People only have so many options when it comes to music apps these days – Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, Shazam, and Tidal are the most popular. While each has their benefits, we think that Spotify could very well be the champion. One of the best things about Spotfiy is that you can choose the song you want to hear, unlike other apps that let you choose a station based on a specific song or artist but don’t let you necessarily listen to the song you want. If you want, the option to create a station based on a song or artist if available, but most of the time people have specific songs they want to listen to.
Like most music apps, Spotify offers a free option and a premium subscription. If you decide to only use the free version then obviously the capabilities are a bit more limited, especially on the mobile app as opposed to the desktop and web interfaces. One of the biggest differences between Spotify free vs premium is the fact you can only listen to your playlists on shuffle; this can be frustrating if you have specific songs you want to listen to right away, but the good part is that you know what songs will play and that eventually the playlist will get there. The other big difference between the free and paid version for the Spotify music app is that the free version has ads. In our opinion, the ads are not invasive and they do not ruin your listening experience. If you want, you can even choose to watch a video ad in order to earn 30 minutes of ad free listening.
The other big differences between the paid and free version are sound quality and downloads. With the premium Spotify account the bitrate increases from 96 kbps to 320 kbps on mobile, which for the trained ear and in high quality headphones can be a noticeable difference. A lot of people can’t tell the difference, but those who listen to music all the time and have super high quality earphones and speakers easily can. Lastly, what might be the biggest game changer for Spotify premium is the fact that you can download songs, up to 3,333 tracks on up to 3 devices. This means that you don’t have to wait for your desired song to come around in the playlist shuffle, and that you can listen to whatever song and artist you want within your Spotify library and even on your mobile phone, desktop, or tablet.
OVERALL
Fun Level - 9
Addiction Level - 9.3
Easy to Use - 9.2
Graphics 9.7
Concept - 10
Spotify has built a very easy to use and feature full interface for the user. When you want to listen to music it sucks to have to try to figure out where to click and to be bombarded by ads, so the fact that the Spotify interface is easy to navigate and provides users with a few efficient browsing functions really pays off big time. If you like to listen to music while driving our working out this can be especially important since you don’t want to waste time getting distracted by a confusing interface.
In the home section within the Spotify music app you have a lot of cool different sections to check out that allow you to browse music in a fun way. It gives you the option to listen to your top favorite songs, channels similar to ones you already have, recently played, popular playlists that people are listening to, top songs on the music charts, podcasts, original video series about music, new releases, and you can even browse music by the type of mood you’re in. We thing that Mood section is especially unique and cool since that really gets down to the true essence of music. Why do you like certain songs and genres more than others? It’s because it puts you in a certain mood and makes you feel a certain type of way; so the ability to browse music by the way you want to feel or for the way you’re feeling is very cool.
Spotify even offers a very Pandora like feature where you can listen to stations based on artists and/or certain songs. In the Radio section of Spotify there are pre-made stations that are compiled around what you listen to, and you can even create custom stations like on Pandora. As you scroll down it also offers you general stations to listen to by genre, and the coolest part about that is it actually tells you the songs/artists that are included in the station. With other music apps it’s a little bit of a mystery when it comes to the exact songs and artists that you will hear in a station, so to be able to know exactly what you’re getting into can really improve your overall listening experience and save you some time having to fuss around and change things.
Music is important because it can completely change your mood and even comfort people to get them through tough times. It strikes up so much emotion and can be therapeutic is so many different ways. Whether you listen to music in your car to help pass the time in traffic, while you work out to help motivate you, or while at social gatherings to help bring everyone together, music can have such a positive impact on people’s lives. This is why it is so important you find a good music app where you can enjoy the music you like without having to deal with the negative and annoying parts of technology.
Even though there are not too many options when it comes to music apps, there are enough to make it a little overwhelming when trying to choose the right one for you. That’s why we really wanted to do a music app review, and as time goes on we will be doing more so you can really compare the different options and see if it might be worth the time giving other ones a test. We thought it would be good to start with Spotify since it seems to be one of the most popular music app options on the market.
The free version of Spotify works great, and as we mentioned above the ads really don’t hurt the overall experience too much. However, if you are willing to cough up a little cash every month then premium version of Spotify is perfect for you. They often times run specials where you can test out the paid versions for one month free, or even get 3 months for as low as $0.99. The regular price for Spotify premium is only $9.99 per month, that’s only about $0.30 per day. If you are a big music lover then it is definitely worth it to bite the bullet and pay for the premium version, you won’t regret it.
AppMan
