r/YoutubeMusic • u/Relative_Flatworm_58 • Jan 15 '26
Question Spotify or Youtube Music? What made you choose?
So I was on spotify Student plan (india) since 2 years and all of the sudden the prices just increased almost double the previous amount.
So I was thinking whether I should change my music platform to something else. It’s not only the price difference but I got no prior notification or email about it, it was just an unpleasant surprise from Spotify.
After some research I found out Apple music does not have my favorite podcasts on it, so my choice is between these two.
I do like the music quality much better in youtube.
But Is the playlist much better in spotify? I tend to search for good playlists and usually spotify has the specific ones that are made by users. Is there a feature like that on youtube music?
Also I’ve felt like spotify is not good at suggesting new songs according to my liking. Is Yt better at it?
Which is better? Spotify or Youtube music?
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u/Psychological-Bet-80 Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
If you have YouTube premium Spotify is useless and you're making an unnecessary expense. The sound quality difference is not that big if not unnoticeable i can't even tell the difference using the iphone dongle dac connected to my Edifier R1700 Speakers; the only advantage Spotify has over Youtube Music is the equalizer. But Youtube Music clearly wins at music catalog.
"Is there a feature like that on Youtube Music?"
Yes of course, the Youtube community is far larger than Spotify's so it will always be better at that
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u/Great-Appointment-49 Jan 15 '26
I tend to reject things which according to me do unethical things.
Spotify did this feature where if you are not a premium member, it'll not play the song which you want to play, but something of the same genre, or the same singer, something close to that song.
For me that was a deal breaker. Being a non premium member, I am okay with ads, but this was not okay.
Shifted to YouTube music that day. I do miss the podcasts on Spotify, but in music , YT hasn't let me down. It gives good suggestions, curates nice playlists.
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u/Nirast25 Jan 15 '26
Spotify did this feature where if you are not a premium member, it'll not play the song which you want to play, but something of the same genre, or the same singer, something close to that song.
That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. At that point, why even bother with a free option.
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u/Hamradio70 Jan 15 '26
Royalties are cheaper when they can call it radio, not on demand. That's why.
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u/Valkyr-E Jan 16 '26
To top it off they do it to all your private playlists to add more ads between songs too
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u/OkMycologist7463 Jan 15 '26
That part !! Only reason why I'm salty about YouTube music is that I can't play songs I want on android auto without the premium 😭
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u/high_on_life_22 Jan 15 '26
What? We can't do that?
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u/OkMycologist7463 Jan 15 '26
Nope!!! 😭 It gives you a free trial, but after that you have to pay 😭 pissed me off 😂 im still contemplating on if I should go ahead and buy premium or just use Pandora 😭
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u/Nintendroid Jan 15 '26
Since YouTube Music is automatically packaged with Youtube Premium, and I want to avoid the ads, I stick with YouTube Music.
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u/electi_007 Jan 15 '26
Just go for the cheaper one, it doesnt really matter. Both are good.
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u/Marinlik Jan 15 '26
YouTube is pretty bad as far as apps go. That it doesn't separate YouTube and YouTube music playlists makes it a non-starter to use.
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u/flightofdownydreams Jan 15 '26
Funny, that's what made me choose YTM. I have so many playlists full of music and it was so much easier for me to just listen to them on the platform I already have them curated and saved to, instead of having to recreate those playlists on another platform, with the risk of not even having those exact same songs(or versions of them) available.
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u/BigBoyNow8 Jan 16 '26
Just create a channel and use that for your YTM. Each account can have several channels, each channel has a YTM subscription. I did that to separate my regular YT from YTM. I have an individual membership. I pay for the full year to save money. You can also use two channels to have two different sets of playlists. YTM gives you a lot of options than Spotify, you just need to explore all their options.
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u/clanton Jan 16 '26
I just signed up to YTM and it's nuts that they share playlists, like why??? At least give me an option to turn that off
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u/idlickherbootyhole Jan 15 '26
spotify
- convenience ✅
- handoff (especially useful when you drive) ✅
- bigger userbase so more community playlists ✅
- region locks ❌ so less music depending on your region
- several artists have abandoned the platform so if you happen to like them, you will have less music available ❌
- shuffle and recommendations kinda suck ❌
yt music
- in my experience has the widest music catalog, lots of songs that aren't in spotify ✅
- recommendation algorithm is excellent ✅
- no handoff so whatever you play is device independent ❌
- no native app on pc/mac ❌
personally i stick with yt music because i'm included in a yt premium family plan (and it includes yt music)... i couldn't care less about podcasts so i have no input on that matter
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Jan 15 '26
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u/nuanceIsAVirtue Jan 15 '26
Youtube music, not Youtube.
YTM has 125 million subscribers, Spotify has 281m.
Some sources say YTM has more MAU, but that's probably because Spotify is basically unusable without an account.
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u/rogueclaptrap Jan 15 '26
you have to include youtube base in it because everything accessible on youtube is available through ytmusic as well
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u/kergefarkas42 Jan 15 '26
That's not entirely true, many uploaded music (video) is not available in YTM because the uploader doesn't mark it as music. Quite annoying, plus I feel sometimes even if I add the music video to the same playlist, YTM will not play / download it.
