Apple tends to create new product categories a lot—smartphones and tablets, for example, arguably didn't exist until Apple made them worthwhile.
So when Apple is an also-ran, it bides its time, and comes out swinging. There are few fights like an Apple fight. When it enters a new market, the gloves come off, and the services one thought unbeatable are frequently bloodied. Remember the Rio MP3 player? Neither did anyone else once the iPod came to town.
That's what we all expected with the debut of Apple Music ($10.99 Per Month at Apple Music) . Here, we try to quantify it alongside the competition. In this case, the current champion in most people's eyes remains Spotify (though there are other alternatives). Below is the quick guide to the differences and similarities.
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 |
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Founded |
Jan. 2014 as Beats Music; acquired by Apple in May 2014 for $3B; relaunched June 2015. |
October 2008, Stolkholm |
|
Cost |
Free radio (Beats 1 and other stations) or $9.99 per month |
Free ad-supported streaming and radio or $9.99 per month ($4.99 for students) |
|
Family plan |
$14.99 per month for six family members (shared via iCloud Family Sharing) |
Through Dec. 31: $9.99 for 3 months for up to 4 family members |
|
Trial with full functionality |
3 months free |
|
|
Requires mobile app |
It's in the Music app when you update to iOS 8.4 or higher |
Yes |
|
How many countries |
||
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iTunes integration |
Full integration of iTunes songs and playlists, including songs on iTunes Match ($24.99 per year) and songs in iCloud |
Use third-party tools to convert iTunes playlists to Spotify; desktop Spotify can pull in local files |
|
Number of users |
15 million, but only 6.5 million paying as of October 2015 |
75 million+ users, 20 million+ paying subscribers (June 2015) |
|
Number of music tracks |
30 million+ |
30 million+ |
|
Internet radio playlist curation |
Humans (plus live Beats 1 Internet radio) |
Algorithms |
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Number of skips for free |
Six per hour |
Five per hour |
|
Sound Quality (free) |
256Kbps |
96Kbps |
|
Sound Quality (Premium) |
256Kbps |
160Kbps or 320Kbps |
|
Platforms |
Mac, iOS, Windows (via iTunes), Apple TV, Android |
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Roku, TiVo, Samsung Smart TVs, Linux, PlayStation, the Web, and more |
|
Podcasts |
No (Apple has a separate app for that) |
Yes |
|
Videos |
Music videos, clips uploaded by artists |
|
|
Taylor Swift |
Yes |
No |
Also check out 19 Spotify Tricks for Streaming Samurai.
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