What is the Difference Between Spotify and iTunes

In the world of digital music streaming service, Spotify and iTunes can be considered two of the most prominent service providers. iTunes is now Apple Music. In terms of their basic purpose, they belong to the same category, i.e., delivery of music. However, they are quite different from each other when we compare their mode of operation, pricing models, and the user experience. iTunes combines both buying and streaming into one package.

Read this article to understand how Spotify is different from iTunes so that you can pick the best service as per your preferred mode oflistening and preferences.

Streaming vs. Ownership

• Spotify: Stream music. Consumers do not own their music. They can, however, stream millions of songs if they continue their subscription. Examples: Stream any artist's latest album immediately, such as Drake's or Taylor Swift's.
  
• iTunes: Digital shop. Customers will buy and own songs / albums; for example, purchasing an Ed Sheeran album. to download permanently. They also stream Spotify, but still, customers can cut around and purchase their favorite music through iTunes.

Pricing Model

• Spotify: The free service has ads while the premium service is $9.99 a month and has ads removed, infinite skips and offline use Example: the free service is alright for shuffling songs or the subscriber pays for more control.
• iTunes: You can download individual tracks for $0.69-$1.29, as well as albums costing within $9.99-$14.99. Apple Music-exactly like Spotify-this offers its service for $9.99/month. Example: Download some of your favorite songs or listen to over 40 million songs through Apple Music.

Listening offline

• Spotify: You can download tracks if you have a Premium account, so you can hear them offline. Streams you find through Spotify will disappear if your subscription ends.
• iTunes: Once you buy that song, it is yours. Download to play anywhere.

Library and Content

• Spotify: It really has humongous collections of music and podcasts, for instance, Joe Rogan. It gives users show-curated playlists based on interest like Discover Weekly.
• iTunes: It contains audio and video files such as movies and TV programs. Apple Music boasts nearly the same breadth of a library as Spotify does, only this time with iTunes as permanent purchases.

Platform and Ecosystem

• Spotify is available almost on every device, be it an iOS, Android, Windows, or even a macOS; it is not limited to one ecosystem.
• iTunes provides the best experience within the Apple Ecosystem: iPhone, Mac, iPad; but it is now available on Android and Windows devices too.

The social features of Spotify make it interesting. Here, users can follow their friends, share playlists, even see what is being played by their friends in real time. This makes Spotify more of a social platform for the discovery of music. For instance, suppose your friend started playing a new album by Post Malone, you would see it in your activity feed and listen in.

Differences between Spotify and iTunes

Here is a table highlighting the major differences between Spotify and iTunes (now part of Apple Music):  

Conclusion

Spotify is a better service for streaming, discovery, and ease if you never wanted to own the songs. iTunes is ideal for the user who wants to have owned music or has a mix of streaming through Apple Music and buying outright.