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The streaming service Spotify has been the top dog in its field for years. Dominance has its downsides. Regularly the Paying Artists criticized.
And the further development of the app is seen as anything but positive. High-Res-Audio has not been published to date, despite a big announcement in February 2021, and neither has the design choices in the app seems to be missed too often by the users.
The latest excitement is the home page redesign, which is coming along strong TikTok leans and evokes almost exclusively negative reactions on the Internet. For many, that’s one more reason to switch to another service.
We present you these music streaming apps before:
- Apple Music: iOS and Android
- Amazon Music: iOS and Android
- YouTube Music: iOS and Android
- Tidal: iOS and Android
Apple Music
Spotify’s main competitor is Apple Music. While other services have long sought the favor of Spotify opponents, it is Apple Music in particular that has been able to garner the bulk of subscribers. Since June 2015 Apple’s service, which was purchased as Beats Music, has been able to constantly increase its numbers. Most of it certainly comes from Apple-Lager itself, Apple Music makes sense above all for all those who are already firmly anchored in the group’s ecosystem.
The surface can confidently be described as classic. Apple provides over 5 tabs mainly selected ones content to the fore. The start page has the title “Listen now” and has everything ready for us that artificial intelligence says we might like, from a mix of favorites to various recommended stations. The player itself has some features ready for us. For example, we can display lyrics or sing along to songs with the karaoke feature.
Where Apple can’t keep up is the handoff. While Spotify with Spotify Connect has a cross-platform, cross-device system that works almost always, we can’t seamlessly hand off songs even within the Apple ecosystem. When it comes to selection, there is less to criticize. More than 100 million songs Apple has ready for its subscribers.
A high-res quality level is also included free of charge, which, in combination with the right equipment, should take our listening experience to the next level. There is no free, ad-supported version. Instead, there is a voice subscription for 4.99 euros for Homepod users and a subscription for students for 5.99 euros per month. The unit price is 10,99 Euro and the family subscription for a total of 6 people at 16.99 euros.
Amazon Music
Amazon Music, Amazon’s in-house service, is one of the best known and at the same time most inscrutable music services on the market. Although Amazon can rely on a considerable customer base thanks to its Prime subscriptions, which anyway in the Group service portfolio anchored, Amazon Music is relatively far behind in terms of subscriber numbers. The main reason for this can be found in the idiosyncratic tiered portfolio.
Amazon bids with Music Free, Music Prime and Music Unlimited 3 variants of his music service at the same time, but regularly causes confusion with the names. Amazon Music Free is Amazon’s free offering. Here we can access radio stations and playlists, but without being able to select individual albums or songs. In addition, we “only” get SD audio quality.
Amazon Music Prime is the second tier of the music service and also allows us to select individual songs and enjoy listening without advertising. What initially sounds like a great deal for Prime customers quickly turns into a sham. Although all songs are now also included here, users of an Echo device have to do without free playback of some playlists, for example. Again, the songs are only available in SD. There is no HD, Ultra HD or 3D audio here.
All these features require the Music Unlimited package, which costs EUR 8.99 for Prime customers and for individual members 10,99 Euro and for family memberships costs 16.99 euros. This includes all available features of HD to UHDabove 100 million songs and ad-free podcasts.
Also the surface from Amazon Music may as classic be designated. The start page has a mixture of music and podcasts ready for us, whereby we can also have only music or only podcasts displayed using 2 buttons. In our library we find all self-made and generated playlists for us.
What stands out negatively about Amazon Music is something lame interface compared to Spotify. While switching between tabs works without any problems, the player’s animation is a bit slow. Amazon Music cannot offer us a feature similar to Spotify Connect either.
YouTube Music
The third among the large corporations with their own streaming service is Google with YouTube Music. Here, too, a company has done itself no favors by fragmenting its offering, but Google seems to have taken a more straightforward path, at least for the time being. While there has long been a dance between YouTube, Google Play Music and YouTube Music, YouTube Music is now Google’s core offering. YouTube Music is available in both Free and Premium versions.
The free version can safely be ignored. Although we can use YouTube’s own music app for this, it’s a special treat free variant but not. Songs and albums can be selected individually, but on the desktop we regularly have to click away interruptions (“Are you still listening?”). On the smartphone, the experience is almost worse. Here we are not allowed to leave the app at all. Let’s lock the screen or switch to another app, the music stops.
YouTube Music Premium, on the other hand, is a treat. Here we can from more than 60 million songs choose freely. While YouTube Music cannot boast of additional features such as UHD music, the app interface in particular is one of the best in my opinion. Compared to the competition, the app is extremely compact and very clear with 3 tabs. On the start page we see suitable recommendations for our listening behavior as well as Charts from our country. We can also use the shortcuts at the top of the screen by topic like “Relaxation”, “Power” or “Workout”.
In the “Discover” tab, we see hundreds of playlists in addition to charts, which can be sorted by mood and genre. Our own playlists and albums that we have saved are then hidden in the “media library”.
The YouTube Music player doesn’t have to hide either. We use the Like and Dislike buttons to give the algorithm information about our preferences. In addition, we can lyrics, queue and display similar titles with a swipe. A unique feature of YouTube Music is the audio-video switcher. Here we can switch from audio-only to music video if we want the visual component to the song.
YouTube Music also offers different tariff structures. It starts with 6.99 euros for the student tariff and 11,99 Euro for the single rate. The family subscription costs 17.99 euros, but accommodates 5 users. The whole thing becomes noticeably more expensive if we do not conclude the tariff via the PC, but directly on the smartphone. Here 15.99 euros and 22.99 euros for individual and family tariffs are due.
Tidal
For a long time Spotify’s main competitor, but now falling behind, is the streaming service Tidal. Tidal describes itself as a streaming service for real fans and for a long time tried to convince subscribers with 2 main arguments. First, it should Partial ownership by some industry giantsincluding JAY-Z, Beyoncé, Madonna and Prince, prove the service cares about treating artists fairly while staying connected to fans.
Second, you wanted to be with one early on Lossless offer that transport music the way artists created it in the studio. In the meantime, however, lossless audio is not a unique selling point on the market and ownership is also in 2021 on Square, the payment company of the Twitter founder Jack Dorseypassed.
Tidal offers its users more than 90 million songs at. In addition, you have almost half a million videos in your portfolio.
The app interface is arguably the one that most closely resembles the old Spotify. Tidal divides its most important functions into 5 tabs. On the home screen we see suitable recommendations for our listening habits, which allow us to get started quickly. In the “Video” tab, the focus is primarily on new video content. Not entirely uninteresting is the “Trending“-Reiterwith which new hits and one or the other insider tip can be recognized early.
The player itself doesn’t really stand out and is primarily made for fans of the simple music experience. In addition to a Like button, there is a button to show the lyrics and to call up the queue.
Tidal comes in 2 subscription options. In addition to Tidal HiFi around 9.99 euros for a single subscription and 14.99 euros for a family subscription, which is said to offer Lossess quality at 1,411 Kbps, there is also Tidal HiFi Plus. Here we get “master quality” with Hi-Res 2,304-9,216 Kbps for €19.99 for a single subscription and €29.99 for a family subscription. A free version with 160 Kbps AAC quality as well as advertising and partly free song selection is also available.
