There’s no denying that Apple Music and Spotify are the leading music streaming services and despite having subscribed to the latter for 10 years, I was swayed by a free trial for Apple Music. I’ve been testing it out for the first time for the last three months, and I must say, I’m having a great time with it.
While Spotify is my go-to, and I’ve praised features such as its Daylist, Apple Music has provided a similarly immersive listening experience, but has a few distinct features that have stood out to me in particular. Its lossless audio quality is the most obvious one (and I’m still waiting to see what Spotify HiFi will deliver), so I’ve listed seven Apple Music features that have left the biggest impression.
For now, I’m sticking with Spotify as I’m very comfortable with the taste profile I’ve been building for the last 10 years – but I’ll never say never to making the switch in the future. These are the best things I think Apple Music does to turn a good music streaming experience into a great one.
1. Apple Music ditches the stats
When you’re scrolling through Spotify, stats are impossible to avoid. There are numbers everywhere telling you how many monthly listeners an artist has, or how many global streams a particular song has.
Though streaming stats can be an interesting reflection of an artist’s popularity, it has affected the way I listen to music and can plant a pre-conceived notion as to whether a song is good or not before I’ve even listened to it. In Apple Music, there’s not a single stat in sight, which removes any sort of judgement before listening to new music.
2. Apple Music nails the song stations
Compared to Spotify’s ‘Go to radio’ feature, which generates a playlist based on a particular artist, song, or album, Apple Music’s song stations trounce.
When you tap the three dots next to a song in Apple Music and select the ‘Create Radio’ option, it will generate a station packed with similar songs and artists, but it’s not as repetitive as Spotify. It also doesn’t show you the full queue of songs, instead allowing the station to flow randomly – which I think is a small but effective touch.
3. Slick and clean interface
Spotify has all the social features, but its cluttered interface lets it down. I’m mainly referring to your Library tab, which throws all your saved playlists, albums, and artists into one giant list, meaning you have to use the annoying filtering tabs to section them.
In the case of Apple Music, your library is grouped into distinct playlist, album, and artist sections, making it easier to find content. Apple Music’s ‘New’ tab is also one of my favorite aspects of its interface, which pushes new music releases, playlist updates, and new radio segments to the front. It’s designed with music nerds in mind.
4. Apple Music’s lyrics put Spotify’s to shame
Apple Music’s lyrics feature is significantly more synchronized and reliable than Spotify’s, especially if you want to read lyrics to the most recently released songs.
When a new song drops on Spotify, the lyrics unfortunately don’t, and I’m always waiting at least a few days for the lyrics to be added. However, Apple Music is on it when it comes to lyrics, and you can almost guarantee that they’ll appear on a song’s release day. The karaoke mode button in Apple Music is also a fun way to let loose during a music-listening session.
5. A neat music video ecosystem
Apple Music has had music videos since 2018, with Spotify following in 2024. Though Spotify had ample time to overtake Apple Music on the music video front, it failed to do so.
For starters, Apple Music’s grid system makes scrolling through an artist’s collection of music videos a lot smoother, which I personally don’t find with Spotify – which throws them into one unattractive-looking list.
The ‘Switch to video’ button is also very obtrusive in Spotify, and I don’t like that it’s a ‘one or the other’ situation. In Apple Music, music videos function on an entirely separate playback, and there’s also more variety.
6. Album descriptions highlight musical craft
It’s a small feature, but one of the first ones that stood out to me when I first started using Apple Music. And as someone who loves to listen to a full body of work, having album descriptions not only provides background and context, but it highlights an artist’s craft and point-of-view.
7. Apple Music’s editorial team know what they’re doing
All the features mentioned above are important for a good music streaming experience, but I’ve learned that a strong editorial team is crucial and Apple Music’s is clearly stacked with music experts.
First of all, Apple Music’s editorial playlists are filled with music that I actually want to listen to, and they don’t push songs based on chart/ viral success. As for Spotify, I constantly run into playlists that are generated for me, which are often repetitive and no different from my automated genre mixes. Apple Music also offers more than just playlists, and its selection of radio stations is just as fun, which Spotify lacks.
But those aside, there’s a clear difference between Apple Music and Spotify’s editorial teams when it comes to how involved artists choose to be. This is evident with Zane Lowe’s interviews, which I’ve been a fan of since before subscribing to Apple Music.
For me, seeing artists lend their time to doing interviews, guest hosting radio shows, or curating playlists strengthens Apple Music’s legitimacy and trustworthiness as a music organization. While artists have some involvement with the editorial side of Spotify, it’s nothing to the extent of Apple Music – which could be enough for me to make the switch.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
