[Hagaru]

Interesting Discussion. Since 60% of my waking hours (a fraction of sleeping hours with Lofi music too) are spent listening to music, I take a lot of time deciding platforms.

I've extensively used many platforms (including Gaana and JioSaavn when it was still called Saavn). Currently, I use YT Music and Spotify.

Music Quality is also subjective to having equipment that can play those. I don't, so I feel anything above 320 KBPS is not very necessary for my Sony WF-XB700. Apple Music and Spotify* both provide lossless as far as I know.

*Spotify Lossless isn't globally out yet. And when it comes to India, it will only be a part of a more expensive Plan

Note - I've not used some of these services on some devices (Spotify on Android after they officially released in India) etc, I shall leave these details out.

Apple Music

PS - At times, Apple Music/Apple One subscriptions are given for free with new Apple Device purchases.

Pros -

1) Depending on the Niche you listen to, Apple Music may have a bigger collection. Especially true for some Soundcloud artists.
2) Amazing compatibility with the Apple Ecosystem. If you have the ecosystem, investing in Apple One may be more price effective than having multiple services. During my board exams, I was listening to Apple Music exclusively on an old iPod touch. Spotify at the time had issues.
3) Apple Music on Apple Car Play works more seamlessly than Spotify or YT Music. It also helps to change music wirelessly. On Apple CarPlay, Spotify at times isn't able to play what you ask for with voice recognition.
4) Apple Music pays the artist a lot more than Spotify does. Almost double.
5) APPLE KARAOKE. A new feature. Haven't used this yet, but this is quite revolutionary in the industry.
6) Lossless Audio with compatible devices. Apple Music was the first to bring this about in India.

Cons -

1) The Android and Windows app is abysmal. A lot of bugs. I've heard a lot of them are rectified but I don't expect Apple to treat Windows and Android the same way they do with their devices
2) Recommendations aren't so great. Your best bet is usually to pick music from the top charts.
3) If you do not have a device compatible with lossless, you're stuck to 256 KBPS bitrate.
4) Compared to the competition, definitely a lack of personalized pre-made playlists.
5) A little nitpicky, but Apple Music has a lot lower plug-ins compared to Spotify. It won't matter if you will never use them.

Spotify

Pros -
1) Playlists. The sheer number of them, and the amazing recommendations they give. Spotify has worked wonders with its Algorithm.
2) 320 Kbps. Best in Class, except for Lossless.
3) On Windows, Spotify UI is very fluid and smooth. You can treat songs as individual files and move them onto folders.
4) Although both have the ability to upload your local MP3 files, it is easier to access them on Spotify. (App Only)
5) Spotify is available on a wider array of devices, including the PS4.
6) Spotify Mix Playlists are a good feature when you're traveling with friends who are on Spotify.

Cons -
Half of them are just the opposite of stuff mentioned as a Pro for Apple Music, but
1) Spotify does not work as well with Apple CarPlay as Apple Music.
2) Music Library is a bit limited compared to Apple Music. You won't feel this until you really look at certain niche genres.
3) Spotify likes to pull your fav artists' songs often. It happens all the time. Artists themselves prefer Apple Music apparently.
4) Spotify's Lossless is a weird nutshell of its own.

YT Music

Pros -
1) Hands down, the biggest music library. This is mainly made possible as YT Music lets you play any YT video in the background.
2) (As per my friends) Android Auto and YT music work very well together. You shouldn't have much issue with Spotify in this regard as well.
3) YT Music Subscription also opens you up to YT Premium, 2 birds one stone.

Cons -

1) Sound Quality. The worst among the three.
2) Personally, I'm not a fan of the UI.
3) The free tier of YT music is useless. Can't minimize the app.
4) Is Abysmal with Apple CarPlay. Not worth getting if the primary use is with CarPlay.
5) Some Videos play even when minimized, taking up more data.


Pro Tip for the budget conscious college students like myself -
Rather than getting the Student Plan, get on a family plan with 5 other classmates. On average, for a year's worth of family plan with 6 people, it will only cost you a rupee for a day!
Please do keep in mind, you have to give the same location when registering. No need to be physically present, just give a nearby landmark.

[GhostRider28]

I primarily use Spotify for their uncanny AI that always recommend the right song. I have the discounted dual subscription.

However, I. have Apple music as part of a package and I agree that you can make out the difference of lossless audio on decent speakers (I have a pair of Dalis paired to a Marantz).

I also have a Gaana subscription (quite inexpensive) for Indian music that is not available in Apple or Spotify. Never used Youtube music.

