YouTube music is being popular these days because of Google’s new Pixel phones, Nest devices, and Android OS. Apple Music is the default music player in iOS. YouTube Music was developed by Google and Apple Music was developed by Apple. Both of these companies are top-level companies that have large marketplaces. Because of this Apple and Google always offer the best features to their products and try to hold their users and reach new users. Let’s compare their music streaming services. YouTube and Apple Music have lots of similarities. We are going to see the essential features of YouTube music vs Apple Music.
YouTube Music vs Apple Music: Pricing
Apple Music and YouTube Music are the same from the pricing. The only difference is YouTube Music has a free plan. The free plan allows listening to music with many restrictions. You can’t play music in the background or download songs. You can continue listening with ads. But you can’t start listening to Apple Music without a subscription. Apple Music offers three months free trial but YouTube Music’s trial period is limited to 1 month.
YouTube Music Pricing
- YouTube Music free – free
- YouTube Music Premium Individual – US $9.99/mo
- YouTube Music Premium Family (up to 5 persons) – US $14.99
- YouTube Music Premium Student – US $4.99
Apple Music Pricing
- Apple Music individual – US $9.99
- Apple Music Family ( up to 6 persons) – US $14.99
- Apple Music Student* – US $4.99
*Comes with Apple TV Plus
YouTube Music vs Apple Music: Streaming Quality
Apple Music and YouTube Music are the same from the sound quality. Both Apple Music and YouTube Music streams 256kpbs AAC files. If you have experienced both of these services, you can’t find any difference between YouTube Music and Apple Music from streaming quality. Both of these give a quality, loud and descriptive sound experience. Apple Music and YouTube Music don’t have a separate plan for high-quality streaming like Deezer or Tidal.
YouTube Music vs Apple Music: Music Discovery
Music discovery in YouTube Music is easy than Apple Music. You can find your recommended music in the Home tab and discover new music in Explore tab. YouTube Music creates personalized mixes called My Mixes. Also, YouTube music shows some quick picks and simply you can start a radio station from one of that songs. YouTube Music creates a playlist called Your Likes from your liked songs. Apple Music doesn’t create a playlist like that. YouTube Music is a part of YouTube. Because of this, YouTube Music has more video content than Apple Music. There are so many music videos and live performing videos in YouTube Music. Explore tab shows trending songs and you can see any country’s top chart by selecting the country. Also, you can see new releases and discover music by genre or mood.
Some popular playlists made by YouTube Music
- The Hit List – Today’s biggest and hottest tracks
- Pop Certified – biggest and hottest pop music around the USA right now
- Hip Hop Essentials – most popular hip hop hits from last 5 years
- Released – hottest new music. A playlist that updated every Friday
The music discovery story of Apple Music is different from YouTube Music. Listen Now tab is the place that shows recommended music. The browse tab is the place to discover new music. There is another tab called Radio for radio stations. You can see the top station is there. Search Music by genre or mood is possible too in Apple Music. You can select any genre in the Search tab or Browse tab and see related playlists in there.
Some popular playlists made by Apple Music
- Today’s Hits – shows up music that trending right now.
- Apple Music 1 List – A mix of the world’s best new music
- A-List Pop – trending Pop Music right now
- New Music Daily – the main playlist of new releases that updated daily
YouTube Music vs Apple Music: User Interface
If You like the YouTube interface, you love the YouTube Music interface. YouTube has a tab to see your subscription but subscriptions in YouTube Music can be found in Library. As described above, the Home tab shows your recommended music, and Explore tab shows trending music and new releases. The noticeable thing is search button is moved to the top of the app like YouTube. All other music streaming apps have a separate tab for search music. YouTube Music has a beautiful media player. You can see three tabs at the bottom of the media player. You can find lyrics, up next songs in queue, and related music in there. Lyrics will not auto-play with songs in YouTube Music. But Apple Music plays lyrics with songs and it is a very cool feature. There are two buttons to like or unlike songs in YouTube Music. Also, you can switch between song and video quickly on the media player. That is another useful feature. Apple Music has music videos too but you must search and play video.
Talking about Apple Music User Interface, Apple Music designed to Apple’s default user interface type. there are five tabs in Apple Music. For You tab replaced by Listen Now tab. Personalized music suggestions can be found in there. You can discover new music in the browse tab. There is a separate tab for radio stations as described in the Music Discovery section. Apple Music’s media player is cleaner than YouTube Music. Play with lyrics is one of the best features that people love in Apple Music.
YouTube Music vs Apple Music: Social Features
People like to share their activities with others. Listening activities describe their music taste to others. Because of this, streaming services try to give social sharing options to their users. YouTube Music allows their user to create a channel. A channel will be automatically created when you login into YouTube Music. Your public playlists appear in there. There are three options for playlist privacy. You can set Public if you don’t want to hide your playlist from others. Also, you can set Unlisted mode or Private mode. In Unlisted mode, everyone with the link can view your playlist. Only you can view your playlist if you set the Private mode in privacy settings when you creating a playlist. The wonderful thing is YouTube music allows you to make collaborative playlists. In the past, that is a feature that only available on Spotify. Collaborative playlists mean everyone with a playlist’s link can add or remove songs. If you have friends that interesting in music, that will be a very useful feature to you.
Apple Music allows you to create a profile. That likes a channel in YouTube Music. Also, your Playlists can be found in there, if you make them public. You can make your playlists public or private. You can see your friend’s activities in Listen Now tab. In iOS 14.5, there is an option to share lyrics line by line. Both Apple Music and YouTube Music allow you to share music with other third-party apps.
YouTube Music vs Apple Music: Which is Better for You?
Now you understood there are so many similarities between YouTube Music and Apple Music. If you care a lot about streaming quality, it’s hard to choose one from these. Music discovery is easy in YouTube Music but Apple Music offers more radio station features than YouTube Music. YouTube Music leads a little more from social sharing options because of collaborative playlists. If you have an iPhone, Apple Music will be a good option for you because Apple Music is compatible with iOS more than any other third-party streaming app. Siri is working well with Apple Music. YouTube Music is a pre-installed app on Android. If you have an Android phone, YouTube Music is better for you, because there are some bugs in Apple Music’s Android app and Apple doesn’t bring updates regularly to Apple Music. The choice is yours!
