Spotify is no doubt
the king of streaming music these days. This claim is supported by a reported
user base of 20 million subscribers -- plus an additional 55 million listeners
of its free, ad-based service. Now, that Apple Music has just recently entered
the scene, the only question that comes to mind is that will the reigning
champion in streaming music will still be able to hold its title.
When it was first
unveiled by Apple during the 2015 WWDC, Apple Music seems to appear as the
biggest threat for Spotify in the current streaming marketplace. Why? Because
Apple Music has all the characteristics of a powerhouse music streaming client
-- with a 24-hour, live radio broadcast, personally curated playlists, and
access to the entire iTunes music catalog. So, to give us a closer look as to
what the two music streaming giants can and cannot do, below is a quick
run-through of their similarities and differences.
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Founded
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Jan. 2014 as Beats
Music;acquired by Apple in May 2014 for $3B; relaunched June 2015.
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October 2008,
Stolkholm
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Cost
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Free radio (Beats 1
and other stations) or $9.99 per month
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Free ad-supported
streaming and radio or $9.99 per month ($4.99 for students)
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Family plan
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$14.99 per month for
six family members (shared via iCloud Family Sharing)
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$4.98 (50 percent
off) for each additional family member account
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Trial with full
functionality
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3 months free
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3 months for $0.99
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Requires new mobile
app
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Nope—it's in the
Music app when you update to iOS 8.4
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Yes
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How many countries
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100 at launch
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iTunes integration
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Full integration of
iTunes songs and playlists, including songs on iTunes Match ($24.99 per year)
and songs in iCloud
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Use third-party tools to convert iTunes playlists to Spotify; desktop Spotify can pull in local
files
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Number of users
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TBD; Beats Music
only had 111,000
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75 million+ users,
20 million+ subscribers
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Number of music
tracks
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30 million+
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30 million+
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Internet radio
playlist curation
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Humans (plus live
Beats 1 Internet radio)
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Algorithms
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Number of skips for
free
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TBD, but limited
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Five per hour
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Sound Quality (free)
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256Kbps
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96Kbps
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Sound Quality
(Premium)
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256Kbps
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160Kbps or 320Kbps
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Platforms
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Mac, iOS, Windows at
launch: Apple TV and Android to come
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Windows, Mac, iOS,
Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Roku, TiVo, Samsung Smart TVs, Linux,
PlayStation, the Web, and more
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Podcasts
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Yes
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Videos
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Music videos, clips
uploaded by artists
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Yes
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