After 10 years on Sweden’s finest app, 4000+ liked songs, a bunch of playlists and 100+ albums, I made the switch to Cupertino just over a month ago.
This wasn’t an easy decision to make. It took a couple of months, and this time it might be for real. I still love Spotify and it’s hard to hate on it.
So… Why the Switch?
I know Spotify are trying to be profitable and being the everything audio app is their strategy but I like my music player being just a music player.
Objectively, the app became a bit more bloated and messy as soon as they started shoving all the podcast crap down our throats, and that was just the start. Don’t get me wrong, I do love me some podcasts, but the experience is quite lacklustre on the green behemoth compared to dedicated podcast apps. On a side note, do yourself a favour and use Pocket Casts or something else for podcasts, you’ll thank me later.
The algorithm, which I consider to be their biggest asset, started to deteriorate. Connect bugged out on me for a couple of months. Shuffle kept repeating the same five songs that also appeared on every playlist. I got the same old recommendations and nothing that explored the waters like before. I discovered more new songs from my social circles than my music player, unlike before. All this, just started to stain the app’s experience for me.
I first realised I wasn’t fully satisfied when YouTube Music officially launched in Kenya in 2023. I gave their free trial a shot - twice actually. The audio quality was slightly worse but the algorithm was significantly better. I rediscovered old favourites and new songs that I would go back and add on my Spotify playlists. Ultimately, I didn’t like the app but this proved once again that the streaming king didn’t have a firm grip on its throne.
So, my 4-year student plan came to an end and this felt like the most natural time to start over.
Why Apple Music, Though?
I first felt the urge to switch when Apple introduced lossless audio, but back then, the experience on the other side was still amazing. As soon as that changed, the lure of switching became greater.
This is not my first rodeo with Tim Cook’s app but it sure does feel like a fresh start. The UI is clean and more polished with less clutter like the TikTok-like feeds across the garden. The lyrics view is amazing compared to how Spotify just regurgitates text from Musixmatch. The animated cover art is amazing. It strikes a good balance between freshening things up while maintaining the ethos of the album cover unlike Canvas that I always disabled on the other side.
The biggest difference though is the audio quality. Audiophiles will tell you that you can’t truly experience lossless audio wirelessly due to the inherent deficiencies of Bluetooth. That’s true, but I primarily use wired In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) and the difference is night and day.
Adele does background vocals on My Yvonne by Jack Peñate and this was one of the first songs I played. The difference in audio quality was immediately noticeable that it had me questioning if the arrangement was slightly different.
It feels like tracks are more dynamic with a different mix and better instrument separation. A drum might pack more punch, the bass might be tighter, the strings might be more lifelike, the vocals might have a slightly different timbre etc. Every song is just a bit fuller.
My appreciation of music has been refreshed and this makes the transition worth it.
Making The Jump
The process is quite easy with the different playlist transfer tools available, but one can struggle with the paradox of choice.
I used a mix of the free offering by SongShift and Playlistor and they were good. They missed less than 4% of my library which isn’t all that good but not too bad.
Another amazing and highly recommended tool is Playlisty.
It worked well for my short playlists, and I would have paid to use it, but I wanted something free.
It remains my top recommendation though (plus its paid option is not a subscription).
I highly recommend you read the comparison article linked below by Frida B.
Not Gonna Lie, It’s Not All Sunshine and Rainbows
I struggled with the UX in Apple Music especially when it comes to library organisation and some other small things but I’ve got a hang of it all.
I’m yet to miss the social aspect but I’m well aware I’ll have to contend with sticking out like a sore thumb while using the fruit company’s jukebox.
The biggest thing I’m missing, though, is Spotify Connect.
Connect is super easy and very useful. I switch from my phone to laptop quite a lot and the ability to open the app anywhere and simply resume playback is great. Frankly, Apple should blatantly copy this feature because Connect is woefully underrated. I hate that I have to start my music all over when switching devices. For now, AirPlay is a decent “equivalent” but this is only available in the walled garden.
Would I Ever Go Back?
Right now, I simply don’t know.
Spotify could fix some of the major grievances I had, finally ship HiFi at a decent price and I would switch back. Apple could significantly change prices and I would reconsider. Either of them could introduce a revolutionary feature and I would follow them or to throw a spanner in the works, I could do an A/B test and discover I can’t tell the difference between lossy and lossless audio and my life has been a lie.
There are quite a number of things both companies or their competitors could do to sway me one way or another but I’m satisfied with where I am for at least the next couple of months.
My ideal option would be simply owning my music with a collection of lossless audio files, an iPod Classic and a decent pair of IEMs but a guy can only dream for now.
Explore Further:
- Playlist Transfer Tools: Which is best?
- Spotify VS Apple Music - Does lossless matter? - explains if your platform supports true lossless.
- What are IEMs?