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Both Amazon Music Vs Spotify are popular streaming services, but which one will ultimately come out on top? With these two companies duking it out, it will be interesting to see who will hold the upper hand in the streaming market. Let’s explore this comparison with Hookeaudio.
Spotify offers more than 40 million songs. The app also provides music for offline, which is helpful when you are on the go or want to save your data plan. Reading more information in this article.
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Spotify
Martin Lorentzon and Daniel Ek created this Swedish music streaming app. It began as a small startup in 2006. It was created to combat music piracy and provide easy enjoy to music and proper compensation for artists.
Spotify was launched in Europe in 2008. It then moved to the United States in the following years. It reached its first million users in 2011.
It’s today one of the most well-known music streaming services worldwide and is available in 178 countries. It has 158 million subscribers and 345,000,000 active users per month.
Amazon Music
Amazon Music mobile app, formerly known as Amazon Music MP3, was launched in the US in 2007. It was the first digital music store to offer DRM-free music that is free from digital rights management. This service allowed consumers to purchase MP3 music files at 256 kbps from independent and mainstream record labels.
Since its inception, Amazon Music has been steadily expanding its reach to Europe, North America, and Japan. Amazon Music is now available in 50 countries worldwide and has 55 million subscribers as of January 2020.
Unfortunately, this number is not available. However, it’s reasonable to assume that there has been some user growth, as Amazon Prime memberships have grown by 49.05% in the past year.
Amazon Music Vs Spotify: Side by Side Comparison
Devices
Amazon Music is compatible with a variety of devices. However, Spotify is the best feature. Amazon Music Unlimited now offers Alexa Cast, which allows you to cast to multiple Alexa or Bluetooth devices. However, it isn’t as flexible as Spotify.
Spotify allows you to control the Spotify app and any Spotify device. You can control Spotify on your Echo using your desktop software.
Also, you can pause the music on your phone and find another song to play on your computer. Each app can control the music no matter where it is playing.
Amazon Music Unlimited can be accessed through the Amazon Music App. You can download the app on iOS, Android, and Mac computers.
It can be accessed through a Web browser, the Echo devices, and Fire tablets. You can also listen to music using a Sonos multi-room system or a Roku media streamer.
Amazon also stated that selected BMW and Mini cars could be connected to their smartphone via Amazon Music and access the service through their infotainment system.
Spotify is available on almost all devices. There’s an Android, iOS, and Mac app. However, Spotify is available for a much longer list of devices.
Spotify can be installed on selected TVs made by Panasonic, LG, and Samsung. It also works with various audio products, including Bose and Sonos, Onkyo, and Denon.
A variety of car manufacturers and Uber have built-in access to Spotify Connect, Android Auto, or Apple CarPlay. Both the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox One include Spotify apps and Google Chromecast Audio and Chromecast Audio. This is a complete list of Spotify Connect devices.
Both are available on Amazon Echo devices. While Amazon Music has slightly better integration, Spotify can play natively, so there isn’t much difference in the experience.
You can also stream from your phone to a Bluetooth speaker or any other Bluetooth-enabled device.
Content
Both Spotify and Amazon Music offer good music and podcast content. Which platform offers better content? Let’s see.
Amount of music content
Spotify boasts a vast music library that includes over 70 million audio tracks. This puts them in a class above or on par with other music streaming services.
Spotify’s music collection alone makes up approximately 50 million tracks. With an additional rate of around 60 to 70 million songs per day, we can expect between 60 and 70 million tracks by June 2023.
Spotify’s 4.5 million curated playlists cover everything. You’ll be able to keep up with the most recent mainstream hits thanks to strategic agreements with top record labels such as Warner Music, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group.
Billboard, NPR Music, and Rolling Stone have curated many top song playlists. They partnered with Spotify in 2016.
Spotify’s indie music collection doesn’t seem to be small. The streaming giant had a licensing agreement with Merlin in 2017, giving access to more than 20,000 independent labels and artists.
Spotify’s Indie section features 63 curated playlists, which are frequently updated. You can find hundreds more in the Search section. These playlists are mostly curated by Spotify users and indie magazines like Under the Radar Magazine and Atwood Magazine.
Amazon Music HD boasts a music library of 70 million songs and 7,000,000 songs in Ultra HD audio quality. The Search section has a significantly smaller selection of genres than Spotify’s.
Amazon Music HD compensates for this by providing great playlists such as Pop Culture, Rap Rotation, and All Hits. Viral Hits and Hot Singles feature all the latest and most popular music.
