Spotify is a streaming music powerhouse, but Amazon Music's many unique features make it a strong competitor. Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, what are the differences? Which music streaming is the best one? In this guide, we test both services and compare them on price, audio quality, device compatibility, and more to see which one is worth your money and time.
Contents GuidePart 1. The Overview of Amazon Prime Music and SpotifyPart 2. Detailed Comparison Between Amazon Prime Music and SpotifyPart 3. Bonus: Enjoy Spotify Offline Without Spotify PremiumPart 4. Final Thoughts
In the world of music streaming, both Amazon Music and Spotify are well-famous. How do Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify compare? Before making a comprehensive comparison of both services, let's see what are Amazon Music Prime and Spotify.
Amazon Music Prime, one of tier on Amazon Music, is bundled into the existing Amazon Prime subscription service rather than launched as a standalone product. That means customers being an Amazon Prime membership for free shipping, Whole Foods grocery delivery, 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals, discounts on textbooks and more benefits will now also be able to access unlimited streaming of a limited music catalog with ad-free.
Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Available in 184 markets, such as Europe, as well as Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, Spotify is easily one of the most accessible streaming platforms in the world. It reportedly has over over 626 million monthly active users comprising 246 million paying subscribers.
Pick the right platform for you is much more nuanced than simply going for the one with the best sound quality. Other features like price, content variety, feature, etc. also affect your experience and should be considered. Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, which is better? To help you decide, we’ll break down everything Amazon Music Prime and Spotify offers, so keep reading until the end!
As we mentioned on part one, Amazon Music Prime is included with a Amazon Prime subscription. So you need to pay $14.99 per month or you $139 annually. Amazon also offers a discounted that’s about half the price of a standard one for enrolled students and those who are 18-24 year olds. The discounted option is $7.49 a month. If you receive SNAP, Medicaid, or other qualifying government assistance, you can save more with Prime Access, which costs $6.99 a month.
Being an Amazon Prime membership, you can get various perks, including free delivery options, shopping and reading benefits. Prime Music offers members access to 100 million ad-free songs, as well as the largest catalogue of ad-free top podcasts, and thousands of playlists and stations. Prime members can get discounted Amazon Music Unlimited monthly plans, and they have access to exclusive annual plans.
🔹What is Amazon Music Unlimited? To compare feature support by Amazon Music Unlimited and Spotify, go to Amazon Music Unlimited vs Spotify.
Spotify has two main subscription offerings: Free or Premium. Spotify’s Free plan doesn’t cost you anything, but serves up ads between tracks as a trade-off. Users with the Free plan also have access to less features and restrictions on what they can play. To enhance your listening experience, you can pick a Premium subscription (Prices as of August 2024):
All Spotify Premium subscribers enjoy unrestricted access to any song, album, playlist or radio station with ad-free, in addition to the ability to download music for offline listening. Premium also upgrades the audio quality to 320Kbps! Moreover, the Student plan also comes with Hulu access, unlike other services that offer student discounts only but no additional perks. You can learn more about the difference between Spotify Free vs. Premium here to know which one piques your interest.
Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, which is better? If you're in need of a streaming music service and already have a Prime subscription, Amazon Music Prime is the best chioce. Not only do you get free delivery of goods, a wide variety of Amazon deals, but also access to a massive catalog of 100 million songs, ad-free, at no additional cost, and the most top podcasts available ad-free.
Amazon Music Prime, however, does not offer added perks for children and college students. Spotify’s paid plans come with many perks for family, children and students. If you just want to hear plenty of music and don’t mind ads, Spotify's free tier is also one of the better options.
Amazon has Music apps for both the Android and iOS platforms that perform double duty for Prime and Unlimited. There’s even a desktop version available for download to use on Windows and Mac. Amazon Music Prime is also compatible with the Amazon Echo family of smart speakers, Fire TVs, and Fire tablets. You can command Alexa to play playlist you like. If your Amazon device has a screen, you'll enjoy an additional benefit, showing lyrics. Amazon Music Prime is also compatible with lesser-known appliances such as Apple’s CarPlay (for streaming while driving) and smart speakers/home sound systems such as Sonos, Polk Omni, and Roku.
Part of Spotify's success is its ubiquity. You can access Spotify by launching the web player, downloading the desktop apps (available for Chromebook, Linux, Mac, and Windows), or installing the mobile app (available for Android and iOS). You can also find Spotify on TVs, set-top boxes, smartwatches, and home video game consoles.
Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, which is better? If you are used to listening to music on a common device such as a mobile phone, it doesn't matter whether it is Amazon Prime Music or Spotify. But for playing music while gaming, Spotify is better because Amazon Music's support for game consoles is more anemic. The Amazon Music app is now available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S only. But you can find Spotify on PS5 or PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, etc.
🔹For more details, check the guide on how to play Spotify on PS4 while playing a game.
