Battle of the (Music) Streaming Services

Streaming has become the number one method for listening to music. In this article, I will compare Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music based on pricing and special features to see which is the best for all areas of listening needs.

Spotify

Spotify is likely the most popular choice out of this list, with over 100 million songs on the platform. Spotify offers a variety of features, even on its free plan. Without a subscription, users can search and play any song, album, playlist, or podcast. Spotify is also one of the best apps for a truly personal experience. Not only do they have the Spotify Wrapped feature, which gives you an overview of your year in music, but they also have features like Daily Mixes, Discover Weekly, and Daylist playlists, all curated based on your listening habits. However, the free plan has limitations. You are only allowed a few skips, lower audio quality, ads between every few songs, and playlists are always on shuffle. Spotify's premium plan costs $12.99 per month, and with a student discount, it is $6.99. Premium users get no ads, offline downloads, unlimited skips, and can play any song wherever they like.

I love how they have such a wide variety of music and podcasts so I can listen to what I want when I want. -- Spotify Reviewer

Apple Music

Apple Music is also a very popular option among listeners. Users get ad-free listening, offline downloads, and access to features like lossless and spatial audio, which provide a higher-quality sound experience than most platforms. This makes it a strong choice for people who care more about audio quality. However, one drawback is that there is no free streaming option, so users have to pay to access the service. It costs about $10.99 per month, and $5.99 for students, making it one of the more affordable premium options. Apple Music also works especially well with Apple devices. And while it does offer curated playlists, it is not as strong as other platforms when it comes to personalized recommendations.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music is a newer streaming service, but it has caught the attention of millions of users. YouTube Music does offer a free version where you can listen to any song you want whenever you want. It also has access to remixes, live performances, unreleased songs, and music videos, things usually inaccessible to other platforms. With a free plan, you do unfortunately have to deal with ads and no background play. Meaning that if you leave the YouTube Music app, your music will stop instantly. This is avoidable with a premium subscription at $10.99 per month or $5.99 for students. With a premium, you have access to ad-free listening, background play, and downloads. 

Not only does yt music have almost every song ever, it suggests the best songs. From underground artists to drake. Suggestions are the reason I love yt music. -- YouTube Music Reviewer

Amazon Music

Amazon Music is often overlooked, but still a strong competitor. It offers a free version as well as a premium plan at $11.99 per month or $5.99 for students. Like the other premium services, it includes ad-free listening and offline audio, but its unique feature is how well it works with Amazon devices like Alexa. This makes listening more convenient for users already within the Amazon ecosystem. 

Although each streaming service has its strengths, I think YouTube Music and Spotify are the best options. If you are willing to pay for a music membership, I think YouTube Music is a great choice, as they have the widest variety of music. And if you would rather not pay, Spotify would be the best option. Though its limitations can be very, very annoying at times, Spotify provides one of the largest varieties of features for free listeners.