Amazon Music HD indeed has a sizeable indie music playlist. Although there isn’t a dedicated Indie section like Spotify, a quick search will bring up many playlists. These playlists include Fresh Indie and The Top 100 Most Popular: Indie, curated by Amazon Music Experts.
Content variety
Spotify spent $900 million purchasing multiple podcasts production companies such as Parcast, Anchor, and Gimlet Media. Spotify currently hosts more than 2.6 million titles. This includes exclusive shows such as Armchair Expert, The Michelle Obama Podcast, and The Joe Rogan Experience.
Spotify also offers a live audio feature as well as podcasts. The platform will offer reality audio quality and Q&A sessions, while hosts can add video podcasts to their shows to enhance them with bonus content. Spotify’s video podcast feature will be available on Xbox starting May 2023.
Amazon Music HD offers podcasts as well, but not in the same amount as Spotify. The modest collection includes about 70,000 titles, and it also offers original shows such as COLD and Disgraceland. Amazon Music HD is exclusive to other titles such as Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums, DJ Khaled’s The First One, and Becky G’s En La Sala.
Amazon Music HD is a great place to find music videos. There is a decent selection of video playlists on the app, including Pop Video Hits and 80s Video Hits. I love the Video Icon series, which showcases artists’ most influential music videos.
You can search for music videos in the Home feed under “Featured video playlists” or artist profiles. This feature is only available for a select few artists, and it’s still great fun that listeners can explore.
Both have extensive music collections that include a mix of indie and mainstream songs. Both have many playlists that are well-crafted and do justice to every music genre.
Both platforms offer a wide range of content. Despite Amazon Music HD being outranked by the number of audiobooks and podcasts in Spotify’s library, it still has a wide variety of music videos, live streams, performances, and other content. The choice between these two options will ultimately depend on your personal preference.
There is also exclusive content on both apps. Amazon Music HD may offer more exclusive content in the future since it is one of the few music service platforms that has voiced its support for exclusives and premium windows.
Music Discovery
Spotify’s USP lies in music recommendations. Spotify’s wildly popular “Discover Weekly” feature uses AI and machine learning to create a playlist with 30 songs that are most relevant to your listening habits. It’s impressively accurate.
Spotify also sends out a two-hour ‘Release Radar playlist’ on Fridays that contains brand-new music and remixes. You will find the best recommendations that match your taste if you listen more.
MORE: Spotify’s new Release Radar function aims to bring you new music
Amazon Music can be divided into three sections: Browse’ (the streaming service), My Music (your local and cloud library), and Store. Amazon’s Music Experts create thousands of playlists for the tech giant, while Amazon’s algorithm recommends music based on your listening hobbies.
Music Unlimited’s discovery tools are great, but Spotify’s are better.
Streaming Quality
Amazon Music HD isn’t playing games: It’s a premium service that supports lossless FLAC sound quality. Amazon Music HD tracks can stream at 850kbps.
According to an Amazon Music HD representative, most devices get Amazon Music HD files for playback. Amazon Ultra HD tracks can be streamed at a fantastic 24bit/192kHz rate, but most devices require an external DAC.
Spotify Premium streams the lossy Ogg Vorbis audio quality file at 320kbps at Very High settings. Other settings include Low (24kbps), Normal (96%kbps), High (163kbps), and Automatic (depending on your network connection).
The streaming service announced Spotify HiFi on February 22, 2023. This tier will offer lossless audio streaming service and compete with Deezer, Tidal HiFi, or Qobuz. The new tier will provide CD-quality lossless audio and won’t likely offer higher audio quality.
Both services allow local media files to be saved. This feature is excellent for anyone with an extensive music collection stored directly in their phone’s memory.
Amazon Music HD and Spotify Premium allow offline playback, which means that you can download songs, playlists, albums, and other content. This is great for those with limited data plans, as high-quality streaming audio can quickly eat into your monthly data limit.
It’s enough to say that if you want to get the best audiophile gear, don’t bother with Spotify Premium. Instead, spend on Amazon Music HD.
Subscription Plans
Spotify Premium is an excellent option for those with tight budgets. Spotify Premium offers a free subscription that is supported by annoying ads. Mobile devices can only skip one track per hour, and audio quality is limited to 160kbps. It is still completely free.
Spotify’s Premium Subscription Plan is available for PS9.99 per Month. Audio quality rises to 320kbps. Ad-free music, unlimited skip, search, and the ability to listen offline are all included.
