Sun, 20 Apr 2014

Spotify or iTunes? The Battle for Music Supremacy


Admit it. You cannot live without music. Yes, it is true that music has taken over a great part in the human lives, and, in the modern age, music has evolved into new forms, making it more available for a lot of people through the power of the internet. Needless to say, forget about going to the mall and purchasing your favorite artist's album on the record store. You can now jam to their latest beats right at your fingertips.


Spotify And iTunes


But, with so many platforms by which we can avail this wonderful service, it would be safe to say that we can all boil down the options to only two - Spotify and iTunes. People may disagree on comparing them, but, despite the huge difference between these two musical belvederes, it would be better to for all people out there considering themselves as music enthusiast, to analyze one's advantage (or disadvantage) over the other. In this list, we will be determining which of the two gives more benefit depending on the different factors most people consider in their music.


The Difference Between Spotify And iTunes


Before we even begin comparing out the two, we have to first bring out how they greatly differ from each other. iTunes basically is a site by which we can download the records and play it on our devices offline. Usually, people purchase individual songs or the whole album in iTunes. On the other hand, Spotify does not allow you to download the record. Rather, it provides you a way to stream the music on your device, anytime, anywhere, as long as you have an Internet connection.

First on the list would definitely be the sound condition of their services. If people want to listen to a record, first thing they would consider is if that music is of high-quality. iTunes provide their songs in AAC format, encoded at 256 kbps. This format is way better than MP3 since it is sampled at a higher rate. Spotify, on the other hand, only provides songs sampled at 160 kbps. Clearly, iTunes offer records of higher quality, thus, for this is definitely the choice for audiophile people.

Another thing we might want to consider is the price that comes along with the record. Spotify offers an unlimited music streaming for free, or as low as $9.99 for advertisement-free streaming. This will allow you to listen to your favorite songs, particularly on your computer or smart phone, for as long as the device has an Internet connection. iTunes, au contraire, does not provided unlimited music.

Rather, it allows people to actually purchase the records and not just stream it. This comes with a $0.99 to $1.29 price per song download, or $9.99 price per album. If you intend not to spend much on music, and opts to only download a few songs, iTunes would definitely cost you less. However, for the primary factor that unlimited music streaming offers low cost listening to people for almost all music available, price factor is definitely won by Spotify.


So, Spotify or iTunes?

So, here comes the concept of opportunity cost. Which site people prefer depends on what factor people value the most on their music. So, whether it is iTunes or Spotify, it is up for the people to decide upon.

More to read:
Spotify Is Making Tons Of Money On Other People's Work.
How Streaming Can Sweep Famous Musicians Into Poverty.
Is Music Streaming a Threat to the Music Industry