There are several music streaming services available in the UK, but there are four that can be considered the "big players": Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music (taking the place of Google Play Music) and Amazon Music Unlimited.
All four offer access to similarly large catalogues of music, but each have their own unique features to help differentiate. That means picking the service that is right for you can be tricky.
Fortunately, we're here to help run down the services available and what they offer so you can choose the best music streaming service for you.
Summary
Apple Music combines your iTunes library (if you have one) with any songs you add from Apple Music servers. You can stream over 60 million songs ad-free, download your favourite tracks and play them offline, listen across your devices, view music videos and access exclusive content. There's also the 24 hour Apple Music 1 radio station (previously Beats 1).
Spotify has a free tier and a Premium tier, both of which allow you to stream over 60 million songs and 1.5 million podcasts, as well as ready-made playlists and Spotify Radio. You can add your own music to your Spotify library and Spotify can be accessed on a huge range of devices.
YouTube Music takes over from Google Play Music. It offers a free and Premium tier, both of which offer official albums, playlists, singles and videos, as well as recommended music based on your tastes. You can add your own songs to your online library, and there is also access to live performances and remixes too.
Amazon Music Unlimited has different pricing tiers for exactly the same content, depending on if you're a Prime subscriber or if you just want to use it through an Echo device. There are personal recommendations, thousands of playlists and stations and a catalogue of over 60 million songs, along with the ability to add your own music to the library.
Apple Music
What is it?: Apple Music is a service with access to over 60 million songs. It's designed to combine music you have bought with music you've saved from Apple's cloud services in the Apple Music library. The app has five tabs comprising Library, For You, Browse, Radio, and Search.
The For You tab serves up a mix of handpicked albums and playlists based on the music you like, while the Browse tab presents the week's newest tracks, videos and playlists that have been selected by Apple Music editors. The Radio tab is where you'll find Apple Music 1 (formerly Beats 1), which is a 24-hour live global station, along Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country.
Library is where all your music lives, whether it be songs you've imported from your computer, bought from iTunes or added from Apple Music servers. And finally, Search is where you can search for any music you want to listen to.
Siri has been programmed to work with Apple Music so you can ask her to play the best songs from 1994 or ask to her find a song from some lyrics and she will do just that. Once you've started playing a song, you can swipe up to reveal the next songs in the playing queue or lyrics to the song that is currently playing.Â
If the song you're listening to isn't in your library, you can add it to it, add it to a playlist, create a station of songs based around the one playing or share it with friends.
Apple Music has lossless audio included by default, as well as spatial audio if your devices support it (like a pair of AirPods Pro, for example).
Price:
- £9.99/month per user
- £14.99/month for a family of six
- £4.99/month for Student Membership
- Free to listen to Apple Music 1 without subscription
The Apple Music Family plan offers individual accounts for each family member, the ability to choose what you do and don't want to share and the ability to share your existing music library.
Compatible devices:
- iPhone
- iPad
- Apple Watch
- Apple TV
- Mac
- HomePod
- CarPlay
- PC
- Android
- Sonos
- Amazon Echo
- Samsung Smart TV
Conclusion: Apple Music is a single app that combines your music, a streaming service and a worldwide live radio station. Everything lives in one place, so you can stream anything choose or you can let Apple Music choose for you.Â
Spotify
What is it?:Â Spotify has been around since 2008 and as of 2020, boasts 299 million users, 138 million of which pay for Spotify Premium. The rest subscribe to Spotify's free tier, which limits music quality and plays adverts every few songs. The free tier also excludes users from some other Premium features such as being able to download music for playing offline or using Spotify Connect.
There's access to over 60 million songs, 1.5 million podcasts, ready-made playlists and Spotify Radio, whether you're on the Free or Premium tier and you can add purchased music into Spotify using your computer, though you have to add them manually so it's not as simple as Apple Music for this feature.