Spotify Premium offers a Premium Family subscription at a discounted price of PS14.99 / month. This subscription covers up to six people (everyone must live at the same address) with parental controls.
Amazon Music doesn’t offer an ad-supported, free plan. Instead, it offers a 30-day free trial. Prime subscribers access the Amazon Prime Music service as part of their package.
Music Unlimited will cost you PS9.99 per month for regular membership. Amazon Music Prime streaming service subscribers receive a discount, bringing the monthly cost to PS7.99 or PS79 per annum.
Amazon Music HD also offers a PS3.99 per-month subscription that is cheaper, but it can only be used to stream music through one Echo Dot or Amazon Echo (ask Alexa) for a free trial. You will need a monthly subscription of PS9.99 to access Amazon Music on multiple Echo devices.
Amazon Music also offers a Family Membership plan at PS14.99 per Month (or PS149 per Year) for six accounts. Amazon Music can be used on up to 10 devices. Music can also be downloaded offline to the iOS, Android, and Fire tablet platforms.
Compatibility
Spotify Premium can be accessed via the iOS and Android apps and its website player. Spotify Connect allows premium subscribers to stream directly to speakers, TVs, or systems directly from their devices. It is an essential feature in many hi-fi and AV products, including Sonos speakers.
Also, Spotify Premium is compatible with Alexa/Google Assistant. Simply ask for the music streaming service that you are looking for on Spotify HIFI.
Amazon Music service works with tablets and smartphones via the Android and iOS apps. It also works with Macs and PCs via its web player and PC software.
Amazon Music works seamlessly with Echo devices, but not with Google Assistant. This is because Amazon Music and Google have a very strained relationship.
Alexa can play a song, search by artist, mood, decade, or lyric. Alexa can even create artist commentaries called Side by Side, the sound quality equivalent to a DVD commentary.
Interface
Both streaming services have a similar look and feel. Amazon Music and Spotify have a navigation bar at the bottom of their mobile apps that includes a home screen, search, and a music playlist.
Although most people access music services via their mobile devices, Spotify and Amazon Music streaming service offers mobile and PC apps. Here is where the experiences of both services differ.
Spotify’s desktop app works well and has been improved over the past decade. The streaming service unveiled a new interface in March 2023 to allow offline downloading and more control when creating playlists.
Amazon Music’s desktop app is, however, very functional. The interface for a Mac is not intuitive and different from its mobile or desktop app counterpart. The design makes it difficult for users to access the listening queue.
Amazon Music’s web interface makes it easier to listen on your computer than its app. It’s a massive advantage for Spotify to have a reliable desktop app.
Performance and Features
Both Spotify and Amazon Music streaming service offers many of the same features. The number of songs you can listen to is almost the same, and there are very few exclusives. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t key differences that could influence subscribers to choose one service over another.
Amazon Music’s mobile app has its Alexa voice assistant integrated. All music controls can now be done via voice commands. Alexa can perform additional skills through the app.
You can ask Alexa for bright light control, just like an Echo. Spotify has a “Hey Spotify” feature that allows its members to find songs and artists to use their voices. However, its functionality isn’t as robust as Alexa.
The X-Ray lyrics feature is another prominent feature of Amazon Music. This feature is handy and can create a karaoke experience by allowing lyrics to scroll along with the song.
To make it easier for you to purchase their merchandise from Amazon Music, Merch pages can now be attached to selected artists’ profiles. Amazon Music also introduced Car Mode in April 2023 to simplify commuters’ lives.
These Amazon Music features are attractive, but Spotify still holds a clear advantage in its unique music algorithms. Spotify uses personal playlists to make this possible.
Spotify’s playlist and other playlists set it apart from the rest. You don’t need to listen to generic radio if you don’t know what you should be listening to.
Spotify allows you to filter based on moods and genres. You can also use the enhance button to add random songs to your playlists.
Family members and Duo can access regularly updated playlists based on their listening history. The recently played option will also be available, which will allow users to review their three previous months of streaming service.
Spotify integrates with Google Maps when it comes to travel and commuting.
Waze
You can also use the dedicated car interface with large buttons to ensure your music is safe while driving.
Spotify is more like a social music network than any other music service. It allows you to connect with friends and share songs easily back and forth. It’s the most powerful music platform globally and has the most users who will click on any link you share.
Prices compared
Amazon Music Unlimited comes in a variety of pricing options. Amazon Music offers a 30-day trial that will help you get to know it and decide if it is exemplary service.
