Sounds like Spotify are deliberately locking you in by making it difficult to move to another service.
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Teens Love iPhone and Apple Watch, But Not Apple Music and Apple TV+
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I’m surprised by the hatred of Apple Music. I have switched back and forth between Spotify and Apple Music for the past 10 years, and am currently using Apple Music.
Spotify has better playlists, and I like their GUI slightly more, but their AI has pigeonholed me into 3 genres it believes I like, and I can’t seem to “fix”/correct it by intentionally listening to albums and genres I like. Instead of relearning, it begins to recommend some “classics” because it thinks I like older music, when all I was trying to do was train their AI with albums I love!!!!
Apple Music’s GUI is bad on my iPhone. Their playlists aren’t as good, but at least it knows that “New R&B” isn’t my favourite genre. 😂😂
In terms of catalogue, they feel the same. 🤷🏻♂️
I like Apple’s lossless music option, and like the lyrics feature.
Spotify has better playlists, and I like their GUI slightly more, but their AI has pigeonholed me into 3 genres it believes I like, and I can’t seem to “fix”/correct it by intentionally listening to albums and genres I like. Instead of relearning, it begins to recommend some “classics” because it thinks I like older music, when all I was trying to do was train their AI with albums I love!!!!
Apple Music’s GUI is bad on my iPhone. Their playlists aren’t as good, but at least it knows that “New R&B” isn’t my favourite genre. 😂😂
In terms of catalogue, they feel the same. 🤷🏻♂️
I like Apple’s lossless music option, and like the lyrics feature.
Companies catering to the fickleness of teenagers.![]()
The iPhone continues to be overwhelmingly popular with teens, according to Piper Sandler's biannual teen survey. 85 percent of U.S. teens surveyed own an iPhone, and 86 percent plan to purchase an iPhone as their next smartphone.
![best-early-black-friday-iphone-2.jpg]()
While the iPhone is still the most popular smartphone among teens, ownership is down from the October 2023 survey where 87 percent of teens owned an iPhone and 88 percent planned to purchase one.Apple's dominance in the teen market is of particular interest right now because it is one metric that the U.S. Department of Justice is targeting in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
The DoJ has suggested that Apple's ownership of the U.S. smartphone market causes "social stigma, exclusion, and blame" for non-iPhone users, with "green bubble" chats and issues between iPhone and Android message users cited as a specific example. The DoJ claims that this is "particularly powerful" for teenagers, and that "social pressure" causes teens to switch to the iPhone.
The antitrust lawsuit also suggests that Apple's marketshare among "key demographics" like "younger audiences" is an issue that gives Apple too much power over the smartphone ecosystem.
As for the Apple Watch, 34 percent of teens reported using an Apple Watch, with no change from last fall. Intent to buy an Apple Watch was up three percent, however, with 13 percent of teens planning to buy one in the next six months. Only 39.4 percent of teens said they own a smart watch, so teens are also overwhelmingly preferring the Apple Watch to other smart watch brands. The Apple Watch was the top watch brand, with Rolex and Casio coming in second and third, respectively.
Teens prefer Spotify as their music service, and nearly two-thirds of teens surveyed said Spotify is their preferred service. Just over 30 percent of teens said they use Apple Music. Apple TV+ is not popular with teen audiences, and less than five percent of teens said they watch it on a daily basis. Comparatively, over 30 percent of teens watch Netflix daily, and close to 30 percent watch YouTube.
Apple Pay was the most popular payment platform with 44 percent of teens using it in the last month, but Cash app and Venmo are preferred for peer-to-peer money transfers.
Piper Sandler surveyed 6,020 teens across 47 U.S. states for its spring 2024 report.
Article Link: Teens Love iPhone and Apple Watch, But Not Apple Music and Apple TV+
I don't understand why people don't like Apple Music.
I'm convinced it's just culture, as Spotify grew to be the norm.
Most of the people complaining about Apple Music, haven't used it even once.
So many conversations I had like this:
"Spotify is just better in every way"
I ask: "Care yo explain why you say so?"