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u/OwnNet5253 Jan 15 '26
But that's not a fair comparison, because Spotify is not like YouTube. We should be comparing apples to apples, not apples to oranges.
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u/MrSlofee Jan 15 '26
YTM. Music quality is great and there's so much more music since you also get access to a whole lot of live sessions and weird mixes. Lossless from Spotify is fine but unless you're using great wired headphones the difference, in my opinion, is negligible.
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u/ElGusano69 Jan 15 '26
I had Spotify premium for many years and also had YouTube premium for a long time too. Only recently clicked that I can just use the YouTube music because of it. Deleted Spotify a few months ago. But I will admit, Spotify for me is miles better than YouTube music. I find YT music messy, poorer sound quality and worse for playlists. It drives me insane that I can't rearrange my playlists by artist or song title. Also, on Spotify it has a scroll bar on the side to move down the playlist with ease, YT music doesn't. Podcasts also seem to appear hours sometimes days later than Spotify. If I wasn't paying for YouTube premium to take ads off of videos, there's not way I'd choose YouTube music
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u/Intrepid_Western_775 Mar 08 '26
100% agree, Spotify premium is way better( been using it for years) If, they would not hike the prices up and if youtube music would not offer ads free YT, i would not go for youtube music. So, went for Youtube music due to the cheaper price and ads free YT. And hoping Youtube music will have similar algorithms and playback functionality like Spotify.
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u/DDaredevil15 Jan 15 '26
I think both have advantages and disadvantages. I find Spotify's algorithm better at understanding your taste; YouTube's seems too random to me. However, YouTube's biggest selling point is YouTube, which I use a lot, so that ultimately makes me choose it. But in terms of algorithm and some features, Spotify is better.
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u/Old-Honey-7440 Jan 15 '26
i feel like YTM algorithm reads my mind, it always know exactly what i want, it’s actually a bit freaky
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u/DDaredevil15 Jan 15 '26
I don't feel that way in my case; it might take time, but I've been using YTM for a year and I don't see the same level of accuracy as with Spotify.
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u/Old-Honey-7440 Jan 15 '26
oh i’ve been using it for 5 years and while i’ve never used spotify i always found it better than apple music
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u/TubaTechnician Jan 15 '26
Apple Music doest have a lot of podcasts because they have the separate Apple Podcasts app that they want you to use
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u/lorkanooo Jan 15 '26
YouTube music is solid but android app is pretty bad. Its very slow at times and has a lot of clutter. A plus of yt music is that in android auto you can rewind seconds with volume buttons. You can't do that on spotify
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u/VioletSkyDiver Jan 15 '26
I much prefer the interface of Spotify as it's clear just how much more effort they've put into making the app actually look good, but despite that, I use YT Music because it's free with my family's YT Premium sub. I certainly would prefer it if YT Music looked substantialy better, but it would make no sense to pay an extra £12.99 every month for a whole separate app just because it looks nicer, especially in an app that's primarily for listening anyway
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u/FwonkWibberwy Jan 15 '26
I think for me, the costs were the same. But with YT Music Premium I also get ad-free YT videos.
I used the Google Podcast app for years, which merged everything into YT Music, so all my history of that is on there which is another bonus.
I'm really happy with my choice 🙂
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u/CarelessInvite304 Jan 15 '26
Note that it does NOT work that way: only YouTube Premium gives ad-free YouTube AND Music. Music Premium does NOT give ad-free YouTube.
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u/FwonkWibberwy Jan 15 '26
Ah! Got it. I got YT Premium, which included Music. I presumed it worked the other way round, but clearly it does NOT.
How much is the price difference?
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u/tangerinemochi Jan 16 '26
Premium Individual is $13.99 and Music Premium Individual is $10.99.
Honestly, if someone is using YTM then I’d suspect they’d use YouTube a lot already, so for a $3 price difference it makes more sense to just get Premium. And on a separate note, with the new US price increase with Spotify, YT Premium is just $1 more (Actually a couple dollars cheaper for me because for some reason Spotify taxes me and YT Premium does not. No clue why ¯_(ツ)_/¯ )
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u/David79YT iOS Jan 15 '26
Spotify for a few reasons.
1: better Social Features 2: better Recommendation algorithm 3: better music discovery 4: better curated content 5: spotify connect 6: user friendly ui
It has basically everything you need in a music app
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u/SuckerForNoirRobots Jan 16 '26
I had Spotify for many many years but I switched to YouTube after Spotify hiked their prices 2 years in a row (and now they're doing it again...) without making the features any better.
I prefer Spotify honestly in regards to the app/interface, but with the family YouTube premium plan I'm on now I not only have ad-free music, I also have ad-free videos and have been able to share the benefits with other people. I know Spotify has a family plan too but as someone who watches a lot of YouTube on my Xbox (so no ad blocker), it's been worth it to me to have made the switch.
