Apple Music is one of the popular streaming services exclusive to Apple users. This streaming service has been around since 2015 and was developed by Apple Inc., one of the largest technology companies worldwide.
With Apple Music, users can select the music they want to stream on their devices based on demand and the users' music preferences. Users can also get exclusive playlists and live radio which they can listen to across different devices.
Apple Music currently has about 90 million songs in its catalog, with an estimated 88 million users accessing it. Aside from the large music catalog, Apple Music has high-resolution songs depicting good audio quality. Users can enjoy their streaming experience with 24bits up to 192kHz on the streaming platform.
What are the Alternatives to Apple Music?
Replacing your music streaming service might seem difficult, especially if you don’t have any other streaming service in mind. Before canceling your subscription and withdrawing from Apple Music, you should consider different music streaming service options.
You can explore these streaming services to know what they offer by checking their music library, sound quality, and subscription plans. Several Apple music alternatives offer better music streaming services than Apple music. And here are some you might want to consider.
However, Apple music isn't the best for everyone, especially for non-Apple users. Also, streaming songs and podcasts on Apple Music could be data-consuming. Some people even consider the Apple Music subscription plan too pricy.
In this article, we'll check out different Apple Music alternatives that might be a good fit for you and everything you need to know about them. We shall explore their features, sound quality, pricing, and pros and cons.
Ready? Let's get the ball rolling!
1. Spotify
Spotify is one of the largest and most popular digital music streaming services, with over 400 million users and over 180 million premium subscribers worldwide.
Over 80 million songs and 4.7 million podcasts are available in the music library, where users can select their preferred albums, genres, podcasts, and artists.
There are many features on Spotify that users can enjoy, especially premium users. For the premium Spotify account, you can enjoy the following:
- Ad-free music listening
- Download and listen anywhere
- Personalized recommendations
- Play any songs
- Unlimited skips
On Spotify, users can create collaborative playlists based on similar preference with friends or family that also uses the premium account. With collaborative playlists, you and your friend can add, remove, and rearrange your music tracks to suit your taste.
Another good feature of this alternative to Apple Music is that it allows users to access its service with mobile phones, desktops, laptops, TVs, speakers, game consoles, and even cars. This means you can access your Spotify account from different devices anywhere and anytime.
Pricing
When it comes to pricing, Spotify has 4 different premium subscription plans. Spotify has Individual, Duo (for two people living together), Family (Family of 6 people), and the Student plan.
The Pricing for Spotify includes the following:
- Individual: $10.99
- Duo: $14.99
- Family: $16.99
- Student: $5.99
New users of Spotify Premium can enjoy a one-month free trial before billing starts. Users can also cancel after the 30 days free trial if they don't enjoy the premium service.
Sound Quality
The music and podcast quality differs with different conditions. The following are the different audio qualities that Spotify users can expect from the platform.
- For web players: free users can enjoy music streaming at AAC 128kbit/s while premium users can enjoy song streaming at 256kbit/s.
- Desktop, mobile, and desktop users: These devices can have varying sound qualities based on settings and internet connection. Free users can enjoy sound and music quality of 24kbit/s to 160kbit/s, while premium users can enjoy songs from 24kbit/s to 320kbits/s.
- For podcast listening: the quality is about 96kbit/s on all devices, while web players can listen to podcasts at 128kbits/s.
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Large music library
- Offline Listening
- Ad-free listening
- Available on multiple platforms
👎 Cons:
- Free Spotify users experience a lot of ads in between listening
- The audio quality can be better
- Data usage is quite high
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Spotify
2. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a unique platform that is a free music-sharing and discovery service with a standard streaming service. If a large music selection is what you want, then SoundCloud is your go-to music streaming service.
SoundCloud has about 200 million songs available in its catalog, which is a fascinating feature. Aside from its large music catalog, podcasts, radio plays, and audiobooks are other amazing features it offers. Users can also upload and share their songs and podcasts quickly and easily via the streaming service.
SoundCloud has three major versions: the free version, SoundCloud Go, and SoundCloud Go+. The free version is an unpaid version, and it has several limitations, such as limited music listening, ads in between listening, and poor sound quality.
On the other hand, SoundCloud Go+ is one of the two paid versions of SoundCloud. It allows users to listen to songs offline, and it is ads-free. Also, the sound quality is similar to the free version, which in our opinion, they need to work on.
