The Apple Music Advantage: 8 Features That Outshine Spotify

As the music streaming wars continue to heat up, Apple Music has been quietly building a strong case for itself as the superior service. While Spotify may have some innovative features of its own, Apple Music's attention to detail and focus on user experience give it a clear edge in many areas. In this article, we'll explore eight specific features that make Apple Music stand out from the competition.

One of the most noticeable advantages of Apple Music is its live lyrics feature. Unlike Spotify, which provides lyrics in a static format, Apple Music's lyrics are actually timed to the song. This means that you can easily jump to any specific lyric or musical break, and even tap on a lyric to see it highlighted in context. But that's not all - if you're feeling particularly adventurous, you can also toggle off the vocals entirely using the karaoke button. Whether you're singing along with your favorite tunes or simply trying to identify a catchy hook, Apple Music's live lyrics feature is a game-changer.

But Apple Music isn't just about convenience - it's also about collaboration. Starting with iOS 17 this fall, users will be able to build playlists on the fly with friends who aren't necessarily Apple Music subscribers. Simply tap the SharePlay button, and you'll be connected to other friends in real-time - even if they're not listening to music themselves. This feature is perfect for parties, road trips, or any situation where you need to get everyone on the same page. And the best part? You don't have to pass around your phone to make it happen.

Of course, one of the biggest advantages of Apple Music is its ability to integrate user-uploaded music into your library. Whether you're a seasoned collector of vinyl records or simply someone who likes to rip CDs for nostalgic reasons, Apple Music makes it easy to add your own tunes to the mix. Simply drag an MP3 file into the Music app on your Mac or PC, and it'll be uploaded to your library in no time - with the added bonus that you can sync it across all of your devices. And if someone else uploads a track to your library that's been removed from streaming services due to licensing issues, don't worry - Apple Music has got your back.

But what really sets Apple Music apart is its attention to detail when it comes to organizing and customizing your music library. For example, once you've uploaded an MP3 file, you can right-click on it and select Get Info to add metadata like song title, album title, and even lyrics - all of which will be synced across every device in your Music app. And if there's a collaborative album that doesn't quite meet your standards (e.g., those annoyingly long soundtrack titles), don't worry - you can easily tweak the tracklist yourself. Whether it's reordering tracks or changing up the volume levels, Apple Music makes it easy to make your music library truly yours.

Another area where Apple Music shines is in its commitment to high-quality audio. While Spotify has been promising a premium service called Spotify Hi-Fi for years - and even offering it for free with an Apple Music subscription - Apple Music actually delivers on this promise today. Simply head to Settings, Music, Audio Quality, and toggle the Lossless Audio switch to experience music in a higher fidelity. And if you're listening on fancy headphones that support spatial audio, you might be surprised at just how immersive the sound becomes.

Speaking of immersive audio, Apple Music's take on spatial audio is some of the best around. Unlike traditional stereo mixes that track your head movements by simply adjusting the volume and EQ - although still impressive - spatial audio actually uses advanced algorithms to pinpoint where you are in 3D space. It's an incredible experience that truly makes it feel like you're right there in the recording studio with the artist. And while Spotify may have some other tricks up its sleeve, Apple Music's spatial audio is a major contender for best-in-class.

Of course, no discussion of Apple Music would be complete without mentioning its radio feature - which, far from being a cheesy afterthought, is actually a pretty great way to discover new music. While some users may not tune in regularly (and why should you have to?), the option to browse through curated stations and playlists is still a welcome one. And if you do happen to stumble upon something that catches your ear, you can easily add it to your library or share it with friends on social media.

Finally, there's the matter of Apple Music's native app experience - which, in our opinion, simply blows Spotify out of the water. While some may say that Spotify's interface is more modern and sleek, we prefer the simple elegance of Apple Music's apps across iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows. There's just something about the way an iPhone app looks and works like a true iPhone app - or how a Mac app integrates seamlessly with your desktop environment. And let's not forget that on Windows, Apple Music actually manages to look and feel like a native part of the OS - which is no easy feat for any third-party service.