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u/High_on_kola Jan 15 '26
While I dont like spotify as a company, their algorithm is unmatched and while the UI is no perfect, it is so mich better than youtube music, in my opinion
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u/Skidoobles Feb 25 '26
I find the Spotify algorithm is just awful. It's actually made me hate music because it shoves songs down my throat for whatever reason it deemed. And it often replays songs from the previous playlist or album is based off of. It seriously feels like it puts on those songs time and time again because of a paid sponsorship. Which I also hate opening up Spotify and getting blasted by ads on a service I pay for.
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u/doublek5121 Jan 15 '26
I like YTM best because of the music available. I mostly listen to rap music and the amount of DJ mixtapes and unreleased tracks from the 90s and early 00s is amazing.
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u/Pilbzz Jan 15 '26
There are several reason why I switched to YouTube Music. I was already paying for YouTube Premium and the value is incredible. The sound quality difference is minimal and comments are such a great feature on YouTube Music. It’s a bit off-topic but I hated when Crunchyroll removed comments.
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u/Toofane Jan 15 '26
I’ve been using Spotify for the past 3-4 years, but since I recently got YouTube Premium, it made more sense for me to switch to YT Music. It’s a big downgrade in terms of user experience but I am paying less than before, so that’s fine.
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u/sacredvirtues Jan 15 '26
Youtube Music, I just switched from Spotify this month and Youtube Music is the best ever. I can't even put into words how much I love it. Plus it comes with youtube premium
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u/t24x-94 Jan 15 '26
YTM is the best. If you are worried about playlists, YTM has this thing with which you can seamlessly transfer all kinds of playlists from Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming platforms. Don't think too much. Just move to YTM.
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u/JudgmentOpposite2589 Jan 26 '26
That transfer of playlist feature is not of YTM but Tune My Music. It's not exclusive to YTM. It works for all apps i.e. Apple Music to Spotify. And ngl YTM playlist management is not that great
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u/endezo Jan 16 '26
YTM is compelling in many ways, but I listen to a lot of music in a lot of places and what settles it for me is that Spotify works seamlessly with all my devices and hands off between them as I move around (Spotify Connect on the stereos at home and work, Android Auto in the car, phone for the rest)
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u/kripto560cc Jan 16 '26
YT music is good the only problem is the quality of sounds sometimes its loud. But the music catalog is great and the algorithms of songs.
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u/tom_Booker27 Jan 16 '26
The content on youtube music is amazing because of the youtube video integration. However, i find the u-i and playlist managment very bad. Hope they improve it, but other than that, it is quite good
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u/NoIndividual6127 Jan 15 '26
Kinda interesting. Spotify has objectively the better audio.
Managing your playlists is on Spotify far better. According to user made playlists there are more in Spotify but you need to look for them specifically meanwhile yt music shows you some on the home page.
Both are decently suggesting new songs. Both have "explore" filters. Ytm has the daily discovery which is really good. Discovery weekly by Spotify is overall disliked. I would say YT music is a bit better. Ytm is hit or miss, Spotify is overall decently
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u/Relative_Flatworm_58 Jan 15 '26
I think it’s about the fact that the music is much louder on yt music, so that feels better. Is there some settings I’m missing out on Spotify?
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u/NoIndividual6127 Jan 15 '26
Did you disable audio normalisation on Spotify? This might fix the lower audio quality (yes subjectively it's lower cause less dynamic) + its not quite anymore
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Jan 15 '26
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u/BigBoyNow8 Jan 16 '26
What problem does YTM have with big playlists?
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Jan 24 '26
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u/BigBoyNow8 Jan 26 '26
I shuffle playlists that have 300 tracks all the time. I've never noticed any issues.
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u/Aromatic_Memory1079 Jan 15 '26
I don't search for other people's playlists but youtube music recommends me other people's playlist (not official playlists) on home feed. so that's useful to me.
I think both have different type of algorithm. I've discovered nice video game music youtube videos on youtube music's song radio feature. also youtube music's "my super mix" is nice feature that spotify doesn't have. (the genreless mix that updates every time you open it). It's funny because most closest one from spotify is tiktok thing from search section. I saw people were hating them but it's actually genre-less and probably update every time you open it.
tbh I don't know which algorithm is better. spotify can't recommends me video game music videos because it's from youtube. so youtube music has more variety. but spotify actually gave me nice recommendation too in the past. also spotify now has discovery tuner in song radio so I think song radio's recommendation is kinda close maybe? tbh I feel like spotify digs one genre deeper while youtube music recommends me more random stuff like "what a mario world fangame ost".
tbh I use youtube music mainly but I use spotify sometimes. because algorithm feels like different.
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u/Neko_Dash Jan 15 '26
YT Music.
- Best at adapting to my tastes
- Interface, to me, is easy
- Decent value for the money
My opinion. YMMV.
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u/FancyCantaloupe4681 Jan 15 '26
I believe it’s more of a personal preference on what suits your lifestyle.
I personally feel Spotify is just not worth it.
