For those that know me, I am an avid music lover. Serious conversations that been started about this topic across my social media accounts. I enjoy a wide variety of music. Just look at the songs on my iTunes (are we still calling it that) library. 5,000 plus songs of R&B, Country, Hip-Hop, Classical, Gospel, Jazz all stored on my Mac and iTunes Music Library.

So, you're probably wondering why I have taken a sabbatical on my music library and decided to drink the kool-aid...TRANSLATION: why I have (or am) joined the bandwagon of streaming music services. Well, it's pretty simple. FREE. That's what lured me to give probably two of the popular music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music a shot (poor Pandora). So consider this a review of the battle of the music streaming services.

APPLE MUSIC:

Apple Music has improved since launching last year. Officially announced at 2015 WWDC, it's been growing leaps and bounds. Unlike Spotify, users with an Apple ID can try out a free 3 month trial period, afterwards, your account will be charged $9.99/month. And in today's technology, families that use apps a lot can sign up for the family plan at $14.99/month (up to 5 accounts). Apple is now enticing college students with a reduced price for college students with subscription at $4.99/month.

There are several sections if you are new to this whole music streaming idea. The 'Connect' feature is where artists can share media (behind the scenes stuff, music videos, etc.) in a blog-like type setting. Then there's the 'For You' area where the fine folks at Apple recommend music for you, the user. It's all based on some complicated math algorithm (and this is why math isn't my thing) thing. Whatever.

Because Apple Music was on the order of Spotify and other been there, done that music streaming services, the launch of Beats 1 Radio was also announced, because you know, Apple paid Dr. Dre tons of money for it. I will say this of Apple Music, it really integrates the iOS system to it. For someone that worked at Apple for 5 years, Apple has always been huge on simplicity across their devices. It takes the same color themed that was on iOS 8 into Apple Music. It also lets you listen to the 30 million songs in its library, plus the music you've purchased on iTunes and whatever music you've imported from CD's (remember those??) And since I'm a huge user on Siri, you can use Siri to play a song, artist, etc. The layout has greatly improved with the new iOS 10. A plus that I am enjoying is the addition of lyrics that appears. With this addiction, I don't need to have lyrics app like Music Mixer or Metro Lyrics taking up space on my devices. Happening now, the tenth annual Apple Music Festival (formerly iTunes Festival) is happening. I love how I'm able to stream the concerts live on my device and how its all in one place on the music app. Goodbye to downloading unnecessary apps to take up storage on your phone.

SPOTIFY:

Spotify has been around for a while. It was launched back in 2006, (although it was launched in 2011 in the U.S.) and was one of the first music streaming services. It was around at the height of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and now with Snapchat and Vine, so it's no big surprise that it has the social sharing idea down to a T.

Unlike Apple Music, Spotify has its gotten the idea of simplicity down. Navigating around the site is super easy that a novice could get it. It has an extensive music library that is worth bragging. The one thing that I really enjoy is the various playlists for any activity. If I'm the mood for exercise, trying to sleep (because sleep is an activity that I value of utmost importance) or if I'm trying to my day started without all the cursing and artists that are doing the most in their music, there's a playlist for any activity and for any holiday (really amazed at the various playlists for Easter). There are two different types of memberships, the basic free one, which lets you listen to music unlimited, but you will have to endure to ads every now and again. The premium edition which is $9.99/month (free one month trial) lets you skips the ads and let's you allow to listen to downloaded music offline. For college students, the price for the premium membership is $4.99/month.

Despite being an avenue to both Windows and Apple devices, it still lacks some things. For instance, it doesn't have a great integration with combing your own music to Spotify's. There is still the issue of music ownership with with various artists like Taylor Swift. And unlike Beats 1 Radio, there's no live radio stations which is a bummer because it does have the chance to compete with Beats 1, since Beats 1 constantly plays the same songs over and over again. And finally, signing up for a family plan might not be the best option since its $14.99 for two people and $30 for a family of five.

Both streaming services are continuing to bring subscribers to this ever changing world on how we listen to music. Within the last two years, Apple Music has grown by listeners, its layout (it was choppy and hard to navigate in its launch) and its ease of simplicity. Its these reasons why I am placing Apple Music over Spotify.

Let me know what you think. Are you an Apple Music user more than Spotify? Or do you use another music streaming service like Pandora or others? I would love to read your comments!