Does Amazon Music Prime or Spotify offer better streaming quality? Unfortunately, neither Spotify nor Amazon Music Prime offer any high quality streaming options. But sound quality on Spotify Premium is higher than Amazon Music Prime. Amazon Music Prime’s audio quality is 256kbps via MP3 files, while Spotify Premium’s is higher, offering up to 320kbps. Spotify currently only has lossy file options, AAC and Ogg Vorbis. Spotify Free’s audio quality tops out at 160kbps.
Though Spotify announced Spotify HiFi, which would offer streaming in lossless CD-quality, back in 2021 and we haven’t heard an update since then. But lacking of high resolution audio isn’t necessarily a reason to opt for a different streaming service, for many people, lossy, lower bitrate audio sounds just fine. Additionally, lossless files tend to take up more storage space or use up more Internet data, so plenty of people find lossy files to be worth their drawbacks. If you’re looking for a high resolution streaming service, check out Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Tidal or Deezer.
Which has more available content, Spotify or Amazon Music Prime? Regarding their respective music catalogs, there aren’t too many differences between Spotify and Amazon Music Prime. They both have upwards of 100 million tracks, including hot hits and all the underground music you could wish for. Podcast fans don’t need to worry about whether you choose Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, both streaming services offer a wide library of podcasts.
However, some of exclusive contents are not available on Amazon Music Prime. Don't expect much non-audio content from Amazon Prime Music, too. Beyond music, Spotify also offers diverse audio content, which includes podcasts, talk shows, comedy, over 350,000 audiobooks titles, concerts, etc. If you subscribe to Spotify Premium, you may get early access to new music releases or exclusive content.
Considering the factors of volume, variety, and accessibility, Spotify emerges as the victor in this comparison, offering an unparalleled content library that slightly outshines Amazon Prime Music’s formidable collection.
Amazon Prime Music and Spotify, what extra features does each service provide? If you’re going to choose a music streaming service, you may as well get your money’s worth. Look for services that offer additional content and features. These features can enhance your overall experience and provide more entertainment options. Here are some notable extra features on Spotify and Amazon Prime Music:
Spotify wraps up your end-of-year statistics
In December of every year, Spotify releases Spotify Wrapped which is an animation of infographics outlining your listening statistics from the year. These stats include things like how many total minutes you spent listening to music, which artist you listened to most, and which countries your favorite artists are from. Once you’ve viewed your statistics, you can share it. But Amazon Prime Music doesn't has a similar feature.
Spotify and Amazon Music Prime are excellent car companions
Both Spotify and Amazon Music Prime can be integrated with navigation apps, such as Waze and Google Maps. Additionally, both are compatible with Carplay and Android Auto, so long as your car has this functionality. These tools allow for easier control over your audio playback while in the car, but you shouldn’t use them while actively driving.
Both services have AI DJ
Spotify Premium users can enjoy the new AI DJ, which is a like a live radio feature but are more personalized to your listening habits and includes entertaining commentaries. Amazon Music also has its own AI DJ called Maestro that's available to Amazon Music Prime and Unlimited subscribers. Maestro helps you create any playlist you can think of—plus all the ones you can’t. But this feature is rolling out in beta.
Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, which streaming service should you subscribe to? Choosing between them depends exclusively on your needs and preferences. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, save money by making the most of your free Amazon Music Prime subscription. For non-Amazon Prime member, opt for Spotify because it offers the best quality-price ratio.
From the part above, you have already known that only the Spotify Premium can enjoy music offline. Can we enjoy music from Spotify offline without Premium? Here you need is DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter. DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter embeds the official Spotify web player, functioning to grab all music and download them as MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, and ALAC audio files for you.
Even if you are not a subscriber of Spotify Premium subscription, you can access this download function to manipulate the music download without any error. DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter will ensure lossless quality (at the best 320Kbps) to export all music downloads, bringing you an awesome offline music streaming experience.
Here are the steps on how to enjoy Spotify offline for free using DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter.
Step 1. Free download DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter on your computer. Launch it and click "Open the Spotify Web Player" to enter the home page, and log into your account (even without subscriptions). On the built-in web player, choose the music you want to download. Drag the song or playlist to the floating "+" icon on the right side of the window.
Step 2. Then, click the arrow button next to each song to change the output format to "MP3" or click "Convert all files to" to change all songs' formats.
Step 3. Click the Convert button to start the conversion of your video file. Wait for the conversion to complete.
Amazon Prime Music vs Spotify, which shoul I pick? Which streaming service you crown the winner here depends on what you’re looking for in a streaming service. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, save money by making the most of your free Amazon Music Prime subscription. If you want better audio quality, go with Spotify Premium. You can also stream any music for free with Spotify Free if you don't mind ads. However, due to Spotify Free tier's limits, we recommend you use DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter to download and convert songs into common local files. After that, you can play them offline for free.