....[silence]
I'm convinced it's just culture, as Spotify grew to be the norm.
Most of the people complaining about Apple Music, haven't used it even once.
So many conversations I had like this:
"Spotify is just better in every way"
I ask: "Care yo explain why you say so?"
....[silence]
I like Apple Music in every way other than the backend.
I like the interface, the playlist, the added functionality...
But the experience is sometimes ruined when songs stop playing, when it has trouble connecting to the web, when I get server errors or when songs skip.
If Apple improved things behind the scenes, it would be perfect.
Still, I have used it for 4 years, and it took me ages to make the algorhythm understand my taste...so I'll stay with it.
I also built lots of extremely carefully curated playlists.
Listening to music with ads is just unbearable...
If I were still a potless teen, I'd save up elsewhere (getting 2 less beers per month) but pay to listen to music how it was meant to be.
I understand saving money, but I really feel a teenager would be able to save 10$ per month.
Or could it be that Apple Music's song and playlist recommendation algorithms are notoriously mediocre by comparison to what Spotify gives you, or that Netflix has mountains of content while TV+ has a molehill?
Apple Music and TV+ are partially exempt from the free-market competition that the content-only companies like Spotify and Netflix because of how in-demand iPhone is, and how Apple leverages its monopoly on fully integrated cloud storage for its devices, iCloud, to make its various services and make its Apple One bundles look like a good deal.
"Oh, you've already agreed to getting overcharged for iCloud because there's no full integration with third-party cloud storage services? Why not get an Apple One bundle and "save" some money? It's just a few dollars more per month. And it's not like you can bundle iCloud with the streaming services you actually want, like Disney+, Netflix or Spotify. You also get "amazing" additional services like Fitness+ and Arcade."
Apple Music and TV+ would not last a year if Apple users were free to get full integration with other cloud storage services and other companies could sell streaming + cloud storage bundles directly through apps without paying Apple's taxes.
Just like we got Lightning for a decade too long, Apple won't ever spend enough on Music or TV+ to offer good value as long as iPhone sells as well as it does.
Why fix what's outdated or too mediocre to compete in a free market when all your devices and services are partially or completely blocked from working with those made by third-parties?
This passes the smell test.
Apple TV+ is not exactly known for edgy content (apart from LGBT, which is Apple's darling), and it's the edgy content that teens generally gravitate toward. Apple's institutional conservatism really hurts them here with the teen audiences.
As for Apple Music, it continues to astound me that Apple haven't figured out how important social media is to the younger generation and music is no exception.
As just a small example, Apple produce a version of "Spotify wrapped" end-of-year review of your listening habits but unlike Spotify who make them easily shareable on social media, Apple have skipped shareability almost completely.
Also it seems just about no one shares playlists on Apple Music compared to Spotify.
TL;DR - I predict Apple will struggle to attract teens to Apple Music as long as they fail to understand the social aspect of music.
Apple TV+ is not exactly known for edgy content (apart from LGBT, which is Apple's darling), and it's the edgy content that teens generally gravitate toward. Apple's institutional conservatism really hurts them here with the teen audiences.
As for Apple Music, it continues to astound me that Apple haven't figured out how important social media is to the younger generation and music is no exception.
As just a small example, Apple produce a version of "Spotify wrapped" end-of-year review of your listening habits but unlike Spotify who make them easily shareable on social media, Apple have skipped shareability almost completely.
Also it seems just about no one shares playlists on Apple Music compared to Spotify.
TL;DR - I predict Apple will struggle to attract teens to Apple Music as long as they fail to understand the social aspect of music.
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Anecdotal assumption on my part, because that's what I do - I have Apple One, so my kids had to pay for Spotify on their own if they wanted it.
About search and music library: Probably depends on musical tastes. In my experience, with Apple Music you often have to spell the name of a song right until it find's it - and even then, it's default results are often cover versions, remixes and live versions. And it sticks to them, even if you select another version of that song every time you search for it. So you have to word your search query very carefully with Siri on homepods sometimes (e.g. if I want to hear "Old town road" I have to say: Play Old town road by Lil Nas X" to get the original. Otherwise it plays the Version featuring Billy Ray Cyrus every time)
Sometimes I search stuff on my sons Spotify account just to find out the right spelling that I then enter into apple music. It's also not very good if you have a broad musical taste and it especially lacks with EDM.