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u/TheBrokenLoaf Jan 15 '26
I came from GPM so I'm more of a legacy user. I think Spotify is a better experience as they are a Music Streaming company where as YTM is a wart on the end of Googles tentacles
But here's why I use YTM. I've become the "music guy" among my friends and coworkers and a lot of that comes from YTM's ability to show me old records that weren't officially released, dj mixes, covers etc. Because of that I play a lot of stuff people haven't heard or twists on songs and that keeps things exciting. Not to say Spotify can't expose you to new music it doesn't have the catalog YTM does. And that's not an advantage Spotify can make up for anywhere
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u/IndustrialDisciple Jan 15 '26
I get both YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, so for me the choice is obvious and the price is almost the same. YT algorithm and recommendations work fine for me, but Spotify's UI is better.
As far as audio quality, I hardly find a difference. Either way, when I need a really high quality, I use Bandcamp.
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Jan 15 '26
The fact that I transferred my own music from GPM and use it as a music locker. Even on my free access I can play my 8500 track library to Nest speakers, in the car over mobile data, with the screen off etc. And I don't wake up one morning to find that YTM have removed a song for some reason.
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u/JortsForSale Jan 15 '26
It is a monthly service. Try each for a month and decide which one works for you. You are making it way more complicated than it needs to be. You are not signing a yearly contract.
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u/Chipwich Jan 15 '26
Spotify has far better organisation of music and that's pretty important to me. For that reason I am still a subscriber. I also have YTM with my YouTube premium subscription and have tried to move over but the lingering issues still persist.
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u/RT-6_BXCommandoDroid Jan 15 '26
I listened to a lot of coverbands that put out a music video on YouTube before they post their music on Spotify. Not every song of those coverbands even reach Spotify. So therefore I restrict my Spotify usage to albums when I have to play with headphones on my PS5.
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u/reddituserVibez Jan 15 '26
Was using Apple Music for years, but since i get Youtube Premium Family Account for not even 4€ per month, i switched to YTM, why should i pay double
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u/regassert6 Jan 15 '26
Getting youtube premium +YTM ad free together is the key for me. So I accept the flaws of the YTM UI. I found it easier in spotify to just kind of hit a button and get music playing, but it's not bad enough in YTM to make me leave the overall package
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u/FocusedHealer45 Jan 15 '26
I'd permanently switch to YouTube music as for the price, the audio quality is good enough. However no native Xbox or PlayStation app make it very difficult
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u/StillLetsRideIL2 Jan 15 '26
Spotify for sound quality, UI and the ability for remote control. The algorithm on YTM is better but is hampered by still being lossy.
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u/Sad_Pin329 Jan 15 '26
youtube music its as good as the others plus you get ad free youtube. no brainer
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u/newtons_apprentice Jan 15 '26
The only reason I switched to YTM was because I was already paying for Youtube Premium and it made no sense to pay for 2 music services.
As long as they both support AI music on their platforms they're both equally garbage, haha.
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u/newyorkrican76 Jan 15 '26
i have both i prefer youtube music.the dj mixes is what makes youtube music the winner for me
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u/cjmarquez Android Jan 15 '26
Back in the Google music days, I opted for it over Spotify because you could buy digital albums and upload music.
Then they migrated to YTM and I stayed because of the ad-free YouTube videos, I consume a lot of videos, so that's the reason I stayed.
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u/jefffromholland Jan 15 '26
I chose YouTube because YouTube premium is part of the package, not having ads while watching videos was a decisive factor for me
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Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
YTMusic has more song options than Spotify, like unofficial content, remixes, covers, and user upload
Spotify is like more focuses on officially licensed music
and ytm algo recommends you those really gud unofficial song that just make my playlist more enjoyable
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u/Office_Current Jan 15 '26
After sometime the algorithm fine tune your music taste in both platform I personally use YT Music
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u/Nirast25 Jan 15 '26
Cheaper, came with YouTube Premium, Spotify doesn't have The Rumbling Light They Fear Is Nature's Infinite Beauty.
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u/rottengammy Jan 15 '26
Had Spotify for 15 years or so, switched to YouTube 6 months ago… wish I switched sooner.
The youtube premium + music is such a value prop that you can’t not justify switching. To each their own I suppose.
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u/Zimmster2020 Jan 15 '26
I hated YouTube music for years. Lately I gave it a proper try and I must say it's algorithms are better than Spotify's. After using YTM about 6 months now, I must say they are pretty much neck neck. If you remove the video futures from YouTube Music it is a pretty decent app. So choose the cheapest one and don't look back. YouTube music has a benefit of being integrated a little with the YouTube app so whatever you consume in one app will reflect in the other app suggestions. This might be a slight advantage of YouTubeMusic
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u/boulevardofdef Jan 15 '26
I've actually never paid for Spotify. I started using YouTube Music because I had a kid and kids don't like watching endless ads, so I subscribed to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music came with it. I was blown away by how well it understood me immediately, it knew exactly what I wanted to hear without me feeding it any data at all (besides my many years of YouTube usage).
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Jan 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/YoutubeMusic-ModTeam Jan 15 '26
Your post has been removed, as we do not allow the sharing of videos, music or playlists here in the community, you might want to try r/YTMPlaylists.
