Note: The free trial version of Spotify Music Converter enables us to convert the first 3-minute file for each audio file and convert 3 music files at a time, you can unlock the time limitation. Spotify also offers a free tier which means you can use Spotify absolutely free of charge. Playlist, song, or artist in shuffle mode can be played on the free plan, and you can skip up to six times an hour. You can use the mobile app, desktop device, or the website to access the free edition. Cons of Spotify 1. Lack of Lyrical.
It may not seem like it at first glance, but YouTube was always perfectly positioned to take over music streaming. You might already know that Google is the most popular search engine in the world, but not many people know that the second most popular search bar that people type things into is YouTube. Now that Google Play Music (RIP) has officially been turned into YouTube Music, it’s worth asking how it stacks up against some of the other most popular music streaming services. In this article we’re going to be comparing it specifically to Spotify to see which one is worth your money.
What are the differences between the free version of Spotify and YouTube Music?
While both Spotify and YouTube Music offer premium subscription plans, it isn’t required. Both services offer decent free tiers that let users use the service without needing to spend a dime. Of course, be prepared to be blasted with ads if you choose to go this route. Both Spotify and YouTube Music will play ads in between songs which can really get in the way of a good playlist. It isn’t just ads that get in the way either as both have other limitations to their free tiers. The first, and most important limitation when talking about a music streaming service is sound quality. If you’re on the free tier YouTube Music will stream at 128kb/s and Spotify maxes out at 160kb/s on mobile.
Spotify and YouTube Music both have their strength and weaknesses when it comes to UI design.
It’s true that neither of these services are known for their superior sound quality, but being able to choose something other than the bare minimum would be nice. Aside from the streaming quality, there are also limitations on functionality. If you’re not on a paid Spotify plan, it isn’t possible to search for and select individual songs that you want to listen to. Instead, you can only choose songs that are already in select playlists. Though it’s worth mentioning that in researching this I found that Spotify was letting me access certain premium features while on an unpaid plan for some reason. On Spotify, you also won’t be allowed to skip more than six times if you’re on a mobile, and you also can’t download music for offline listening. Neither of these limitations exist on YouTube Music.
The free version of YouTube Music also has some annoying limitations.
Before you go dancing off to use YouTube Music though, you should know that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The free version of YouTube Music also has notably annoying limitations. For example, if you’re on mobile you can’t leave the app to go do something else because then the the music will stop playing. So if you turn off the screen—it will also cut off the music. This isn’t a problem on desktop (you can just open up a new tab in your browser), but it’s really annoying if you’re using a smartphone.
What content do they offer?
Spotify offers both music and podcasts side by side.
If you’re torn between Spotify and YouTube Music, this is the section that will most likely be the deciding factor for most. Both are primarily music streaming services but that isn’t all they offer. Let’s start with Spotify. The company is one of the most popular music streaming services in the world, so obviously they have a lot of music. The music library numbers in the tens of millions and in my usage they have almost every song I can think of readily available to listen to.
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April 25, 2020Bmw download. The company has also been making a huge push to dominate podcasts. Spotify opening links in the app. Not only does it have almost all of the programs I regularly listen to, but Spotify has been dropping some serious cash to bring a number of exclusive podcasts to the service including Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian, and Michelle Obama. True, you might not really care about what any of those people have to say, but you have to admit those are some big names. If Spotify is willing to spend that amount of cash just on a few podcasts then it’s clear they have big plans for this part of their business down the line. If you consume a lot of podcasts like I do, it’s something to be aware of.
Spotify is making a huge push into podcasts. https://sitecitizen357.weebly.com/acl-audit-software-free-download-mac.html.
While there are certainly plenty of podcasts that are uploaded to YouTube in video form, it’s by no means a priority of the service. Adobe photoshop element 6.0 freeware download. Meanwhile, Spotify added video support to supplement their podcasts. So if you’re big into podcasts then Spotify is the clear winner here. That said, where Spotify falls short is where YouTube Music excels: songs that are off the beaten track. This includes covers, remixes, and any kind of live jam that a user might upload.
I also found some songs I had never even heard before.