[vjbox]

I am a self - proclaimed audiophile ( well atleast I belive so) and listen in a variety of setups including Headphones, Ear phones, Wireless Streaming Speaker, Stereo and in car Audio. I eventually made the switch to Apple Music mainly because of their lossless formats. The highs, mids and the lows are crisp with a lot of authority and detail. Pair your Amp or Headphones with a nice DAC, the staging and the rendering is far better than the rest of the streaming apps. I listen to mostly Tamil and some English and I was surprised to see songs that even Prime music or at times, Spotify was missing. The same story continues with in-car audio too. Apple Music seems to be the best bet for me.

[ais]

Originally Posted by dust-n-bones

.How do you extract that high quality audio into headphones/speakers? The only viable path I've found so far that involves phones is to use android and a custom audio driver called USB Audio Player Pro.

For high quality music, firstly the source app and hardware need to be suitable. Spotify Premium will provide 320KBPS quality. For higher quality, Apple Lossless is good. Apple phones can output music as it is through USB without converting to analogue into the hardware you play from, so if the player has inbuilt DAC, use this method. If using headphones, you'll need a Lightning dongle, but better to use an external high quality DAC to connect with headphones. I've tried a few and Shanling Hi Res DAC worked best with my budget Soundmagic E11C earphones. In wireless headphones, quality will drop. LDAC headphones will provide better quality, but not HiRes, nor as good as wired headphones. For HiRes quality, all components should be HiRes capable for optimal performance.

For Android phones, yes, UAPP will output music in Bit Perfect mode. We can see the Bitrate of the songs as well. In car headunit, this app is a bit glitchy. But for earphones, this is what I use on my Samsung J6.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Most of my listening is via Roon Core on some of the 2-Channel setups I have at home and office

I used to subscribe to Tidal and now moved to Qobuz. When it comes to such a hobby, nothing beats the Qobuz. Sadly, both are not able to purchase from India. If one has VPN, Tidal is possible, but for Qobuz, it's very tricky (overseas card etc.)

Posted here, though may not be relevant to most but if someone is into "these" things, get either.

Looking for Hi Res music in my car, after trying Spotify Premium, Apple Lossless and Tidal, I've settled for Tidal HiFi+ that gives MQA (and now Hi Res FLAC) quality. This is superior to Apple Music Lossless. Source is Iphone 7 dedicated for playing music in the car, connected via USB cable to a Hi Res Kenwood DMX8020S (upgrading to Kenwood DMX958XR Excelon Reference unit next week). I haven't tried Qobuz. Amazon Music and Youtube don't have high quality streaming yet.

The car system is also capable and I'm upgrading it further to obtain full Hi Res enjoyment. For those interested, the DSP is Helix M6 (to be upgraded to P6 for Hi Res) and speakers are Morel Elate Carbon 2 way front only, and JL Audio Subwoofer. With a setup like this, the sound quality difference between apps and source players (iphone vs Android using UAPP) and connection methods (USB vs Bluetooth vs AUX- will try LDAC and HDMI next week) is easily distinguishable.

Spotify algorithm is the best. Searching for new music is the least convenient on Tidal.

[pradeep_mvpa]

I primarily use Amazon music since it comes packaged with Prime membership. But I started getting bored due to the lack of variety in the public playlists available in Amazon music. They have become too repetitive.

One day I tried JioSaavn in my car music system (Andriod auto). Since I have a dual SIM setup in my smart phone, this app comes free. It says it has ads. But those ads do not come up when you are connected android auto. I must say, I was blown away by the quality of audio and variety of songs they offer.

For now, I prefer JioSaavn.

[punto_]

I use Apple Music esp since their lossless support without any additional cost! Before that, I have used Spotify since its launch in India and I just love Spotify Connect feature, it’s just brilliant! It’s a shame Airplay doesn’t work as seamlessly as Spotify connect. I have completely switched to Apple ecosystem and Apple One plan costs 195 pm which includes Apple Music, Apple TV, 50 GB storage and Apple Arcade games.

I have also used Tidal (US subscription) for a year or so esp for lossless audio.

I have YouTube music subscription as it came bundled with YouTube premium, I rarely use it though. While the catalog is great, UI just doesn’t cut for me.

[ellip5i5]

Youtube music premium subscription taken as a family plan is great value at 189 INR per month. Upto 6 users get Youtube music and also ad free Youtube

Overall, my number 1 pick is Apple Music for great recommendations, collection followed by YT music and Spotify in last

[harry10]

Spotify-
Started with this. Had a good collection at that time.

Amazon Music-
After becoming a Prime member started using this. However quality wasn't upto the mark so went back to Spotify.

You tube Music -
Once I got You tube premium I started using You tube music. Extensive library and easy to use UI with abundant Playlists.

Apple Music-
Last year got an iPhone so thought of trying Apple music. Instantly became my Primary App for music. Music quality is the best IMO among all. Library is good enough for me and creating Playlists was a breeze. Plus Carplay syncs better with Apple music.

