Every once in a while I'll hear someone say how much they love Spotify and that Apple Music is trash in comparison. As an Apple Music subscriber myself, this sometimes makes me wonder what I'm missing out on, so I paid for one month of Spotify and am again trying it out. This isn't a full review, just a couple things that have stood out to me.

Now Playing Screens

I'm not a huge fan of Spotify's full-screen album art view, and I'm actually relatively offended by their "dynamic" view for select albums. Instead of seeing the album artwork, I get what is effectively a full screen GIF that loops over and over and over… The one for CHVRCHES' Good Girls answers the question "what would it look like if my music app tried to give me a seizure?"

Apple Music does have a similar "moving artwork" feature for some albums as well, but those are always more subtle and only show when browsing, which I think is a better way to do it.

Multi-Disc Records are a Mess on Spotify

Radiohead's re-release of Kid A just came out last week and it's a multi-disc set. Apple Music clearly indicates track numbers so I can see where the album ends and the additional content (multiple bonus discs in this case) begins.

With Spotify, I just kinda have to know that Untitled is the last track on the record.

What Songs are Popular?

This one may not be for everyone, but I like that Apple Music puts stars next to tracks in albums that get more listens than others. Again, maybe not for everyone, but I enjoy this when finding something new and I want to see what songs are standing out to people.

Bonus Complaints

Why does the album art get cut off by the notch? That screenshot above is not a quirk of my mock ups, it's actually what happens on screen 🤦‍♂️

Also, why does Spotify take over the system audio whenever you open it? Want to listen to a podcast while you're browsing the new releases? Easy enough on Apple Music, impossible in Spotify.

Anyway, I'm sure there there will be things I enjoy about Spotify as well, but first impressions are really making me appreciate the little things I think Apple Music does right and Spotify does confusingly wrong.