While poking around YouTube Music, I not only found mixtapes from some of my favorite artists that aren’t available on Spotify (like this one) but I also found some songs I had never even heard before. For example: Blue Room by Chet Baker is one of my favorite jazz pieces, and I had no idea that there was a gorgeous acapella version until coming across it on YouTube Music. The same thing happened with this Frank Sinatra song that I was unable to find on Spotify or Apple Music.
In YouTube Music you can toggle between the full video or just the audio.
It’s in these random finds that slip through the cracks of the major publishing deals Spotify signs where I find myself really enjoying using YouTube Music. As long as someone, somewhere uploads it the chances are you can listen to it. And if you can’t find a song anywhere on the platform you can also plug the gaps yourself by uploading your own personal library. If you were a Google Play Music subscriber that already did this, YouTube Music also has a handy tool to transfer it all over automatically so you don’t have to go through the entire process again. YouTube Music also takes advantage of its huge music video library. If you search for a song you can either let the video play or, if you want to save some data, hit the “song” toggle up top which will just serve you the audio. If all you really care about is song availability then it’s hard to beat what YouTube Music has to offer.
Is Spotify or YouTube Music better for music discovery?
Both services do a good job at recommending new music once they get to know your listening habits.
Listening to your own music library is all well and good, but eventually you’ll run out of things to listen to. That’s why music discovery is also very important. Both of these services use a mixture of algorithms and curated playlists to show you new artists and songs you might like. While YouTube Music isn’t bad at this, Spotify has been putting on a masterclass in algorithm-based music discovery for years, to the point where the Spotify Discover Weekly playlists have gone pseudo-viral as so many people find it extremely good at surfacing music they would like.
Spotify has been putting on a masterclass in algorithm-based music discovery for years.
YouTube Music has its own version of this called “You Mix,” which is an endless playlist of music that the algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy and it’s truly impressive. Once it got to know what kind of music I liked I rarely found myself skipping songs here. Basically whichever service you choose, you likely won’t be disappointed once the algorithm gets to know your listening habits.
Just like regular YouTube, the strength in YouTube Music lies in its user-generated content.
Then there are the playlists offered by both services. In this aspect it’s safe to say that Spotify has the clear lead here just in terms of how many playlists are offered, but that’s mainly because they’ve had more time to make them. I’m sure YouTube Music will catch up in this aspect but as of right now I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve searched for an artist on Spotify and found a pre-made playlist with some of their most popular songs.
Pricing and plans
Depending on how much you pay for data, it might be a good idea to save your favorite tunes for offline listening.
Pricing between the two services is almost identical. A subscription for an individual will run you $9.99 USD/month on both platforms and student plans are also both $4.99 USD/month. Then there’s the family plans which are also identically priced at $14.99 USD/month for up to six accounts. This is the point where things start to differ. Spotify recently added a Duo membership for two people to share that’s priced at $12.99 USD/month which works for couples.
Streaming Service | Free Model Available | Basic Plan | Premium Plan | Hi-Res Plan | Family Plan | Student Plan | Military Plan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amazon Music HD | No | - | $12.99 with Prime $14.99 without | - | $19.99 | - | - |
Amazon Music Unlimited | No | - | $7.99 with Prime $9.99 without | - | - | $6.00 | - |
Apple Music | Yes | Radio is free | $9.99 | - | $14.99 | $4.99 | - |
Deezer | Yes | Free with ads | $9.99 | $14.99 | $14.99 | $4.99 | - |
Pandora | Yes | $4.99 | $9.99 | - | $14.99 | $4.99 | $7.99 |
Qobuz | No | - | $9.99 | $19.99/$24.99 monthly $299 annually | - | - | - |
SoundCloud Go/Go+ | Yes | $4.99 | $9.99 | - | - | $4.99 for premium | - |
Spotify | Yes | Free with ads | $9.99 | - | $14.99 | $4.99 | - |
Tidal | No | - | $9.99 | $19.99 | $14.99/$29.99 | $4.99/$9.99 | $5.99/$11.99 |
YouTube Music | Yes | Free with ads | $9.99 | - | $14.99 | $4.99 | - |
Spotify occasionally has random promotions where you can also get Hulu added on for an extra $3 USD so it might be worth checking that out too if you want to bundle your music and video services together. YouTube Music also has their own version of a bundle, and I bet you can guess what video service gets bundled here. If you sign up for YouTube Premium ($12.99 USD/month) which lets you watch YouTube Videos ad-free you’ll get access to YouTube Music thrown in. So if you’re looking for which service is going to give you the best bang for your buck this is something to keep in mind.