The best SoundCloud version is the Go+, which gives users access to the full music library and better audio quality.
Pricing
- SoundCloud Go: $4.99 per month
- SoundCloud Go+: $9.99 per month
Users can also have a one-month SoundCloud Go and Go+ trial for free; this will help users know how the service works before actually paying.
Sound Quality
Free version: users can stream songs 128kbp/s
- SoundCloud Go: also works at 128kbp/s
- Sound Go+: streams at 256kbp/s
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Allows users to upload music and podcast content
- Large music catalog
👎 Cons
- The free version and the SoundCloud Go paid subscription stream the same audio quality.
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Soundcloud
3. YouTube Music
YouTube is a popular name when it comes to video streaming, and almost everyone uses it. However, in 2015, Google came up with YouTube music, intending to combine audio and video streaming subscription plans, and it has not stopped growing since then.
Alongside its video streaming service, this alternative to Apple Music gives users the best experience by allowing them to choose between audio and video modes. Since the emergence of the YouTube music streaming service in 2015, it has gathered over 80 million songs in catalogs with several albums, singles, covers, and remixes for Android, iOS, and desktop users.
Music or songs are easy to explore and find on YouTube thanks to their discovery features. YouTube also provides its users with recommendations based on the type of songs they listen to and other listening activities.
Users can also like and dislike songs based on their music preferences. The like and dislike option helps YouTube Music provide its users with accurate music recommendations in line with their music preferences.
Pricing
- The premium for one user: is $9.99 per month
- Family plan: $14.99 per month
- Student plan: $4.99 per month
Users new to YouTube Premium can opt for the free trial period. YouTube Premium users get to experience a -month free trial. Also, users experience a one-month free trial for the Family and Student plans. There's no commitment to subscription on YouTube, meaning users can opt-out of their subscription anytime.
Sound Quality
- Standard, also known as free works at 128kbp/s AAC format
- Premium account users can play their songs at 256kbp/s AAC format
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- A good balance between the audio and video services
- Large music catalog
- Good discovery features for easy search
👎 Cons:
- Does not offer high-resolution audio
- The YouTube desktop app is not available
- Poor soundtrack compilation
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to YouTube Music
4. Amazon Music
This music streaming platform was launched in 2007 and is available in almost every part of the world. Regarding the music catalog, Amazon Music has a large collection of over 100 million songs and provides its users with free access to songs and playlists. Although they have the paid version.
Android, iOS, PC, Mac, and other smart service users can access Amazon streaming services. Users can listen to playlists curated by Amazon on demand by going for the "Listen on Demand" option under the Amazon Music app home page.
Users can also create their playlists and search for songs easily from the large collection of music and podcast offered on Amazon Music. Also, downloading songs for offline use is pretty much possible with Amazon Music.
Amazon Music Prime and Unlimited users enjoy over 100 million songs in HD and millions in Ultra HD, all of which are ad-free. Prime users also get access to a large collection of ad-free podcasts.
In addition, Amazon Music Unlimited is a good plan for artists and musicians who wants to share their craft and increase their fanbase.
Amazon has different subscription plans, and they include:
- Amazon Music free
- Amazon music prime
- Amazon music unlimited
Pricing
- Amazon music unlimited individual plan is $8.99 per month for prime members and $9.99 for other users.
- Amazon music unlimited single device plan is $4.99 per month
- Amazon music unlimited student plan is $4.99 per month
- Amazon music unlimited family plan is $15.99 per month
The free trial period for Amazon unlimited is one month, after which the billing starts. Users who signed up for the free trial can cancel before the billing cycle starts.
Sound Quality
- The standard audio quality is 320kbp/s
- The HD FLAC format is about 1441kbp/s
- Ultra HD is about 9216kbp/s FLAC format
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Offer high-resolution lossless audio
- Cost-effective
- Offline Listening
- Access to over 100 million ads-free songs and podcasts
👎 Cons:
- Unfriendly user interface
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Amazon Music
5. TIDAL
Tidal is an interesting music streaming service because it's the first global music streaming service with high-fidelity sound and high-definition video quality, alongside all other features.
