll leave you with this: an Apple Music a day will make all the worries go away — and also, Apple Music won’t go all glitchy when you’re trying to listen to Taylor Swift at midnight cause her album just came out and Spotify keeps crashing.