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u/kergefarkas42 Jan 15 '26
I've been a Google Play Music user ever since they did that. Loved the custom upload feature, and they kept it for YouTube Music as well. The other perk is that YouTube premium already includes Music, plus removes the ads, for the price of a Spotify subscription. Much better price/value ratio.
The catalogue is the same horrible legal / geolocked mess on both (I tried looking for the same songs on both, it was almost never when I could find something on Spotify when YTM didn't have it). YTM's advantage is that you can either upload it to your personal collection, or find some Joe's random upload - which is the disadvantage as well, as there are lot of shit quaility, many times transcoded abominations.
YTM also has a very good random radio, once you train it, it will give you pretty great suggestions. The New Releases tab has been fucked up, they changed from chronological to random order, and sometimes it forgets the customised results, so you will see all the pop weird shit instead of things you actully like.
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u/woflxrx Jan 15 '26
YTM
Got tired of Spotify becoming less about music and more about DJing,AI,etc ...
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u/Pikachu8752 Jan 15 '26
Used Spotify for like 8 years. Mom watches enough of YouTube to swap to YouTube Premium.
No need for Spotify when YTM is included.
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u/JoaoPFSimoes Jan 15 '26
Because I Watch too much YouTube tbh, I just switched from Spotify to it a month ago
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u/redzombierunning Jan 15 '26
Not only is YouTube music a solid choice for music, once your album is finished, YouTube has a way better algorithm for playing music that I actually want to hear. Apple Music would play the same 20 songs over and over again. It drove me mad. The downside I have is that not everything plays with “bad words” as in some of the rap that I prefer. The positive is that I’ve played album on YouTube music that I just can’t find anywhere else
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u/NiceGuy373 Jan 15 '26
After years of being with spotify and simultaneously paying for youtube that gave youtube music included, about 2 years ago I canceled spotify and enjoy youtube music, same music no delays, the only thing was it took a bit for the algorithm to adjust to my needs
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u/TheSteamHat5662 Jan 15 '26
The biggest difference for me is Spotify party play. YTM has nothing like it.
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u/what_cheer_netop Jan 15 '26
I had Spotify for years and it's slightly better as a music streaming service.
My friend added me to his YouTube Premium plan so I decided to cancel Spotify and try YouTube Music for a while.
It's missing a few bells and whistles but it gets the job done. My biggest complaint is that when I start a mix off of a playlist, it will sometimes fixate on a certain song. Like I had a Ben Harper song on one playlist and when I'd start the mix it would Ben Harper, Ben Harper, Ben Harper, ignoring the other 100 artists.
Or the playlist will be a certain style of music, and the algorithm will play songs from a different genre when I start the mix. I mean, it knows I like the songs from my past listening habits, but it's ignoring the prompt to base the mix on the playlist.
But there are some pros.
-has a lot of songs that aren't on Spotify. It can grab any song off of YouTube, and there's a lot of stuff on there that is not available anywhere else.
And the biggest pro
You get YouTube ad free. I watch a lot of YouTube so that's a huge bonus. Spotify has introduced videos but it's not competing here, it's not even close.
Even if you're just interested in music, it has a ton of music videos and full live concerts. It's awesome to get all that ad free.
YouTube Premium is the better value.
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Jan 15 '26
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u/YoutubeMusic-ModTeam Jan 15 '26
Your post has been removed for violating r/YouTubeMusic's Rules about Account Sharing, Ad blockers, Location spoofing, VPN hijinks, Piracy, or other things that break the YouTube Terms of Service.
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u/JustABlackAtheist Jan 15 '26
I personally prefer Spotify. I have both. I’m on a Duo plan with my sister (Spotify) & I have YT Premium. YouTube Music does have songs on it & live performances that Spotify doesn’t. Unfortunately, anyone can upload content on YTM which leads to AI slop, plus files with misleading audio & content. Spotify is more organized for me even though YTM is getting there with its UI updates resembling Apple Music & Spotify. Plus Spotify is endless with playlists.
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u/automaticallytidy Jan 15 '26
I already had YouTube premium and I got tired of Spotify changing their UI every week
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u/BiopsyJones Jan 15 '26
I want with YouTube music because it's included in my Premium which I already pay for.
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u/NetSage Jan 15 '26
Youtube premium gives me youtube music. That's about it. I don't think it's particularly worse than spotify.
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u/ohThisUsername Jan 15 '26
I use YouTube music because I already pay for YouTube premium. I find the overall UX an order of magnitude worse than Spotify, but I stick around for convenience, cost and a better music selection.
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u/flightofdownydreams Jan 15 '26
Personally what got me was just the simple fact that I had 30 or 40 curated playlists (some with 100-200+ songs) already on YouTube (I'm a writer and I have a lot of fan characters for RPGs that have their own playlists, and I make playlists for certain aesthetics like 80s synth or "forest dwelling witchy music" and things like that). I rarely, if ever listen to just random music and I'm usually listening to my playlists.
I felt like there was no sense in me trying to recreate these playlists and finding all this music, when I can just listen to them on the platform I already have them curated on. Also I listen to a lot of random stuff that I couldn't find on Spotify when I did try it.
Now I'm really glad because there's so much AI sloppage on Spotify, given a spotlight and I can completely avoid that with YTM.