In the Tidal music catalog, there are over 90 million ad-free songs where users can choose from exclusive releases, podcasts, and music videos. If you're about music quality, Tidal has innovative audio formats whereby users can select the sound format to listen to their songs or podcasts. Examples include HiFi, MQA, Dolby Atmos, and 360 Reality Audio.
The Tidal high fidelity (HiFi) allows an audio play at 16-bit FLAC format with a sampling frequency of 44.1kHz. Regarding artists and listeners, Tidal makes sure to create a good relationship between them.
You can go for "My Mix" if you want to enjoy personalized songs for an easy music experience. However, mixes changes with users' activities on Tidal. My Mix is about your daily listening habits; you don't have to go through the large music collection to find songs that suit your taste. Also, users can save the mixes as playlists in their music collection.
Pricing
- Tidal HiFi: $9.99 per month
- Tidal HiFi Family: $14.99 per month
- Tidal HiFi Plus: $19.99 per month
- Tidal HiFi Plus Family: $29.99 per month
Each plan has an option of a free trial period for new users, usually 30 days before the billing date kickstarts.
Sound Quality
- Normal: AAC format at 160kbp/s
- HiFi: Lossless FLAC format at 1411kbp/s
- Master: High-Res quality at 2304 – 9216kbp/s
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Offline listen anywhere and anytime
- Unlimited skips
- Personalized curated songs
- Livestreams
- Good listening experience
- Exclusive albums
👎 Cons:
- The plans are quite expensive
- Not available in every country
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to TIDAL
6. Qobuz
Qobuz is another Apple Music alternative. It's a French commercial music service founded in 2007 alongside its music store. The music streaming service is available in about 12 countries worldwide.
The Qobuz music catalog has over 90 million tracks available at the high sound quality. Qobuz is one of the streaming services that offer high-resolution audio. Every song on Qobuz is available in at least CD quality and offers subscriptions for lossless audio only. If you're all about your music quality, you might want to check out Qobuz.
Qobuz allows its users to stream high-resolution music directly without using the MQA or other external spatial audio technology. It's the only music streaming service offering high-resolution streaming and access to high-resolution music downloads from its online music store.
The use of metadata to deliver artists, producers, and songwriting credits gives it an edge over other streaming services. The Qobuz streaming service accommodates different device types, such as Android, iOS, Mac OS X, and Microsoft windows.
One of the amazing features of the Qobuz streaming service is the Panoramas section, whereby users can read articles and editorial content to get adequate information on different music, artists, genres, record labels, and more.
The collaborative playlist is another thing to look forward to on Qobuz. Users can create a collaborative playlist with their friends based on similar preferences in music.
Pricing
- Studio Premier Solo: $12.99
- Studio Premier Duo: $17.99
- Studio and sublime Duo: $22.49
- Studio Family: $21.99
- Studio and Sublime Family: $29.99
To know what the Qobuz plans look like, new users can enjoy a 30-day free trial.
Sound Quality
- CD quality resolution of 16bit and a sampling rate of 44.1kHz
- Users can listen to songs with FLAC format for 24bits up to 96 to 192kHz
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Offer high-resolution audio
- Has a music magazine
- Detailed information about music
- Available desktop app
- Users can purchase FLAC files
👎 Cons:
- It's not available in some parts of the world
- The subscription plan is expensive
- No recommendation algorithm
- Does not support Dolby Atmos, MQA, and Sony 360 reality audio
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Qobuz
7. BoomPlay
BoomPlay is a global music and video streaming service and one of Africa's biggest music and video streaming services. The service was launched officially in 2015 and can be used on multiple devices such as Android, iOS, KaiOS, and the web.
BoomPlay has about 70 million users with a music catalog of over 20 million songs and videos that users can access for free. Aside from the free version, BoomPlay offers subscription plans for users to access certain benefits such as offline downloads, songs on demand, saving songs and videos for later, etc.
Pricing
BoomPlay has a single pricing plan of $1.5 per month.
Sound Quality
BoomPlay offers free and premium versions, allowing users to stream songs for up to 320 kbp/s.
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Subscribed users can download songs and listen to them offline
- Subscribed users can stream songs in HD audio
👎 Cons:
- Songs downloaded during the subscription will not be playable when the subscription expires
- Subscribers using the web player might have limitations on some features like the streaming quality
Aside from the above major music streaming services, you can also consider some other Apple Music alternatives listed below. Although these alternatives are only available in limited locations.
