Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Google Play Music put face to face

Until recently, users could only choose when listening to music on our Smartphone, tablet or computer between Spotify y Google Play Music, two of the most popular streaming music services worldwide. However, with the passage of time the number of options has grown and for example, in addition to some minor options, we now also have the option of making use of Tidal or the recently introduced Apple Music, which is currently only available in the United States, and will arrive in many other countries very soon.

We know that deciding on one or the other service is something quite complicated, so we wanted to make this article, in which let's compare these four streaming music services. We cannot assure you that we will help you choose one or the other, and make the right decision, but what we are sure of is that you will not miss a single piece of information to know, so that you can later make the decision that the more you are interested in, which we also hope is the correct one.

I'm looking for a free music streaming service

If you are looking for a free music streaming service, we have good and bad news for you. First of all we can tell you that All services offer a free trial period that can range from 3 months of Spotify for 0,99 euros to 3 months of Apple Music. The bad news is that not everyone has a free version and yes, for example, Google Play Music allows you to upload up to 50.000 songs to listen to wherever and whenever you want and also for a few days it has also offered you a free service with ads, or Spotify allows listening to music in exchange for "having to put up with" their ads. Apple's music service as well as Tidal do not offer a free version for users.

Unfortunately today few applications are free, much less those related to music. Don't forget that singers and artists in general have to make a living.

My recommendation from now on is that if you are going to make intensive use of the service, make an effort to pay the monthly fee and that is that I, for example, wear my helmets from morning to night. I was very tired of every 10 minutes hearing announcements that totally took me out of what I was doing. These services may seem expensive, but in the long run it is a pleasure to be able to listen to the music you want, however you want and without any interruption.

How much will it cost me to subscribe to these services?

If you have already decided to subscribe to one of these music services, leaving aside the trial periods and free versions, we are going to scrutinize each of the prices of Google Play Music, Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music.

Starting with possibly the most popular, such as Spotify, is priced at $ 9,99 per month. Google Play Music and Apple Music have exactly the same price, although in the case of the latter we only know its price in dollars, and we do not know if the equivalence in euros will be the same or will change. Remember that the Cupertino-based company presented it a few days ago and it will not be available until the summer, so there are some details to be polished and to be made known.

Tidal for its part offers us two options. The first one is Tidal Premium, for $ 9,99 per month and Tidal HiFi that will offer us better sound, with a price of $ 19,99 per month, an amount perhaps excessive for any pocket for much that is the improvement of the sound.

The prices may not seem cheap at first, but as soon as you enjoy a month of music continuously, without ad breaks and with dozens of other options, you will realize that these services are cheap and worth it. pay for them.

Which one has the best catalog?

This question is very similar to the one they usually ask you when you are little and in which they ask you if you love your father or mother more. The catalog of these four applications is very complete and very good, and they differ in small details.

For example, in Spotify we can access 30 million songs, the same as in Google Play Music. Apple Music also encompasses 30 million songs.

The small details are what make the difference and that is that Google's music service, for example, allows free access to YouTube Key or Apple Music will allow us to listen to news that are not yet available on iTunes.

A determining factor for many users may be the presence of Taylor Swift with her songs on the Apple Music service. The singer after a great controversial decision to withdraw her entire discography from Spotify leaving orphans to all of us who are subscribers of this service and above all who like or like her music.

Availability

At this point, first of all, we must say that Apple Music is not available at the moment, and it will not be until next June 30, when it can begin to be accessed from iOS and Android devices and from the desktop applications that will be available. available for Windows and Mac.

Spotify for its part has been around for a long time and has applications available on practically all platforms, exactly like Google Play Music. Tidal reaches fewer corners, but it does not fall short by offering its own application for iOS and Android.

Below we show you a table with all the data for each of the grouped services, so that you can see the information at a single glance;

Opinion freely

I hope that everyone understands that an article of this type could not be left without a personal opinion of the writer and above all that everyone understands that everyone can have their opinion and I have mine.

I have been a Premium user of Spotify for a long time, religiously paying the fee every month, and I sincerely believe that subscribing to this music service was one of the best things I have done, and more considering that I work all day in front of a computer and that music is one of my few distractions. Some of you will ask me for sure that Spotify, and the answer is very simple. From my personal experience, I recommend everyone to try each of the available services, both the free version and the trial period, and then decide.

Perhaps with the free version you have more than enough, but if not, and taking into account the money that you are going to have to pay out each month, it is best that you decide calmly and having all the information, also trying all the possibilities.

What is your favorite streaming music service?