When comparing Spotify vs Amazon Music Unlimited, the Slant community recommends Spotify for most people. In the question“What are the best music streaming services?” Spotify is ranked 2nd while Amazon Music Unlimited is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Spotify is:
Spotify has over 20 million songs and arguably the largest collection out of its competitors and usually has the fastest access to new music. The Spotify desktop client allows local music files to be imported with the option of syncing with a mobile device which largely mitigates the issue of missing artists.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Huge collection of music and fast access to newly released songs
Spotify has over 20 million songs and arguably the largest collection out of its competitors and usually has the fastest access to new music.
The Spotify desktop client allows local music files to be imported with the option of syncing with a mobile device which largely mitigates the issue of missing artists.
Pro Related artists
Helps to find new authors based on your previous picks
Pro Curated playlists
Public playlists on Spotify created by other people are great for finding new music.
Pro Client's functionality can be extended via third-party apps
Spotify desktop client allows for third-party apps. They extend the functionality of Spotify and many of them offer new ways of discovering music. Noteworthy apps include Moodagent, Last.fm, Swarm.fm, ShareMyPlaylists, The Hype Machine, We Are Hunted, Shuffler.fm.
Pro Has a free version
A free, ad-supported account allows streaming from an extensive library of music.
Pro Weekly Discover playlist uses a great algorithm
A playlist generated by Spotify based on your listening habits and released every Monday. The algorithm used by this playlist is great and stands out from its competitors.
Pro Possible to transfer purchased music between devices with no limitations
Purchased music can be downloaded and transfered to other music players/file storage devices.
Pro Discount for prime customers
Prime customers get a discount on the service.
Pro Great web app
This service's web app works really well.
Pro Supports uploading custom tracks
Upload your own music files with the option to buy more storage if you have more than the limit.
Pro Great recommendations
The built-in recommendations feature is great, since it uses both content purchased from Amazon and streamed music to calculate new suggestions.
Pro Mobile applications available
Mobile applications for Android and iOS.
Pro Desktop client
Desktop client for Mac and Windows.
Cons
Con Free account have lots of ads
If you hate commercials, you would buy Premium or go on using something else.
Con Discovery is terrible
The discovery algorithm is poor and does not learn fast enough. Not obvious how to train it.
Con Poor audio quality
There's a high range of bitrates and most of vary from average to bad.
Con Android App frequently crashes
The Android App for Amazon Music crashes frequently, especially when you leave it in the background.
Con Rips artists off
Amazon pays artists even less than Spotify! Per count, as of march 2018 Amazon paid $0.0040, Spotify $0.0044, Apple Music $0.0074 and Tidal $0.0125.
Con Clunky desktop app
This service's desktop app is clunky and nowhere near as nice as its web client.