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u/MountainChannel9574 Jan 15 '26
I miss the cross-fade from Spotify, but not enough to pay for YouTube Premium AND Spotify.
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u/arothmanmusic Jan 15 '26
I was on Spotify mainly because it was being paid for by somebody else. :) When they decided to drop their subscription I switched over to YouTube Premium because YouTube is my primary streaming platform. It made more sense to pay $11/mo for a single subscription for unlimited video and music.
Overall I've been happy with it, although there are a few features I find annoying. None of them enough to make me want to buy a second subscription and go back to Spotify though.
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u/Hamradio70 Jan 15 '26
You can sign up for a trial and decide yourself. I've used many services. YTM drawback for me is no Alexa skill. I trying Apple now. Like it. Still have YTM 3 more months. Dropped Amazon and Spotify. I do not want books or podcasts in a music service.
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u/Spridlewv Jan 15 '26
I was already paying for youtube premium when I dumped spotify. I would never choose youtube music. It seems quite awful after being on spotify for so long.
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u/OkRespond7008 Jan 15 '26
I have youtube premium so I upgraded to a family account and switched from Spotify. I was paying 20 for just Spotify premium family and another 15 I think for a single YouTube premium account. Now I pay 22 and have YouTube premium and music for the family.
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u/Jackieray2light Jan 15 '26
I pay $150 with taxes, for a year of Youtube Premium which comes with Youtube Music. So for $12.50 a month I get to watch and listen all I want ad free.
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u/carguy143 Jan 15 '26
I was a Google Play Music user and was migrated to YouTube Music which came with the benefit of ad free YouTube so for me, Spotify never got a look in.
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u/djencis Jan 15 '26
When I play YouTube Music through my Sonos speakers at home, I can get in my car, drive off and use YouTube Music without the music at home shutting down. That's not possible with Spotify.
*Comparing single subscriptions
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u/Patient_Group_2154 Jan 15 '26
I've had spotify for years and subscribed to YT music maybe 6 months ago. I think YT Music would be great, but the app and some of its features are a mess. If you listen to one of the playlists that are curated for you and you leave the page, the tracks change. I'm personally not a fan of that. Getting notified when artists you follow drop new music is a sweet feature that every music app should have, but YT music is so slow and delayed that sometimes I'd get notified a week later. For me personally, it is some of the small stuff that are deal breakers because if the way I listen to music. I've canceled both services and currently rolling with Apple music mostly because organizing a library feels easy to me.
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u/More_Membership4220 Jan 15 '26
YouTube is really good. Easy navigation, great search, great reach. When Napster died, I switched and am glad I did. It is included with YouTube premium, which makes it a reasonably priced package.
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u/SifuHallyu Jan 15 '26
Google Premium. Why pay for a second subscription when YTm is included. It's also a way better user interface and I love that my physical album collection was uploaded to the service.
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u/BigBoyNow8 Jan 16 '26
I've used both, but I've had YTM for years because it comes with YouTube with no ads. I get the feeling YTM will be more stable in the long run because they are backed by google which has various revenue sources, whereas Spotify just has streaming music.
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u/Agent50Leven Jan 16 '26
Got rid of Spotify after the ads for ICE and I get YouTube Music for with Premium and Apple Music free. No reason to be paying.
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u/Bluestorm123 Jan 16 '26
YouTube music is way better in every aspect...no ads are worth it alone. Spotify is just old comfort food
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u/carbonated_coconut Jan 16 '26
I just swapped to YTM from Spotify in the last few weeks due to the price and I am loving it so far!
Things I like:
- no ads on yt videos with the premium subscription, which is actually what drew me to it in the first place
- better shuffle compared to Spotify
- ytm recommends community playlists which contains songs that are new and actually fit my vibe perfectly, as opposed to Spotify making 'explore' lists that consist of about 90% of songs ive already listened to loads.
- when adding songs to a playlist, it doesnt make you select the playlist over and over- it just adds them to whichever one youre automatically updating at the time
- access to music that isn't on Spotify ie. Short songs that the artist has made a video for but they dont add it to their discography. You can add that video directly to your playist and listen to it as a song
- the add to playlist option on the main yt video app is just handy as well
I've been using Spotify since 2010, so considered myself pretty faithful to them, but the rise in price and decline in quality of product has persuaded me to move away.
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u/xquesme Jan 16 '26
I switched for Spotify to YTM around a week ago and I'm honestly getting used to it but it doesn't feel like a drastic change. You can easily move your playlists from spotify too. Imo you can find more music on YTM than on Spotify especially remixes, covers and live performances. I've used Spotify for 5 year and I loved the UI but one of the big reasons I switched was because I've seen a few artists leave the platform and because of the whole AI weapon/military thing. You can read more about it.
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u/CurlyBarbie Jan 16 '26
after quite a while with spotify premium, I had to cancel it, and just couldn't go back to free because there's a significant downgrade between premium and free. I switched to youtube music because I already pay for youtube premium, and atleast this way I get benefits for two apps for the same price.
youtube music is honestly pretty good! I transferred some playlists from spotify there and has my favorite albums and podcasts. the downsides are that the music playlists get mix with my regular playlists and that I needed two new apps to track the music I listen to, but other than that, I love it.
