iTunes vs Spotify: Which Is the Right for You?

Written By Robert Fabry Last updated: January 4, 2024

When it comes to music providers, you will instantly hear iTunes and Spotify among the choices. These two created a big impact on its users because of the services that they give to fully enjoy listening to music. Both of them have a huge selection of music on their catalogs and they offer high-quality sounds.

But which between iTunes vs Spotify will be the best for you? What will you choose? Rest your mind because this article will give you a comparison between iTunes and Spotify that can help you decide which will fit or what is suitable for you. So, without further ado, Let’s begin!

Contents Guide Part 1. Is Spotify or iTunes Better?Part 2. iTunes vs Spotify: Who Is The Winner?Part 4. How to Get Apple Music without Subscription?Part 5. Which Is the Best Music Streaming Service?

Part 1. Is Spotify or iTunes Better?

Music plays a huge part in our lives and we want to choose a music provider that can give us a quality music experience and also, the one that will satisfy our taste for music. So, between iTunes vs Spotify, which is better or the one to choose. Both may look similar at first but iTunes and Spotify have these individual benefits that make it often a bit difficult to select between the two.

Spotify is a music streaming service where users can able to access tons of music selections from different artists from all parts of the world. You can also stream videos and podcasts aside from digital music.

On the other hand, iTunes may somewhat the same in the sense that users can able to access and listen by using it, however, it is not considered as a music-streaming service. iTunes is a media player or primarily a media manager which you can able to download or purchase content such as music, audiobooks, music videos, podcasts, etc.

You can also use it to organize different forms of media and also if you want to listen to radio online. So, one thing to consider between iTunes vs Spotify, if you want to physically own media files then go for iTunes but if you just want to stream various music then give Spotify is worth trying.

Part 2. iTunes vs Spotify: Who Is The Winner?

iTunes vs Spotify

So, now let us break down some points to consider when selecting between iTunes vs Spotify. By knowing their differences, it will be easier for you which one to choose.

Song selection

We know that both iTunes and Spotify provide a wide selection of music to their music catalog but it is noted that iTunes has over 28 million songs which you can select almost to any genre as compare with Spotify with over 20 million songs.

Another difference between the two is in iTunes once you purchase the song you can keep it as much as you want and do whatever you like with it such as if you want to burn it on CDs or to transfer it to external hard drives.

Moreover, there is also no fee when you try to use iTunes. On the other hand, Spotify allows you to access their music catalog, play or stream and even download songs to your smartphones or tablets as many times as you want as long as you pay their premium plans. But same with other paid music streaming services like Apple Music, you can no longer access it once the subscription is over.

Bottom Line: Since iTunes has more songs available than Spotify, iTunes owns this round.

Cost

Like I mentioned, you can access iTunes for free and can listen to a 90-seconds preview of any song, however, if you want to listen to the full version of the song you must purchase it.

You can choose if you want to download and buy the full Album which costs around $7.99 to $13.99 or individual tracks which cost $0.99 to $1.29. Once you purchase the song it is for you to keep.

iTunes also has this offer called iTunes Match wherein you will pay $29.99 per year so you can listen to music that you’ve purchased using your iDevices such as iPhone or iPad even without syncing it on your computer.

Now with Spotify, it works similarly with iTunes the difference is you don’t have to purchase any songs, instead, you have to pay their monthly subscription for you to access their services. It will cost you $4.99 per month for desktop use only and $ 9.99 per month if you want to access Spotify on your desktop and smartphone.

Bottom Line: If you like to spend more than $120 per year on music and like to play different tracks without the thoughts of owning it, then consider the premium service of Spotify. But if you want to select and own the songs and also spend less than $120 per year then iTunes could be your choice. But then again, Spotify took the spot since you can access any songs within its premium plan.

Audio Quality

Songs that are available in iTunes are in the format called AAC, this is considered better than MP3 when it comes to quality. You can even download media files that are in MP4 format. AAC files of iTunes are encoded at 256kps which is good quality audio. As compared with Spotify which has a tricky streaming quality. It is noted that if you are using a desktop and a premium user, you can listen to songs at 320kps audio quality, however, if you are using a device other than iDevices then the audio quality will only be available at 160kps which is not a good quality when compared to iTunes.

The bottom line: If you like the best quality music experience and an audiophile then iTunes is the one for you.

After discussing the points between iTunes vs Spotify, their music selection, cost, and their audio quality. I guess the decision of what to choose will depends if you want to own the music or if you are contented by simply streaming it and downloading it for offline use.

Part 4. How to Get Apple Music without Subscription?

Do you know that you can get Apple Music without a subscription? Yes, you heard it right! With just the use of the right tool, you can have Apple Music whenever you want and you don’t have to worry about your monthly subscription. So, how to get it, and what tool it is?

This tool is none other than AMusicSoft Apple Music Converter! This is an all-in-one converter that can convert almost every kind of format to any format you desire.

Aside from converting the song, one of its main features is that it can remove the encrypted protection, that you can find in the tracks of Apple Music, which is also known as Fair Play. This means that just by converting the song it will instantly become Fair Play free, once you removed this you can keep the song forever, and also, you can finally able to play the songs to any device that you want.

It also has a conversion speed of 16x which will not take so much time waiting and even with such speed it still maintains the 100% quality of the song. So, if you want to try this software just visit their official website to download it and I’m sure you will absolutely enjoy using it.

Free Download Free Download

Part 5. Which Is the Best Music Streaming Service?

Streaming has changed the gameplay and also, boost the music industry over the past years. Looking closely at the specifications as well as the pros and cons of available music streaming services, it is visible that users have their eyes on both iTunes vs Spotify when it comes to this category.

Both provide a wide selection of music catalogs. If you prefer a free service, Spotify is clearly the winner but if you are considering a paid service then your decision might get a little complicated.

You might also consider the device that you are using, if you own an iDevice such as iPhone or iPod or you want to try the voice control on HomePod then Apple Music is the one to choose because it is the one that is compatible, on the other hand in terms of cross-compatibility across various devices from game consoles to smart speaker, Spotify is to consider. Since it takes time for these kinds of services to get your taste of music, it is said that in terms of technological advancement related to artificial intelligence, music quality, and playlist suggestion from previous music selections, Spotify is the one to recommend. However, Apple Music will give you the most flexibility when it comes to mixing songs from your library and stream new tunes on demand.

It is a tough one which one to choose but overall, between the two, and according to the statistics, Spotify remains the best-recommended streaming service than Apple Music as it provides more discoveries and is able to share music at an affordable cost.

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