Not all music streaming services are created equal. Not only do they vary by audio quality, pricing can vary and usability is a mixed bag. But with so many music streaming services vying for your attention with different audio options and available for a range of different prices, where do you start? This article will delve into the competition between Soundcloud vs Spotify to help you make a wise decision.
Contents Guide Part 1. Soundcloud and Spotify: Basic OverviewPart 2. Detailed Comparison of Soundcloud and SpotifyPart 3. Bonus: Free Download Spotify Songs for Offline PlayingPart 4. Conclusion
Looking for the best music streaming service? How do Soundcloud vs Spotify compare? Before making a comprehensive comparison of both services, let's have a quick look at Soundcloud and Spotify.
Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud combines user-generated music and podcasts with tracks from major label musicians into a unique streaming music service. Whether you're a musician or just a music enthusiast, anyone can take advantage of all of its aspects.
Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. On Spotify, you can listen to any content of your choice anytime. It is both legal and easy to use. Spotify leads the streaming music pack with its countless podcasts, early album access, collaborative playlists, Jam Session, and cool AI-powered DJ.
Soundcloud vs Spotify, which should you choose? To help you decide, we'll focus on the comparison of Soundcloud and Spotify. Read this part to find out!
There are two main ways to listen to music on Spotify, Free and Premium. The free plan costs nothing, but you must endure audio and banner ads. The trade-off for the Free service is that there are fewer features, plus restrictions on playback controls. On the other hand, paying for Spotify Premium lets you play songs on demand without ads. You can also cache songs for offline playback on your computer, phone, or other devices. This tier also increases audio quality to 320Kbps. The features and quality are certainly worthwhile.
Let's see how much we cost on Spotify Premium (Prices as of August 2024):
🔹Do you know the differences between the Spotify free account and the Premium account? Learn the difference between Spotify Free vs. Premium to know which one piques your interest.
Like Spotify, SoundCloud has ad-supported free plans, but you can get the premium versions if you want access to more features. SoundCloud subscription provides an ad-free experience, and offline playback, and integrates licensed music from major labels into the existing, user-uploaded content of the service. How much is a SoundCloud subscription? Let’s break it down:
Soundcloud vs Spotify, which is better? SoundCloud is cheaper, but Spotify Premium has better features. Spotify also offers affordable plans for multiple accounts with someone, either your partner or friend. For example, Premium Student bundles Hulu at a discounted rate. SoundCloud’s plans don’t provide extras like these.
🔹Read this step-by-step process to get a free Hulu with Spotify bundle.
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. Spotify is also compatible with Apple Carplay and Android Auto so long as your car has that functionality.
Soundcloud comes as both a mobile and web application. Mobile users can download it to their iOS (iPhone, iPad) or Android devices via the App Store or Google Play Store. There’s even a desktop version available for download to use on Windows and Mac. A plethora of devices also support Soundcloud, including many wireless speakers, Android TVs, and smartwatches. Go/Go+ subscribers can also stream Soundcloud content on the car by way of AirPlay and Android Auto.
SoundCloud's support for game consoles is more anemic. The SoundCloud app is now available on Xbox One only. But you can find Spotify on PS5 or PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, etc. If you are used to listening to music on a common device such as a mobile phone, it doesn't matter whether it is Soundcloud or Spotify. But for playing music while gaming, Spotify is better.
SoundCloud vs Spotify, which has better audio quality? The most important thing to consider is the sound quality.
With Free Spotify, the maximum bitrate you can stream is AAC at 128kbps on the web player and 160kbps on the mobile and desktop apps. Spotify Premium plans also offer different sound quality settings, the maximum streaming quality is Ogg Vorbis at 320kbps.
SoundCloud does not specify the sound quality for free plans. SoundCloud Go offers music that has a bit rate of 64 kbps and Go+ gives you high-quality audio encoded in 256kbps AAC. If you aren't an audiophile, you'll find Spotify's free 160Kbps and Premium 320Kbps satisfactory. It's leaps and bounds better than SoundCloud's 256Kbps streams.
🔹If you want better audio quality, check out Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, and Qobuz. These services deliver audio quality in the lossless, hi-res FLAC, and Dolby Atmos formats. They sound terrific. For further info, we also have a Spotify vs Tidal head-to-head, giving you the audio quality on how they compare.
SoundCloud vs Spotify, which has better content? How to choose the best music streaming service for you? Think about the library size. A vast music library ensures you have access to a diverse range of genres, artists, and albums. Look for services that frequently update their catalogs and provide exclusive content from your favorite artists.
Spotify is widely considered to be the best one. It offers a vast music library, boasting more than 100 million songs. Many of us use Spotify for music, but the platform has been steadily adding other audio content for a while now, such as audiobooks, comedies, radio dramas, podcasts, poetry readings, and speeches.
SoundCloud's music library size remains undisclosed. You have no trouble finding lesser-known artists on SoundCloud because the platform lets user's own music be released, regardless of if they pay for premium features. You won't find extra content on SoundCloud like audiobooks. Spotify gives you an edge if you want to dive deeper into other audio-related matters.
If you want the ability to view your friends’ listening activities or playlists, Spotify is the way to go. Spotify has a Friend Activity section that displays the songs your friends are actively listening to, along with the album or playlist they are listening from. You can also follow friends by searching for their usernames or by linking your Spotify account with Facebook. Spotify Jam is a fun way for users to create a shared listening experience with their friends and loved ones. You can create collaborative playlists where multiple friends can add and remove songs. Spotify also has partnerships with Instagram and Tinder, so it’s easy to share your music tastes with people on these apps as well.
As for SoundCloud, the only semi-social feature is that you can share a song from the SoundCloud app to your social media profiles, which is also a simple feature on Spotify.
So, Soundcloud vs Spotify, which service is best? At the end of the day, the answer depends on how much you care about the music. If you live and breathe music and want the best audio quality possible and useful features, Spotify is the service for you. However, most people don’t take full advantage of Spotify. And when it comes to compatibility, you can play Spotify downloads on its app only. To make Spotify songs playable on any device you like, you need DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter.
No matter whether you are a free user or a subscriber of Spotify Premium, you can directly stream and download any songs, playlists, albums, or podcasts with DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter. DumpMedia can convert original-quality Spotify music into MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, and ALAC after removing DRM from Spotify.
This powerful tool will process the downloading to be 35X faster and also in batch, which means it can even convert a whole playlist with only one click. During the conversion, DumpMedia will keep the original sound quality and also ID3 metadata to rip music from Spotify, which makes you enjoy the music playback and manage them offline with a good experience.
Here's how to download Spotify songs without Premium using DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter.
Step 1. Open DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter on your computer, then it will allow you to enter the in-built web player. Click the "Open the Spotify web player" button to enter and also log in to your account. After logging in to the account, directly drag the song to the "+" button to convert it.
Step 2. When the music is converted, you can choose the output format as MP3 by going to the Format menu in the top-right "Convert all files to".
Step 3. Finally, just click on the "Convert All" button to start converting Spotify songs to MP3. DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter will quickly process the downloading process for you, and you can get the downloaded MP3 music saved on your computer for free playback at any time and anywhere.
Soundcloud vs Spotify, which streaming service should you pick? Both Soundcloud and Spotify hold up among the best streaming services. People will probably enjoy Spotify more for its song-recommending algorithms, high-quality music, and social integrations. If you want to download Spotify songs for offline listening without Premium, DumpMedia Spotify Music Converter could prove to be handy for it. If you like it, you can get the free download to have a try.