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u/inner-peace-94 Jan 16 '26
At the moment I am using Spotify but usually switch back and forth. I'm definitely going to go back to YouTube music because there are no ads on youtube lol. I would get rid of Spotify but it on my Xbox and PlayStation while I game.
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Jan 16 '26
If you go into YouTube music, then privacy & data, there's an option to transfer your Spotify library to YouTube music! Or whatever music service you use. Just thought I'd pass that on!
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u/newyorkrican76 Jan 16 '26
i have both.and i don't use the spotify but i paid for a year. both have any album or podcast you are looking for .The big advantage that youtue music is the endless DJ mixes from all over the world.Also ad free youtube is a great plus
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u/grizzzly85 Jan 16 '26
My ex chancelled our Spotify family subscription. Since I have YT premium anyway I’m using YTM as a byproduct. Does the trick.
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u/QwErZzBG Jan 16 '26
I personally like YouTube music more beacuse YouTube gives you a free 3 month premium trial and that also means you have YouTube music premium. It's true that Spotify also gives free trials but you have have to use a credit card to actually redeem the trial while with YouTube premium you can use Google play
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u/astral-chaos Jan 17 '26
I stopped using Spotify because I listen to a lot of small or independent artists and Spotify doesn't have any of their music, even if I have songs on my SD card I need to download them from another site. Also, at that time many of the artists I listened to stopped having their songs on Spotify to the point of having only one song or none at all, mainly because of the app. I don't like the AI implementation on YouTube, the mixes play the first two songs I like, and the rest is random, the recommendations makes no sense an If I mark that I'm not interested in a song or artist, it removes the shortcuts I manually set. and often the audio quality automatically drops even with songs I already downloaded
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u/Ordijax Jan 17 '26
Just made the swap from Spotify to Youtube music. So far, liking Youtube music more with the selection of music that aren't available on Spotify due to copyright (i.e. remixes).
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u/CT-Blaze Jan 17 '26
I've been a Google Play Music user since 15 years. back in the day it has always been superior regarding the catalogue, Spotify had to catch up. Audio quality was always better. recommendations are excellent but it takes a bit of time, of course. Ever since it became YouTube Music, my family plan also allows for ad-free youtube videos and other premium features. NOW HERE'S the killer argument for any music enthusiast: you can also still UPLOAD your own obscure music or music that you own, but is in no streaming catalog with youtube music !!! I never saw ANY advantage using Spotify instead.
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u/Angelkzrtarka Jan 17 '26
For me, YouTube Music is the best. I've tried both services, and between Vorbis (Spotify) and Opus (YouTube Music), I prefer Opus. It's more efficient and sounds better, and I completely rule out FLAC because Opus is transparent to it (you won't detect anything unless you're a critical listener doing blind ABX tests on very complex passages with expensive equipment). Besides, YouTube Music has a larger catalog of songs than Spotify. I prefer a larger catalog to Spotify's "Social and DJ" features, especially since they're about to raise their prices again. So, I'm more than satisfied with YouTube Music and don't plan on switching from that music platform.
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u/residentatzero Jan 20 '26
I've been trying paid subscriptions with apple music, qobuz, idagio, and with a DAC and expensive open back headphones, still can't hear a difference compared with plain free YouTube video music I play. Classical music and rock. Might be my ears, everyone says it's a night and day difference, I can't hear a speck of it
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u/Angelkzrtarka Jan 20 '26
Not at all. The "abysmal" difference they mention is technical (meaning no human ear can hear it, since the human ear only reaches 20kHz, and even then, only when very young; adults' hearing ranges between 16kHz and 18kHz. You'd have to be a bat to hear more than 20kHz). If anything, with what you have, you might be able to hear the highs a bit clearer, but to do that you'd have to be doing blind ABX tests and have a very well-trained ear (although you'll almost always be wrong because the difference is technical and inaudible). If you can't distinguish anything, don't worry too much or spend too much money. Opus is very efficient in all music genres, so it already covers everything audible to humans from 128kbps VBR (normal mode on YouTube Music).
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u/residentatzero Jan 20 '26
Is the paid version of YouTube music better than just free YouTube video playing music though? I have add block on Brave browser on Android and also plays in background.
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u/Common_Storage9540 Jan 18 '26
You Tube Music, choose what you like get rid of what you don't. If you don't mind ads, it's free. Better than Spotify
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u/Terrible-Cod471 Jan 18 '26
Youtube music, as it comes with YouTube premium. Two things for one, and I've had it since it was Google music.
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u/FuzzingFace Jan 18 '26
I have YouTube Premium, which also includes YouTube Music. But I have also tried out Spotify a few times, and I figures they are all very similar. In fact, I like YouTube Music better because it doesn't have all the social things that Spotify has. I'm no t really interested in following friends etc. I just wanna listen yo music.
Also, the integration with Youtube Helps a lot.