Another anecdotal thing that bugs me everytime: Can't find "The Grey Album" from Danger Mouse on Apple Music nor the Soundtrack of Dr. Horrible's Sing along Blog - both are on Spotify.
I have AM because I have Apple One and it works better with the homepods, etc. (e.g. for alarm sounds), and I like that it seems to pay artists better and has better sound quality. But from a usability standpoint I kind of put up with it and will probably leave Apple One and just get the iCloud storage and occasionally subsribe to TV+ if Apple Music doesn't get better in the next 1-2 years.
Apple Music was actually the first service to raise its prices in my country. Spotify followed them.
If the rumors are true and Spotify plans to raise its prices again this year, all other streaming services will most likely follow suit.
As for the app, Spotify is miles ahead of the competition, especially Apple Music, their Mac app is ridiculously bad. I still can't understand how a multibillion dollar company like Apple can release such a terrible app.
There is absolutely no reason to switch to Apple Music.
Agree.
But you're not "falling" if you're not even trying:
Apple is fully content resting on its iPhone sales laurels and spending nowhere close to the amounts of marketing and r&d for Music as Spotify does.
Why spend hundreds of millions on trying to compete in music streaming when iPhone sales are soaring year after year and you only really care about the latter as there's nowhere near as much money to be made from music streaming as there is from smartphone sales?
Apple's iPhone sales, iCloud price gauging, Apple One bundles, and lack of full integration for third-party services and devices into Apple's ecosystem ensures a steady number of Apple Music users.
It's really quite simple and very lucrative.
I have 15 and 22 year-old kids, and this headline aligns with my experience. I have an Apple One family subscription, and they won't touch Apple Music or Apple TV+. For them it is all Spotify and asking me if I will subscribe to HBO Max for them.
An iPhone sale is a sale is a sale no matter who buys it but it is important that someone is advocating for buying the iPhone vs any other alternative. No matter what the reasons are for wanting to buy the iPhone (emotional, function, ease of use, features, performance, status symbol, costs, logical use, productivity, etc.), they are valid reasons to that person and whomever is paying for it.
If they arrive at that decision point because of their own reasoning, fine, if nudged by Apple’s marketing, fine. If Apple is so good at marketing, then why haven’t the Android makers upped their game at marketing to teens or built in features that make the teen social experience better for them? I mean, Apple marketing isn’t that hard to copy, right? Didn’t they already copy the product introduction event format, the casual open collar suits, the non-work clothes diverse presenters, quoting hundreds of specs, using celebrity and young influencers to make Android products “cool”, and derided Apple users as fence straddlers, wishing they had Folding phones, missing out on Android exclusives, and how much they didn’t know they were missing?
And Apple gets flak for designating SMS non-iMessage from the beginning in early 2010’s as green and iMessage as blue bubbles?
Piper Sandler is a US based investment firm and their primary market is US based investors. Their US based teen survey has been around for over 20 years. This reports on that one survey and no, it does not imply that ALL teens or rest or world teens act the same way.
But, S Korean teens and young people under 29 seem to have the same preferences for iPhones vs Androids. There is less known about their preferences for other Apple products and services.
Young Koreans favor iPhones over Samsung Galaxy: survey
In South Korea, 69 percent of adult smartphone users use a Samsung device, while only 23 percent use iPhones, a Gallup survey of 1,001 adults found. But the survey reveals a starkly different trend in one demographic: younger millennials and Gen Z. Among the younger generation, aged 18 to 29...
www.koreaherald.com
Even Korea is starting to prefer the iPhone over Samsung's Galaxy phones
The iPhone is on its way to outselling Samsung in Korea thanks to recent changes, meanwhile the latest Galaxy phone is as boring as ever
It isn’t hard to believe that in some other countries like Singapore, India, UK, Germany, etc., a sizable part of teens just might like or aspire to owning and using Apple products like iPhones for many and various reasons.
