Are you ready to rock?! Well, you’d better be, because Apple is launching its own music streaming service, called Apple Music, and the advertisements for it are coming. And though Apple and Apple lieutenant Drake would have you believe that the service is going to blow the doors off of the entire music industry, the truth is that there are already a slew of excellent streaming services out there.

How does Apple Music stack up? We’ve put together this handy explainer to compare Apple’s music offering with Spotify, Pandora, and Jay Z’s Tidal.

Let’s crank it up and rip the knob off!

Read more: Hands On With Apple Music: Slick but Nothing Special

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So, what is Apple Music?



Right to the point, I like it. Apple Music is the tech giant’s take on streaming music. When it launches on June 30, you’ll be able to stream millions of songs to your smartphone, tablet, laptop, and (eventually) Android device, without owning or downloading them.

In addition to streaming, Apple Music offers Beats 1 radio, a global radio station that plays tracks from DJs in New York, Los Angeles, and London. It also includes Apple Music radio stations and Connect, which is basically a social media-like service that artists can use to share photos, videos, and songs with fans.

How much does it cost?

Apple Music will cost you $10 per month after a three-month free trial period. There’s also a six-person plan, which lets you and your family members each have your own favorite artists and playlists, that costs $15 per month.

How does that compare with other services?

Like Apple Music, Spotify costs $10 per month; ditto Tidal.

Spotify lets you pay an extra $5 per month for each additional family member you add to your account, making sure that everyone has his or her own playlists and such. Tidal also offers a $20-per-month plan that promises higher quality audio.

The least expensive of the bunch is Pandora, which costs $5 per month. Unlike its competitors, though, Pandora doesn’t offer on-demand streaming. Instead, it acts more like a personalized radio service, playing tracks similar to the ones you designate.

Can I get anything for free?

You bet. There’s a free version of Apple Music, but it lets you listen only to music from Beats 1 radio and Apple Music radio. On top of that, you can skip only a limited number of songs with Apple Music radio.

Spotify has a free version, too, but it acts more like a radio station than a streaming service that lets you choose the specific songs you want to listen to. You’re limited to the number of songs you can skip and have to listen to ads, which is awful.

Pandora also offers free listening, and like Spotify and Apple Music radio, it limits how many songs you can skip. As with Spotify, you have to deal with annoying ads.

Tidal offers a free three-month trial, but after that you have to pay up. Jay Z isn’t running a charity.

How many songs does each service have?

Apple hasn’t given an exact figure as to how many songs Apple Music will eventually have beyond saying that you’ll be able to listen to tens of millions of songs when the service launches.

Spotify and Tidal each have 30 million songs, while Pandora has only about 1 million songs.

However, some big-name artists, such as Taylor Swift, have chosen to keep their songs off of Spotify and instead put them on Tidal. If there’s a big-name artist you really want to listen to, do a little research and make sure that he/she/they appear on your service of choice.

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