Spotify vs. Apple Music: Students share their thoughts

It’s Spotify's world, and we’re all just living in it.

Many say that the Spotify vs. Apple Music debate has always been a hot topic, but through a year of isolation and lack of live music, students want to add even more fuel to the fire.

Apple Music and Spotify both have student plans at $4.99/month.

Functionality

First-year Apple Music user Claire Warr said the majority of the controversy doesn't center around the functionality of her streaming service, but the reputation that comes with it.

“The big downside to using Apple Music is that everyone freaks out that I use Apple Music,” Warr said.

Warr’s family has used Apple Music since she was in middle school, but she only recently became interested in the difference between the two major platforms.

“I would say that because Spotify is so easy to share with your friends – sometimes I feel like I’m missing out on seeing their music, but as far as streaming my own music, I don’t think one is better than the other,” Warr said. “I think it’s because everyone is on Spotify, that’s what the appeal is.”

First-year Cade Chabra was also an Apple Music user for most of his life, but finally decided to make the transition to Spotify this year after hearing about his friends' experience. He said he wanted to see what his friends were listening to and get access to Spotify's unique features, like Spotify Wrapped.

"Apple music did not have the functionality to help me discover new music that Spotify does,"  Chabra said.
 "It was not quite as frictionless as Spotify was."

Unlike Chabra, first-year Tyler Gilbert made the opposite change. As a Spotify to Apple Music convert, Gilbert said he prefers Apple Music’s aesthetic and extensive music collection.

“It really just depends on what you’re looking for,” Gilbert said. “Spotify is better if you’re looking to discover new music, but if you have music that you already like, I feel like Apple Music has a better library and is easier to navigate.”

Finding new music

Having used both streaming services, Chabra said he is able to see pros and cons on either side.

“For Apple Music, one benefit that it has over Spotify is you can go down a list of all of the artist’s songs ranked by popularity, whereas on Spotify you can not do that – you have to go to each individual album to find a song,” Chabra said. “However, Spotify also has a cleaner looking display.”

As a self-proclaimed music enthusiast, first-year Kyle Ulrich recognized more advantages on Spotify’s side of the debate.

“Once I got into Spotify, I saw how easy it was to discover new artists and that was a big part of why I stayed, because I was just finding new music all the time,” Ulrich said. “I love the friend feature where you can see what people are listening to after you add them. I think it’s so easy to make playlists on Spotify too, and the suggestions that they have after you add a few songs are always just so spot-on.”

With no clear winner between the two, students will have to keep weighing the benefits of both platforms as the streaming industry continues to evolve.

“In the current state of both platforms, I would not switch back,” Chabra said. “I prefer Spotify, but Apple music would have to make some serious changes to win me back.”

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