Pandora, Spotify or Apple Music: Find the streaming service that best adjusts to your needs
Entertainment February 6, 2019 Admin
BY RYAN MERARD
In a generation where music is provided on streaming apps like Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music, it’s easier to listen to your favorite artist anywhere and at any time. Every day, more and more individuals are getting rid of CD and DVD players and are switching to digital music instead. One can listen to music on their phone, laptop, TV and even in their car with the power of streaming.
According to The Statistics Portal, Apple Music was the most popular music streaming service as of March 2018, with 49.5 million monthly listeners. Spotify comes in second, with 47.7 million monthly listeners and Pandora Radio comes in third, with 36.8 million listeners.
Although most music streaming services are free to download, there is an option to pay a certain amount of money to unlock all the features of the app. For example, without Spotify Premium, users are only able to have six skips per hour, as opposed to unlimited skips. In Apple Music, if one does not pay for the full version, users are only able to listen to music that they themselves have uploaded or purchased. Premium subscriptions to Spotify, Apple and Pandora all cost $10 a month.
Apple Music claims to have a collection of over 45 million songs.
When it comes to the music library, Apple Music claims to have a collection of over 45 million songs. Spotify is reported to have over 35 million songs and Pandora has 30 million songs. Based on the numbers, Apple Music provides a more diverse selection of music.
Apple Music dominates the global reach out of these three apps, stretching their streaming services to 114 countries. Spotify is only available in 60 countries and Pandora is extremely limited globally, available only to the United States after they announced they would stop working in Australia and New Zealand in 2017. With there being 195 countries in the world, Apple Music has the highest reach of access, giving them an advantage in gaining more users.
One thing about Spotify and Apple Music that makes them stand out among other streaming services is their interaction with listeners. Both apps generate different playlists with unique themes that the services update regularly, such as a mix of the most popular songs on the sites at any given time. This gives users the chance to explore a wider range of music than what’s already in their playlists.
For Pandora, something that it does better than the others is its radio services. Spotify and Apple Music both offer radio streaming, however, Pandora was built on the use of radio— hence why its radio system is more developed than the others’. For example, with Spotify, users are only able to select one song to set the base for their radio station, while with Pandora, one is able to set as many songs as they want to give them the perfect radio station.
Pandora provides listeners with the option to listen to nonstop music for hours.
Pandora offers various radio stations that play never-ending music based on the listener’s music taste. Along with the ability to create playlists, Pandora provides listeners with the option to listen to nonstop music for hours.
One area that Pandora still lacks in is providing content other than music. Pandora is very restricted when it comes to podcasts, meaning that users would most likely have to find another way to listen to their favorite show. Pandora does not provide any videos at all, so users would still have to stream their music videos on YouTube. Spotify and Apple Music both have a wider library of podcasts, audiobooks
With all of the streaming apps out in society today, Pandora, Spotify and Apple Music are the more popular ones available. Out of the three, Apple Music and Spotify provide the most well-rounded experience because they are not limited. These apps are more than just music, as they are diverse in the content they provide. With Pandora, its radio systems drive the app, giving the listener enjoyable music for as long as they want. All three of these apps are great for streaming music, and each has special features that distinguish them from one another.
Photo by Kayla Florenco
