Is there a better option than Spotify?
Is there a better option than Spotify?
Author
Discussion

MrB.

Original Poster:

594 posts

202 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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Hello all, and sorry if this is in the wrong place. Feel free to redirect me!

I've had Spotify Premium for a few years now as I got two years free with every new mobile contract. It's been a good saving, and I find it really easy to get on with. I have just changed mobile phone providers however as the last bunch had just driven me to distraction with poor customer service over the last year, so when my contract ended, I made the switch, and of course, my Spotify Premium has ended and now I'm just on the normal free service.

Before I go and subscribe separately to Spotify however, is there another I should consider? I've just gone from Android to Apple with my phone (and I use a Mac) so should I look at Apple Music? To be clear, I listen to a lot of music, but I'm no audiophile, and I just need to be able to download music to play off my phone in the car and over my SONOS at home.

All thoughts and opinions appreciated.

legzr1

3,877 posts

155 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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Simple answer, all things considered including catalogue and UI, no.

I just wish they’d hurry up and start their hifi/FLAC service.

interstellar

4,343 posts

162 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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I agree Spotify is best

HRL

3,352 posts

235 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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Spotify is probably slightly better but Apple Music is fine.

With a household of iPhone users here I use a family account and everyone else gets Apple Music off me for “free”. Works with Alexa too as my elderly MIL uses it.

gregs656

11,754 posts

197 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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I moved away from Spotify because I thought the app was rubbish. Now on YouTube premium which costs me about a quid a month, don't miss Spotify at all.

anxious_ant

2,626 posts

95 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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legzr1 said:
Simple answer, all things considered including catalogue and UI, no.

I just wish they’d hurry up and start their hifi/FLAC service.
Agreed. Tried Tidal for a while and whilst some songs soungs nicer overall Spotify wins.

Dave.

7,682 posts

269 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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I moved from Spotify to Apple Music a few years ago when they had the miserly song library limit.

I much prefer the smart playlists and star ratings in Apple Music to the like/dislike and manual playlists of Spotify.

LeoSayer

7,546 posts

260 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
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I switched from Spotify to YouTube Premium about a year ago.

No regrets. It's compatible with Spotify and has the same features as Spotify as far as I can tell, with the added benefit of ad-free YouTube videos.

MrB.

Original Poster:

594 posts

202 months

Friday 3rd December 2021
quotequote all
Thanks for all the replies. I’ve just found out I can have a month free on Apple Music (used to use iTunes religiously about 15 years ago, and still have my old iPod!) so will give it a try. We all have iPhones in the house, so maybe that might work. Hadn’t thought about YouTube (and given I have my own channel on there, that’s a worrying admission!).

What’s people’s thoughts on Amazon? Is it part of your Prime membership?

gregs656

11,754 posts

197 months

Saturday 4th December 2021
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There are two tiers with prime, you have to pay extra to get the whole lot. I thought it was ok but haven’t tried it since they messed around with it.


Groat

5,637 posts

127 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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No love for Qobuz ?

TUS373

4,946 posts

297 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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We have Qobuz. Think it is great. Reasonable packages, excellent quality. Very happy with it.

dvshannow

1,630 posts

152 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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Use Amazon music it has family plans and good selections of HD and ultra HD music

devnull

3,840 posts

173 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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Depends if you just want access to a music library or something else. Spotify has all of the excellent curated stuff, music that I would have never have discovered if I used other services.


stevoknevo

1,710 posts

206 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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Groat said:
No love for Qobuz ?
I use it and very happy with it, excellent sound quality but if you're used to Spotify and all its algorithms you might find it lacking - I like it because of that! 'Connect' options are limited (I use a third party app to control it on my raspberry pi) and having contacted them recently because there used to be a DLNA beta option in the desktop app that never worked, they've no current plans to implement it frown

OMITN

2,725 posts

108 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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We have Apple Music for the family convenience. It’s the first streaming service I’ve ever used (was a diligent radio listener and music buyer).

I’ve yet to find any intelligent about it - it seems to assume that whatever genre of music I listened to I want more of the same. But that isn’t how I tend to listen to music.

There are probably some settings I can apply, but after 12 months it doesn’t seem to have learned much useful about me. The human factor of radio is better as far as I’m concerned.

(It’s also killed my buying of music. Something I’m not happy with, so 2022 will see the return of buying direct from artists I like and streaming will be background or a way of checking something out first.)

Pothole

34,367 posts

298 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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I've only used my phone provider's customer service once in the last 5 years. It was OK. Why do you need them so much, OP?

redguy

132 posts

95 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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Qobuz user here - love it. The high-res stuff is superb through a quality set-up.

panholio

1,094 posts

164 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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Weirdly I’m using Deezer. Been generally happy with it. I got a free trial and can’t be arsed to change. My kids have set up play lists etc.

Mind you they’ve just put it up to £12 from a tenner but added “hifi”. I have a lot of sonos kit but not sure there’s any noticeable difference.

skinnyman

1,772 posts

109 months

Sunday 5th December 2021
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We currently use Spotify, but I'm starting to fall out with it as it won't play nicely with my Sonos app, or vice versa. I can get Amazon music to play with Sonos, but it struggles with Spotify