Which has better sound quality, YouTube Music or Spotify?
The YouTube Music interface is a weird mashup of YouTube and Spotify.
As these are both music streaming services, it’s only right that we talk about the sound quality. As I mentioned above neither of these are known for their superior sound quality. For that you’ll need to look at Tidal, Amazon Music HD, or Deezer. That’s not to say that either of these services sound bad, they’re fine.
Streaming Service | Max streaming quality | Supported Formats |
---|---|---|
Qobuz | 24bit / 192kHz | AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, WAV, WMA Lossless |
Amazon Music HD | 24bit /192kHz | FLAC |
Tidal HiFi | 24bit / 96kHz | AAC, ALAC, FLAC |
Deezer HiFi | 16bit / 44.1kHz | FLAC |
Google Play Music | 320kbps | AAC, ALAC, FLAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA |
Deezer Premium | 320kbps | MP3 |
Spotify Premium | 320kbps | AAC, Ogg Vorbis |
Apple Music | 256kbps | AAC |
YouTube Music Premium | 256kbps | AAC |
SoundCloud Go+ | 256kbps | AAC |
Slacker Radio | 320kbps | MP3 |
Pandora | 192kbps | AAC |
Spotify Free | 160kbps | AAC |
Deezer Free | 128kbps | MP3 |
Choosing the highest quality on Spotify will get you a stream of 320kb/s using AAC, while YouTube Music maxes out at 256 kb/s and also uses AAC. Technically Spotify wins out here, but it’s worth mentioning though that the actual number fluctuates depending on your connection so you might be kicked down to a lower quality if you have a poor connection. Plus, unless you have some seriously good equipment to A/B test on you likely won’t be able to hear the minute differences here.
Other features you should pay attention to
I’ve gone over some of the more important similarities and differences between the two services but there are plenty of other smaller differences that might matter to you as well. For example, the design of the UI might be enough to draw you to one or the other but that’s something you’re going to have to try out for yourself. I can say in my experience neither service is what I’d call intuitive. Searching on Spotify rarely gives me what I want without a few extra clicks and while the filters on the YouTube Music search is cool, I’m sure there is a better way to display the results than a just a list.
Spotify and YouTube Music both have the option to cast, but they’re not compatible with everything.
Each service also has its own Cast functionality so if you want to play your music on something like your surround sound system at home you can do so just by clicking on the Google Cast button or on the Spotify Connect in their respective apps. In my experience I found that I prefer to use Spotify Connect as it doesn’t forget that it’s connected to someway halfway through a song like Google Cast constantly does. But again, which one is best for you really depends on your particular setup. Some receivers and speakers might be compatible with just one or the other (or neither). So make sure to check whether the service you choose plays nice with your existing hardware.
So which one is right for you?
I usually recommend people to just go with Spotify, as I find it the safer bet for most people. Unless you have very particular preferences, chances are that you’ll be happy with Spotify. But if you can’t tell by now, picking between Spotify and YouTube Music really depends on what you’re looking for in a streaming service. If you value podcasts then you’re probably better off using Spotify, but in my time using YouTube Music I found that it excels at more of the random finds that make music fun in the first place. They’re also both priced similarly so you’re not missing out on much there, and while Spotify technically has a higher bitrate you likely won’t be able to tell the difference unless you find a particularly bad upload of a song on YouTube Music.