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Boomplay
8. Pandora (Only US)
Another Apple Music alternative you can opt for is Pandora. However, it's limited to people in the US. Pandora is one of the biggest ad-supported radio entertainment streaming services, a subsidiary of Sirius XM. The company has been around since 2005 and has over a million songs.
Users can play songs, albums, playlists, and podcasts on Pandora. Also, by signing up for Pandora, users can listen to ad-free music and podcast on demand.
In addition, Pandora users can create stations based on their preferred artists, music, and genres. The platform also gives users personalized music and podcast listening with the aid of its proprietary music and podcasts genome project.
Pricing
Pandora has three different plans, and the pricing is as follows:
- Pandora plus: $4.99
- Pandora Premium: $9.99
- Pandora Premium Family: $14.99
Like most streaming services, Pandora offers a 30-day free trial for their subscription.
Sound Quality
- Low: allows users to stream at 32kbp/s AAC format
- Standard: allows streams at 64kbp/s AAC format
- High: with this, users can stream at 192kbp/s MP3 format
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Personalized music recommendation
- Unlimited skips and replay
- Ad-free personalized stations
👎 Cons:
- Low audio quality
- Restricted to the US alone
- Limited music catalog
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Pandora
9. Resso (India, Indonesia, and Brazil)
If you're all about interacting and bonding with people who share similar music taste and view as you, then you can consider using the Resso music streaming service.
Resso is a music service launched recently in 2020. It enables users to interact with each other via the "Community" features as they express themselves through songs they already know or are about to discover.
Also, users don't have to worry about accessibility because Resso gives users access to streaming services on smart devices like the PC, mobile, and iOS, which they can use anywhere and anytime.
Also, Resso offers both free-tier streaming services as well as premium streaming. You can opt for anyone based on your budget.
The following are the benefits of a premium Resso subscription:
- Offline Listening
- On-demand listening
- Unlimited skips
- Ad-free music
- High-quality music.
However, the downside to this amazing streaming service is that it is only available in India, Indonesia, and Brazil.
Pricing
- The premium for iOS: is $1.62 per month
- The premium for Android: $1.35 per month
New users can enjoy a 30-day free trial on signup with Resso.
Sound Quality
- Free tier: steams at 128kbp/s
- Russo premium has a streaming audio quality of 256kbp/s
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Users can create playlists that other users in the Resso community can discover.
- Daily personalized music recommendations
- Access to different podcasts channels for relaxing, learning, and music trend discovery
👎 Cons:
- Restricted to specific countries across the world
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Resso
10. Anghami (Middle East)
The first legal music streaming service in the middle east is Anghami which was launched in November 2011 in Lebanon. The platform offers limitless streaming and offline download of over 5.7 million Arabic songs and songs from other parts of the world.
Users can pick up millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami based on their music or listening interests. It's also good that Anghami is available on different devices such as mobile, tablets, and desktops, which can connect to speakers, play stations, and apple TV making it easy for users to access songs anywhere.
Pricing
- Anghami plus: $2.99 per month
- Anghami family: $7.49 monthly
The family plan is for six users with individual accounts under one plan. New users can also opt for the 30-day free trial to get familiar with the streaming service.
Sound Quality
Supports Doubly Atmos, a music technology that expands on the existing sound systems to provide better audio quality
Offers audio streaming at 320kbp/s up to 44100 Hz
Pros and Cons
👍 Pros:
- Offline music download
- Ad-free listening
- High-quality music
- Unlock lyrics to sing along with artists
- Unlimited skips and repeats
- Live radio
👎 Cons:
- The streaming service is restricted to the Middle East.
🔗 Transfer from Apple Music to Anghami
Apple Music Alternative – Conclusion
Particularly in the world of music streaming, there are variations in features that make some streaming service appropriate to users than the rest. There are different streaming services, as we mentioned in the article.
You can take into note important features such as HiFi sound, Podcasts, affordability, and more for Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon prime music, Deezer, Qobuz, etc. Tidal or Qobuz might be the best Apple alternative if you want your music in high-resolution audio.
In conclusion, no streaming services are the best alternative, but it depends on what features the users need from a particular streaming service.
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