[narayans80]

Collections wise I really don't see much difference between Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music. Youtube Music holds an edge here because of private uploads whose audio can be played when you are in your car.

Apple Music - Primarily use for streaming music in car. Created 'smart playlists', where you can define rules and the playlists get updated as you add to your music library. On longer drives, I just play such playlists and let it run through the drive. The sound quality is also the best among competing apps.

Spotify - Primary streaming app at home. Supported in a variety of devices at home and can controlled remotely from any other app within the network. Have never got Apple Music to work on the Echo Show.

Youtube Music - Rarely use it for the songs only available Youtube.

Amazon Music - Least subscription fee (included in Prime). Haven't used since 2018.

[xsrahul]

Selected Apple Music for its Great quality, excellent AI to suggest next songs. No adverts unlike Spotify premium which still shows me the option to buy concert tickets.

Downside is expensive but here in Singapore it costs the same as Spotify which makes it a no brainer to select Apple music.

[itspatra]

Hi , This is my first post so please forgive me for any mistakes.

I have used all of these services except apple music. My personal takes on this

Spotify - This was my primary music streaming service for about 4 years. This is in my opinion the best designed app and interface. It easily syncs between playing on a browser on your PC to the app on your phone. The recommendation algorithm is also mature due to the long nature of its existence. However recently I have noticed a few Indian songs simply disappearing from my playlists due to a fued between label makers and this prompted me look elsewhere.

Amazon Music - Although I have been a prime member for many years, I have rarely used this service. This app is just installed on my phone and only used to just test what songs does it recommend me. I find the interface clunky and not the best. However I see no other downside of using this.

YouTube Music - I have strong opinions on this. I recently subscribed to YouTube Premium and decided to check this out. The interface is good enough and the algorithm was able to recommend me songs which I would like rather quickly. While driving this is my preferred app and I just play the my supermix playlist. HOWEVER the mixing of YouTube and YouTube Music is not what I like at all. Any music you like in YouTube Music gets added to my likes in YouTube, this sometimes screws up my algorithm and recommends music videos. You have two seperate apps, please keep them seperate. Whenever I want to find the video I liked and want to show to my friend I have to scroll through 10-20 music videos to find it. Also any YouTube video which I like that is flagged as a music video even if it isn't and it's just a theme song or a fest trailer shows up in YouTube Music and sometimes while driving it just plays in my likes playlists making it very jarring.
End of rant. Thanks

[BleueNinja]

I used to use Spotify a lot because of it's smart recommendation and smart shuffle but then i started observing that many of my favourite songs dropped from my playlist.

I switched to Apple music and it's been a revelation for me. Yes, the recommendation are wacky and it's shuffle isn't exactly smart but the lossless music quality is heaven to my ears.

It also really helps when you have the entire ecosystem with you. For example the song I was listening to on my carplay carries on to my Macbook then song can continue on my car when I leave for the day.

Something that I also observed when playing songs on Spotify vs Apple music was that when I am playing on Apple music the songs sound sufficiently clear and loud even at lower volumes but with Spotify I have to increase the volume by 2-3 levels.

Thing with YouTube music is that the library is immense and recommendations are top notch but I have been spoilled by the lossless sound quality of Apple Music.

Cons of apple music would be it's poorly developed Android app and it's shuffle isn't smart enough as it tends to repeat songs now and then.

[FalconRed]

Voted for Amazon music.
As all my playlist is on Amazon Music from a long time and don't want to migrate to other also it came bundled with prime.

But off late I have noticed that the Amazon Music is quite buggy on Android auto and sometimes app don't even start while connected.
Same issue is raised by multiple people on Google and Amazon forum but no solution in sight.

Has anyone faced this same issue ? If so are you able to resolve it and how ?

[Clown Prince]

Voted Spotify.
Have been a user for last 5 years. I also used Wynk and Amazon music in between but app UI of Spotify is easier to use for me. Recommendations are better in it. Wink has way too low library, Saavan is better’s compared to it but quality is mediocre at best. Spotify is also similar just slightly better.
Dad uses YouTube music. I don’t want to give google my data so not using it.
Amazon music has problems playing music in my car, City and Amaze, so no go for me. Maybe a Honda issue but Spotify works well so don’t pay any mind to it.
Not on Apple Ecosystem so not using Apple Music, Brother is and I must say music quality is really good. App UI needs improvement though.

[sriniadk]

I was shuttling between jio Saavn and spotify. But Spotify is a clear winner as it plays the same song as I say using my Sync voice control system . it even remembers the last song i searched and it will be shown on the search menu in my android auto screen. Even it is playing some other song , the songs related to that name will also be displayed .

I cannot comment on Youtube music as i have not used the same . I remember the early days when i used to have that google music (with orange icon) . But then everything started getting monetized and that app was closed .