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6 Differences You Need to Know about Spotify Free and Spotify Premium
On January 4, 2018, Spotify announced on Twitter that it has 70 million subscribers. Spotify also claimed the total number of active users was up to 140 million in June 2017. That is to say, about half of Spotify users pay for the premium subscription and still half of Spotify users stick to free plan. If you are going to have a try on Spotify and has been a Spotify free user, you may wonder whether you should pay for the premium subscription or simply stick to free plan. Mail app for mac os x 10.5.8. Before you make up your mind, learn about the 6 differences between Spotify Free and Spotify Premium.
1. Playback Mode: Shuffle Play VS Different Modes
With Spotify Free, shuffle play is the only mode you can use to enjoy streaming music. With Spotify Premium, you can enjoy different playback modes including shuffle play, play in order, repeat a song and repeat a playlist/album.
Many Spotify new members asked how to make a playlist play in order, the answer is to pay for the premium subscription.
2. Ad Free: No VS Yes
With Spotify Free, you can listen to any music in Spotify, but you'll hear ads between tracks both on computer and mobile. Sometimes, the ads may ruin your mood totally when you are enjoying music leisurely. With Spotify Premium, you won't get any ads no matter what device you are using.
3. Limited Skips VS Unlimited Skips
Everyone has his own music taste. Sometimes, you may hear some songs you don't like and you simply want to skip them. With Spotify Free, you can only skip 6 songs per hour, but with Spotify Premium, you can skip any songs you don't like without limitation.
4. Internet Connection Required VS Offline Listening
With Spotify Free, you must have a stable internet connection to stream the songs. Without a Wifi connection, it's almost impossible to listen to music unless you use data connection. But why would you use data connection as it definitely costs more than Spotify Premium subscription fee. With Spotify Premium, you can download songs to your PC, Mac, iOS, Android or other supported devices and listen to them offline whenever you don't have internet connection. Spotify Premium users can save mobile data by downloading up to 10,000 songs per device, on a maximum of 5 different devices. Spotify premium apk ios 11.4.1.
5. Play Most Tracks VS Play All Tracks
With Spotify Free, you can listen to most tracks in Spotify library. But some new tracks or albums are only available for Premium users. The songs or albums will be grey out for Spotify Free users. And Premium users sometimes can enjoy some albums several weeks before actual release. Though it happens very infrequently.
6. Audio Quality: 160Kbps VS 320Kbps
On desktop, default streaming audio quality for Spotify Free users is Ogg Vorbis 160kbit/s while Premium subscribers can choose to switch on High quality streaming, which uses 320kbit/s. On iPhone, iPad or Android, Spotify Free users can choose either 96kbit/s or 160kbit/s while Premium subscribers have one more option which is 320kbit/s. As to streaming audio quality on Chromecast, it's AAC 128kbit/s for Spotify Free, and 256kbit/s for Spotify Premium. Best web design software mac free.
Enjoy Spotify Songs on Any Devices without Limitation using Spotify Music Converter
Even if you have subscribed Spotify Premium, there are still some limitations such as only 3 devices can be used, only 10,000 songs can be downloaded and you can't enjoy Spotify offline songs on MP3 players like iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, Sony Walkman, iRiver, Sandisk Sansa, etc. or burn Spotify offline songs to CD for your car audio system.
The best solution of enjoying Spotify music without limitation is to use TuneMobie Spotify Music Converter. TuneMobie Spotify Music Converter can download Spotify songs, albums and playlists to computer and convert to MP3, M4A, WAV or FLAC with ID3 tags and metadata kept, no matter you are using Spotify Free or Spotify Premium.
How To Get Spotify Premium For Free
With Spotify Free and Spotify Music Converter, you can create a playlist in any media player and add songs to the playlist and play in different playback modes on demand, enjoy full pleasure without ads interruption, skip any songs as you like and enjoy them offline no matter there is internet connection or not. The actual audio quality of output songs is same as source which is 160kbit/s, and you need to wait for some time when the Premium-songs are also available for free users. With Spotify Premium and Spotify Music Converter, you can enjoy high audio quality at 320kbps and enjoy the Premium-only songs on any devices whenever they are available.
Review Spotify Free
After reading the 6 differences between Spotify Free and Spotify Premium, will you decide to pay for Premium subscription or stick to free tier? No matter which choice you make, Spotify Music Converter is definitely a must-have program for any Spotify users.