Spotify vs Amazon Music Unlimited vs Apple Music: Which is the best?

The world of streaming has forever changed the way we listen to and enjoy music. No longer do you need entire book shelves dedicated to a CD or Vinyl collection. And gone are the days when listening to music on the go required planning. Now, plug in your headphones and play any downloaded song you like, wherever you like. Honestly, isn’t it amazing?!

In the beginning streaming was seen as more of a pirate scene, where songs were stolen and shared. The most infamous of these was Sean Parker’s Napster. Shut down by US music giants in 2001, the company Napster ceased to exist, but the idea that any song could be available at the press of a button from your computer or device did not. And this gave birth to streaming – the legal kind.

Fast forward to 2021 and there is a battle on-going for who is the best of the best. Here we compare three of the biggest streaming services to help you decide which is right for you. Whether it be features, integration, algorithms, sound quality or value for money, all these things are considered and discussed. But surprisingly all of these seemed not to matter when you ask yourself one simple question.

How serious are you about music?

1. Spotify

This music streaming app is very serious about music and the user experience. With a slick and snappy user interface, the best overall sound quality of 320kps, and the best music discovery algorithm, Spotify is very much still the app to beat.  They have also introduced podcasts and video content and unbelievably they are the only product in this comparison with a free version available (with ads every 15 minutes).

It has a solid all-round service performance with biographies for artists, ability to make, browse and share playlists with friends, and filters for mood or genre. The focus they have applied to discovery and playlist curations make this the premium service for music lovers. The popularity and features of Spotify makes it easier to acquire Spotify plays.

The final icing on the cake is a new feature that will soon allow lossless sound, and the rumours are that this will be an additional cost to the premium service. We think this makes sense as the difference is very much unnoticeable, unless you are sitting down with the sound up, on a high-quality speaker or headphones system. Therefore, it will be for those truly dedicated to quality of sound.

2. Apple Music

Apple is serious about everything it does, and it is no wonder that a large majority of us have at least one of their devices in our possession. And right there lies the secret to why Apple Music is second on the list – convenience and simplicity.

It integrates perfectly with existing technology, combines your bought iTunes music with the streaming service music, offers human and algorithm based curated playlists, and works seamlessly with other apps like the Nike app for developing playlists for exercise routines. In a nutshell, if you are already within the Apple universe this streaming service is likely the best for you. The sound quality is actually superior to Spotify with many more tracks on lossless sound, but the reason why we haven’t mentioned this first is – most users don’t notice or worry about it. If you have an Apple product and you want music available via streaming or offline and easy to play, then Apple Music is the right fit for you.

3. Amazon Music Unlimited

Before Jeff Bezos created Amazon in 1994, he came up with a concept called “the everything store”. Yet again he has proven that Amazon can venture into anything, and everything, and make it work.

The trick here doesn’t actually start with the music. If you have a Prime membership with Amazon at £79 a year, you get more and more features built into this single price making it more and more attractive, and better and better value. Think of the family that wants same day delivery for groceries, next day delivery on millions of products, an included, premium film and tv series platform (Prime Video), and THEN a free music streaming service all for £79 a year – no one else can offer this much value. And perhaps this is why so many people are now signed up to the premium Amazon Music Unlimited, at the extra £7.99 per month for access to over 70 million songs (instead of 2 million on the Prime membership). It truly is quite the bargain.

Once you are in the Amazon world, you stay in. That said, except for a clunky interface, no biographies for artists and a poor music discovery system, this streaming service offers a lot. HD quality sound included, no adverts, playlists, radio stations, integration with Alexa and unlimited offline downloads. What is it missing? Well, it’s just not user friendly enough, or another way of phrasing it – it’s just not Spotify.

So, how seriously do you take your music? If you love discovering new sounds, artists and want methods of sharing then Spotify is the ONLY choice for you. It doesn’t offer much outside of what it does, but it has learnt to integrate well with all existing technologies so the switch into their world can be relatively painless. The other two, well they are brilliant in their own right but it is very obvious that the people who choose these streaming services have done more so for convenience or value, instead of trying to source the best streaming service.

Only a few years ago the competition was more related to catalogue size, but now they are all very much the same in terms of quantity. So, it’s now come down to the quality. Let’s make this easy on everyone – if you are serious about music, like you feel it in your bones and it is so much a part of who you are, then choose Spotify. If you just want to play music casually and already have an Apple product or an Amazon Prime membership, then either of these is for you. Clear and simple.