In conclusion, while Spotify has certainly made some strides in recent years, it's clear that Apple Music remains the superior choice for music lovers who care about user experience and raw talent. From its attention-grabbing live lyrics to its commitment to high-quality audio and collaboration features, Apple Music is a shining star in an otherwise crowded streaming market - one that we can only hope will continue to inspire Spotify (and other rivals) to up their game in the years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enAlright, I'll admit it.Spotify Wrapped is pretty cool.Apple Music Replay kinda sucks.But for like, literally everything else—So today I'm gonna run down 8 features Apple Music does better than Spotify.Number 1, live lyrics.Spotify technically has lyrics, but on Apple Music, they're timed to the song.You can even scroll through the list and tap on a lyric to jump to that part, includingmusical breaks in the middle of a song.And you can even tap the karaoke button to remove all of the vocals if you want to singalong.Number two, this feature is coming with iOS 17 this fall.You can build a playlist live with all of your nearby friends.You just tap the SharePlay button and other friends, even without an Apple Music subscription,can add songs to the queue that you're currently listening to.This will be great for parties.This will be great if you're on a road trip in the car.You don't have to pass around your unlocked phone to everybody.They can just add songs to the playlist live.Number three, you can upload your own music to your library.Whether you rip it from CDs, record it from a vinyl, or acquire it in any other sort ofway.You can just drag an mp3 file into the Music app on a Mac or on a PC or even through iTunes,and it'll upload to your library and it'll sync across all of your devices.Music on streaming services get taken down all the time for licensing reasons, but nobodycan take away your own music from you.Number four, once you've uploaded your own music, you can right click on it, click GetInfo, put in a song title, put in an album title, put in album artwork, you can evenwrite in your own lyrics, you can change the volume that specific tracks play at. And youcan actually do this on all of the music in your library, even the tracks that you downloadfrom Apple Music.So if there's a collaborative album in your library and you don't like having the twoartist names listed, you can just change it.A lot of soundtracks have really long, annoying album titles.I change all of those to clean it up.You can reorder the tracklist in an album.Number five, lossless audio quality.Spotify has been promising this for years now.They're gonna call it Spotify Hi-Fi.Presumably it'll cost more money,but you'll be able to listen to your musicin a higher fidelity.Or you can get it for freewith your Apple Music subscription today.Just go to Settings, Music, Audio Quality,and switch to Lossless Audio.Any album that says Lossless is availablein a higher audio quality.If you have really fancy headphones plugged in, you might notice a difference.Number six on a related note, spatial audio.This is so much more than just a regular stereo mix.It works if you have any of these models of compatible headphones.They track the position of your head as you move around so that it sounds like you'rein the middle of the band as they're playing.It's constantly adjusting the levels and the mix to really sell the effect.It's really cool.It can completely change the way you listen to some of your favorite albums.Number seven: A bespoke app for classical music.Classical music doesn't work the same way modern music does.And when I say modern, I mean anything released in the last 100 years or so.If you think about it, the idea of an artist recording and writing a song themselves, performingit themselves, and then releasing one version of it on one album is a pretty novel ideain the music world …still.In the world of classical music, composers write works that can have both the compositionname and a common name that can be separately recorded by dozens or hundreds of bands andorchestras with several different versions of different live recordings.And Apple Music Classical makes it super easy to navigate this world if you don't knowwhat you're doing.You can go through all of the categories, look at their pre-made curated playlists.The search function is really smart and you can look up different recordings and recommendedversions of all of your favorite works. When you're playing a track you can look up exactlywho composed it, exactly who's performing it, exactly which release it came from, andtracks that you add to your library here will still download to your library in the regularmusic app as well.Number eight, if you're overwhelmed by the music in your library you don't know whatto pick but you want to listen to something, well what I do is I always put on Phish. Thatmakes me choose something else pretty quick, but there's a better way. You can always tuneinto Apple Music 1. It's their 24/7 live internet radio station. They stream classicsand modern hits that you probably never heard of. You might find something you like. I presume.I don't listen to the radio. It's probably good.But there's one more thing. This is actually my number zero reason I use Apple Music insteadof Spotify. You get a real native app on all of the platforms it's on. The iPhone applooks and works like an iPhone app, the Mac app looks and works like a Mac app.Even on Windows, it's designed using the same Windows 11 user interface. Even on Android,the Android app looks and works like an Android app. I know some people say Spotify has a betteruser interface, I don't get it. It's just a crappy web app. It looks and works like a crappy web app.It runs on Google Chrome. It wastes your battery. If you use Apple Music, you get a much better,cleaner experience, no matter where you listen to your music.I just hate web apps, what can I say?\n"