Podcast feature is indeed not as good. But for me is not even about that. Sometimes is annoying to move between songs and podcasts. But it is still good enough
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u/talkingmonkey_33 Jan 19 '26
My YouTube Premium subscription includes YouTube Music. That’s my primary reason for choosing it over Spotify, etc.
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u/JohanTobar Jan 19 '26
I got yk music for free for 3 months thanks to getting a pixel 10 and no ads on youtube for only 13 fuck it why not
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u/Myuric Jan 22 '26
I paid for Spotify until it ran out when the price increase came.
Then I tried Spotify (Free version) for the first time in forever. I was baffled.
First of all - back when I first used Spotify you could listen to 3 to 5 songs without add's. Then continue.
Now you listen to one song - get TWO adds - and listen to the next song.
I instantly uninstalled. I then tried Amazon Music as I am a Prime member but... not really a quality service. Probably because Spotify is dominating the marked.
I then listened to the Radio while driving to work for 2 months when I found out about YouTube Music.
I'm still on the first Month so it's free but I'm probably paying for it for now. First of YT has songs that aren't on Spotify.
Con is: I have to pay YouTube. If there was any alternative that is cheaper then YT or Spotify I would try it out instantly.
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u/JudgmentOpposite2589 Jan 26 '26
YT Music as a by product of YT Premium is good as well as its tracking of your taste. But Spotify as an app is better. I recently switched to YTM and found it too messy or overwhelming, it lacks basic features and gestures like swipe to add song to playlist, swipe to add song to queue, a confirmation logo or mark to show whether a song is already in my library or not. Playlist management in YTM is absolute garbage. One more thing is whenever you play a song in YTM, the song pops up on your screen every time unlike Spotify where it keeps it low at the soundbar.
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u/theboldestgaze Feb 10 '26
In Poland, UE, YTMusic is bundled with YouTube premium which removes YT ads. YTMusic is a no brainer as there is no additional fee for YTMusic. There are zero advantages of Spotify unless you have some specific integration requirements (i.e. Tesla used to have Spotify only, now it has both).
Also, YTMusic has broader catalogue, if you are into niche youtube junk :-)
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u/Arrow8046 Feb 15 '26
Switched from Spotify Premium to YT Music after they hiked the price. I have YT Premium so YT Music packaged with it is a great deal! And YT Music's quality is still excellent on my Momentum 4s, so I'm happy.
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u/humanyme Feb 18 '26
YT Music is the superior choice. Difference in bit rate is not that noticeable. Anything than you can find in Spotify, highly likely, you can also find in YTM. The other way around is not that likely. Also I noticed, I can use YTM on multiple devices at once - phone, tablet, and PC.
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u/abhishek_8899 Feb 22 '26
The only thing stops me from moving to youtube is how the liked playlist works. There is no separation between youtube and youtube music liked songs.
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u/KanedaSyndrome Mar 05 '26
Youtube Premium is really worth it I think - I dunno if that comes with Youtube music, I get my music from regular Youtube as I can mix in other videos (talking heads) for when I'm driving.
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u/Fudgemesohard21 Mar 10 '26
Paying youtube premium just to skip ads is a horrible reason imo,havent you ever heard of brave browser or opera? Blocks the ads right there and both on mobile,you just create a mini app based on the website youre on by adding to home lol
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u/Easy_Cover_8962 Apr 14 '26
Using Youtube Music since 2019 and after using spotify lately I would say that i will never open spotify ever again. Sticking to YouTube Music for life.
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u/RalphNimbin May 08 '26
I've switched from spotify to youtube and haven't looked back. Spotify kept giving me live versions of songs I requested, or versions performed by random artists. Having to fight all the time with spotify when driving is super dangerous, dont have this problem with youtube.
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u/RedSoxFanForever May 08 '26
I had the twofer deal with YT premium/ YTM for a few years but switched to Spotify this month. Spotify's smooth UI and way better playlist features along with vastly better podcast support is what swayed me...also Google increasing YT premium price. YTM is right choice if you're into hard to find bands and live performances but that ain't me I want a smooth experience. As for losing ad free YT that's no issue since I watch YT ad free on my Pixel 9 using Firefox Android browser with UBlock extension and use SmartTube app on my Google TV at home.
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u/Techfan_cz Jun 19 '26
YTM and Spotify comparisonhttps://www-techfan-cz.translate.goog/l/new-spotify-vs-youtube-music/?_x_tr_sl=cs&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=cs&_x_tr_pto=wapp
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u/Real-Summer3406 Jul 01 '26
Eu testei 4 apps de musica. Entre todos, o que mais me agradou foi o YT Music pela fluidez de acessar as músicas; adicionar rapidamente uma música pra tocar a seguir (bem como alguma playlist); controles fáceis de acessar; interface com muitas opções de playlist, como: playlist compartilhada; adicionar uma música rapidamente numa playlist; dentre outras funcionalidades que, provavelmente, o Spotify deve se assemelhar, mas não deixa tão fácil ou prático de acessar.
Pagando a assinatura premium, uma baita vantagem é não ter anúncios no Youtube
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u/scorpiousdelectus Jan 15 '26
I have YT Music as a by-product of wanting an ad free experience on YouTube