Well, I'm a grand-dad that has apple TV, and you simply can't watch Apple TV+ daily, it doesn't have enough worth watching "daily". The new weekly releases is why I'm considering shutting down Apple TV+, at least for awhile, then come back and binge. The new way to watch, is binge, I will never go back to weekly. So you have a stonrg case here.
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My guess is those that do not wear a watch at all, being kids, want to answer, and won't say none, and they have "heard" of Rolex, so answered that. We know, for a fact, that kids do not sport Rolex watches in mass.
Yes, it was about 3-4 years ago. About the same time Spotify engaged in their constant whining campaign about how unfair Apple was being about everything. They bought Snowy and then buried the developer. Even after Apple opened up AW and HP streaming, Spotify took years to support either.
For me, it was very telling of their priorities. Complain first, then support the customer. I actually lost interest in following the whole ordeal.
Spotify and Netflix are better.
I have tried many times to give Apple Music a shot. For a long time Apple expected me to listen through a buggy website, archaic software such as iTunes, or a 3rd party program.
Now they have finally made a Windows app for Apple Music I thought yes it's finally time but the app is so bloated (it's basically a reskin of iTunes) and uses way too much RAM and CPU power. My CPU is noticeably running hotter by having Apple Music open. Spotify has negligible performance impact on my PC. My PC has one of the most powerful consumer CPUs out and I have plenty of RAM (64GB) so it's not like I'm struggling to run it but I listen to music pretty much all the time I have my PC on. If the app is so inefficient and making all 16 cores show usage (lol) then it's going to mount up the actual power consumption of my PC.
I have an iPhone and Mac so I'm sure it works just fine on them but 99% of the time I listen to music is on my PC so for me this is unacceptable. I'll be sticking with Spotify until Apple make a proper app.
I have tried many times to give Apple Music a shot. For a long time Apple expected me to listen through a buggy website, archaic software such as iTunes, or a 3rd party program.
Now they have finally made a Windows app for Apple Music I thought yes it's finally time but the app is so bloated (it's basically a reskin of iTunes) and uses way too much RAM and CPU power. My CPU is noticeably running hotter by having Apple Music open. Spotify has negligible performance impact on my PC. My PC has one of the most powerful consumer CPUs out and I have plenty of RAM (64GB) so it's not like I'm struggling to run it but I listen to music pretty much all the time I have my PC on. If the app is so inefficient and making all 16 cores show usage (lol) then it's going to mount up the actual power consumption of my PC.
I have an iPhone and Mac so I'm sure it works just fine on them but 99% of the time I listen to music is on my PC so for me this is unacceptable. I'll be sticking with Spotify until Apple make a proper app.
T-Mobile subscribers get Netflix for free. Perhaps that may be a reason.
Also, T-Mobile gives AppleTV+ to their subscribers. I consider the content on AppleTV+ to be of a very high quality, while Netflix just has content of high and low quality.
Some people just want to be entertained and don’t care about content quality as long as they don’t feel bored.
(I have both services, plus Peacock, Paramount+, Globo, and the free services. I’m currently watching Paramount+ because they have some shows I like).
Regarding Music, I prefer Apple Music. It has all the music I like to listen too, and it’s available on all my devices. I don’t rely an algorithm to pick my music, but if I want to use it, Apple Music’s algorithm does a very good job IMO.
I agree. There's a lot on Apple TV+ I've watched, but there's not enough content to have me watch daily, unless I'm working through a show. That 5% of teens reported daily watching of Apple TV+ is either inaccurate or impressive for the service.
Just goes to show you iPhones are meant for kids. As I get older, I want to move to Android just because of the increased productivity features.
The only reason I use Apple Music and AppleTV is because they're bundled in my Apple One subscription.
I wanted the high storage tier and I spread that across the family.
But I HATE the Music App interface, especially that it DOESN'T WORK ON LANDSCAPE.
I wanted the high storage tier and I spread that across the family.
But I HATE the Music App interface, especially that it DOESN'T WORK ON LANDSCAPE.