Spotify learns as you listen and through associations, makes recommendations based on your tastes. There is also Facebook integration so you can follow your friends to see what they're listening to and there's Chromecast and Chromecast Audio support, allowing you to turn speakers into smart connected players. Meanwhile, Spotify Connect (Premium tier only) allows you to play Spotify through compatible speakers.Â
Price:Â
- Free tier with adverts
- £9.99/month for individual Premium tier
- £12.99/month for two individuals Premium tier
- £14.99/month for family of six Premium tier
- £4.99/month for student Premium tier
Spotify Premium for Family offers six Premium accounts for family members living under one roof. All six accounts get ad-free music, the ability to download music to play offline and there's a Family Mix playlist too that is regularly updated with music you all like.
Devices:Â
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- Mac
- PC
- App integrations (full list here)
- Smart speakers (full list here)
- Smart displays (full list here)
- Wireless speakers (full list here)
- Gaming consoles (full list here)
- Smart TVs and streamers (full list here)
- Wearables (full list here)
- Headphones (full list here)
- Audio streamers and Hi-Fi (full list here)
- Car audio (full list here)
Conclusion:Â Spotify is the most widely available music streaming platform that offers a huge range of songs at a reasonable price. It also has the free tier, which Apple Music doesn't offer.
YouTube MusicÂ
What is it?:Â YouTube Music is the music streaming service offering from Google, taking over from Google Play Music, which closes from October 2020. Like Spotify, it has a free tier and a Premium tier, with the YouTube Music Premium tier offering ad-free listening, the ability to download music and listen offline, listening to music with your screen off and extra features like working with Sonos, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, for example.
Both tiers offer official albums, playlists, singles and videos, as well as recommended music based on your tastes and what's trending in the community around you. It's also possible to search for tracks by lyrics or descriptions and you can access live performances and remixes too.
As with Apple Music and Spotify, you can add your own music to YouTube Music, as well as transfer your music from Google Play Music (learn how here), both of which will appear in the Library section of the app.
Price:Â
- Free tier with adverts
- £9.99/month per users
- £14.99/month for 5 family members
- £4.99/month student
The YouTube Music Premium family plan allows for five members of your household to take advantage of the premium tier but all have to be over 13 and live at the same address.
Devices:
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- PC
- Mac
- Google Home and Nest speakers
- Smart TVs
- Google Pixel Buds
- Chromecast
- Apple CarPlay
- Android Auto
- Sonos
- Waze
Conclusion:Â YouTube Music has a large library, including access to live performances and remixes, and it offers smart suggestions, plus you can keep your own music library backed up and easily accessible.
Amazon Music Unlimited
What is it?:Â Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazon's own fully-fledged music streaming service offering access to over 60 million songs, like Spotify and Apple Music. It also offers thousands of curated playlists and stations, as well as the ability to add your own music to it and there's personalised recommendations too.
Amazon Music Unlimited runs separate to Prime Music, which is only accessible for Prime subscribers and included with Prime. Prime Music has a much smaller catalogue of music with only two million available to stream and no playlists or stations, but both Amazon services offer ad-free listening and the ability to download music to play offline.
There's also the standard Amazon Music tier, which offers thousands of stations and top playlists but not the catalogue of songs available on either of the other Amazon music services.Â
Amazon Music Unlimited's pricing structure is slightly different to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music depending on whether you're a Prime subscriber or if you want to use it solely through one of the company's Echo devices.Â
Finally, 70 million of the songs available through Amazon Music are available for no extra cost in HD versions that are lossless, although you do need to sign up to Amazon Music HD to activate this bonus.
Price:Â
- £9.99/month for non-Prime subscribers Â
- £7.99/month for Prime subscribers
- £3.99/month when used through a single Echo device
- £14.99/month for up to six family members
- £4.99/month for students
The Amazon Music Unlimited family plan offers individual accounts for up to six family members, 13 years old and above.Â
Devices:
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- Mac
- PC
- Web Player
- Echo
- Amazon Fire devices
- Select home entertainment systems and cars
Conclusion:Â Amazon Music Unlimited has a number of pricing options that undercut its rivals whilst offering a similar catalogue of songs and features, meaning it could be a great option, especially for Prime subscribers or Echo users.
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