Soundcloud and Apple Musics are two big music industry or streaming services in the world. However, since they are both streaming services does not mean that both have the same quality and features.
Soundcloud vs Apple Music
The main difference between Soundcloud and Apple Music is that Soundcloud is the most recommended for most people and it also ranks 2nd in the best music streaming services while Apple Music stands 11th.
Soundcloud offers its customers some standout features which Apple Music doesn’t. Apple Music can give benefits like you can ask Siri to play your favourite songs by any artist. While on the other hand Soundcloud offers the artists to upload their music and show their creativity. Please note that Soundcloud does not own any of your music.
Comparison Table Between Soundcloud and Apple Music
| Parameters of Comparison | Soundcloud | Apple Music |
| Music Library Size | Soundcloud has over 125 million songs on its platform. | It has only 50 million songs in its library. |
| Algorithms (Intelligence) | It offers the listeners a personalized music feed on their own. | It recommends playlists based on your past listening. |
| Sharing Ability | Soundcloud does not offer any kind of family plan. | A family sharing option is available and lets you add up to five other family members. |
| Sound Quality | It offers High- Quality streaming encoded in 256kbps AAC. | Apple also streams music at 256 kbps. |
| Data Usage | It keeps the data usage low and streams all music at just a single audio quality (128kbps). | Apple Music would use up to 120 MB, which means avoid using mobile data. |
| Radio Availability | Yes | Yes |
What is Soundcloud?
Soundcloud is a German-based music industry company. It is an online audio distribution platform and also a music sharing website. Soundcloud allows its users to perform free uploading, promoting of music as long as they own all rights to do so.
A similar app that lets users upload music is Bandcamp but, unlike Bandcamp, Soundcloud will not give you the option to sell music. The free uploading of music is up to 3 hours and then users have to purchase a Soundcloud Pro account.
The Pro plan in Soundcloud allows its users to upload six hours of audio with some features added to it. However, if you have that creativity in you then you can go for the top-level plan. (Soundcloud Pro Unlimited).
At this plan, the users can get the benefit of Soundcloud Go+ and DJ mixing tools. Podcasting is also available for podcasters and the maximum file limit should not be more than 4GB. Artists and Podcasters can upload AAC, AIFF, ALAC, AMR, FLAC, MP2, MP3, OGG, WAV audio files.
What is Apple Music?
Apple Music, on the other hand, is a musical and video streaming service owned and developed by Apple Inc. Apple Music operates in such a way where its users can select their music on demand. Apple Music also has subscription plans where users who are willing to pay can get the benefit of Apple Music’s extensive 60 million-song library.
Apple Music does offer a 3-month free trial but soon after the free trial is over, the users cannot listen anymore. Apple Music also lacks Hi-Res Audio which is also a major disadvantage. Apple Music does offer some plans for teenagers too. College going students can opt for various plans offered by Apple Music.
Users who are looking for ad-free music have to opt for the family membership. Here, you can watch ad-free videos and go for offline listening too. Apple Music ropes in most of the large icons that invite you to explore the service.
With over 50 million playlists in the library, one can listen to comedy tracks. Few notable comedians whom you can hear on Apple Music are Katt Williams, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, and several others.
Apple Music also offers lyrics while a song is being played and users can sing along with it, even if you do not know the words. The audio quality provided by Apple is fine but one can’t play for too long on their cellphones using cellular data. Apple consumes large cellular data and this is one of the major disadvantages for Apple Music subscribers.
Main Difference Between Soundcloud and Apple Music
- Soundcloud is mainly for music lovers who want to go for music in their career. Apple Music only lets you listen to music and no feature for performing on your own.
- Soundcloud is the most recommended streaming service and stands 2nd in the best streaming service while Apple Music stands 11th.
- Soundcloud comes with a whopping 150 million playlists but Apple Music tends to only stick at 60 million thus giving the users limited playlists in their library.
- The Apple Music does provide you with the benefit of listening to hottest artists and their new releases and on the other hand Soundcloud offers independent artists.
- Apple Music is the most popular source for hot trending music and is considered the best music application by most users whereas Soundcloud lacks here a bit.
Conclusion
Apple Music and Soundcloud do have their pros and cons. But, what matters the most is the people’s choice and their demands. Soundcloud app offering their free service is one of the biggest advantages over Apple Music. Apple Music listeners have got more cons than pros over Soundcloud. The quality provided by Apple Music lacks while Soundcloud tends to be better.
In one way or another I would say that Apple Music is worth the money subscribing. Soundcloud simply lacks behind in this because a number of tracks in the app shrinks drastically. For Soundcloud users you can have the option of alternatives too. Some of them are Bandcamp, Audiomack, RepX and many others.
Apple Music has a significant advantage over other apps too. The Apple Music lets users combine songs that they already own with the catalog. And other than that Siri users can get voice controls.
References
- https://squaloindustry.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/research/soundcloud-mech-design.pdf