Music Unlimited memberships will cost you PS9.99/$9.99 per month if you don’t have Amazon Prime. However, Prime members who have Prime accounts will pay only PS7.99/PS7.99 per month or PS79/$79 annually.
Amazon Music offers a PS3.99/$3.99 per month membership, but you cannot play music through the Echo speaker/Echo Dot. The PS3.99/$3.99 a month Echo membership can only be used on one Echo device.
It cannot be transferred. You will need an individual regular membership if you have multiple Echo devices and wish to use Amazon Music on all of them. Student membership is also available for $4.99.
A Family membership costs PS14.99/$14.99 per month for up to 6 family members, or PS149/$149 per year.
Spotify offers a more straightforward pricing structure, with only three tiers. There is a free, ad-supported tier and a premium tier that costs PS9.99/$9.99 per month. There’s also a completely free 30-day trial.
Spotify offers a family subscription plan for PS14.99/$14.99 per month. This includes you and up to five family members. Each member has an account.
A discounted membership is also available for students, but they must sign up through UniDays and NUS Extra.
Ease in Use
Both platforms have similar dark-themed layouts. They manage to offer a lot of functionality without being overwhelming or confusing.
The web player and desktop apps of Spotify have similar layouts with a stationary navigation bar to one side. The navigation bar allows you to access your library quickly for someone like me, who has an excessive amount of playlists I am constantly adding to.
Drag-and-drop is another excellent feature that’s available in both the PC app and web player. You can drag and drop songs to your playlists without needing to navigate menus.
Amazon Music’s interface is also simple and easy. Instead of having a sidebar, the app’s navigation bar is located at the top of the screen.
It contains quick links to your Library, Home feed, Search bar, and Library. The web player links to podcasts, while the desktop software does not.
Amazon Music does not offer drag-and-drop functionality. However, the drop-down menus available when you click on an album or song are pretty comprehensive and easy to use.
The layouts of both platforms’ mobile apps are similar. The main navigation bar at the bottom of your screen houses the Search/Find, Home, Library, and Search/Find buttons. If you prefer to use your hands for Amazon Music, there is an additional Alexa button.
Amazon Music makes excellent use of filters throughout its app. You can filter your search results so that only 3D audio quality and Ultra HD songs are shown. Filtering your library can be done by artist, song, album, or playlist.
This makes it easier to find what exactly you are looking for. Spotify offers a similar function in the Library and Search sections. However, this update was only in February 2023.
Being a Spotify long-term user, I am more familiar with the app’s features and feel more at ease. When reviewing Spotify alongside other streaming apps, I tend to prefer its sleeker layout. In this instance, Amazon Music was OK.
Both platforms are intuitive and have clean designs. Both platforms are intuitive and visually pleasing.
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Other features
Radio
Amazon Music and Spotify both offer personalized radio stations that are based on artist and track preferences.
You can choose to create a station based upon an artist or song you are currently listening to. These stations can also be accessed via Echo devices.
Playlists
These services allow you to create custom playlists that you can share with your friends or save as a collection.
Discovery
Amazon’s app and the web player have a recommendation section that suggests playlists and albums it thinks you might like based on your listening habits. The app has undergone a significant overhaul and claims to make music discovery more straightforward than ever.
Spotify has an alternative feature called Discover Weekly. This is a playlist that Spotify automatically curates based on your song habits. It is updated on Monday mornings and, based on our experience, it always seems to be a good selection.
Assistant
Amazon Music is now available to Alexa because it integrates with Echo devices. Alexa can answer any question you may have, including “play Britney’s greatest hits” or “play music for a party.”
Spotify does not have an integrated assistant, but you can control it with Alexa and Google Assistant. You can ask Spotify for the music you desire, and it will play.
Offline
Both Amazon Music vs Spotify offers offline mode. Amazon offers it as a standard, but Spotify subscribers can only access songs from Spotify.
Conclusion
Both Amazon Music and Spotify offer a vast library of music, but the two services vary in many ways. Spotify offers a free version for all users, but a paid service costs $9.99 a month for a family plan.
Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers are available only for a monthly fee of $9.99. Both have various other features, such as offline and curated playlists.
Spotify Premium adds an ad-free experience and extended integration with Facebook. That said, the most significant difference between the two could be access to music from other streaming services.
Amazon Music Unlimited is perfect for people who want a music library that can be streamed and who want to pay for the feature without worrying about advertisements.
Spotify Premium is aimed at people who are more concerned with what they can listen to for free rather than paying extra for the privilege.
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