Are you a music lover? Tangled between Spotify vs Soundcloud? Everyone loves music whether it be old or new, pop or rock, Occasional or evergreen and at some point in time, we can relate that with our lives too. No matter whichever is the platform if music is there, I Love to listen. But differences come when Sound quality is not good, Delays are there, Buffering time is too high, and the overall output is of Low-quality. In this article, I am going to cover the real Battle between the two best sound platforms, Spotify vs Soundcloud. Though both are same, they are completely different in many ways and hence people choose one over the other.
Spotify
Contents
Spotify is the platform where you can get access to unlimited music with or without internet based on free or premium access respectively. In a free access version, you can listen to the music of your choice and mood by connecting your device to the internet. In the premium version, you can download the music on your device and then listen to it at any point of time without any internet connection. Spotify can give you recommendations too based on your interest in past history.
SoundCloud
Soundcloud is a great platform for music Lovers. Here you can listen to the music you love as well as recreate the music of your choice. The remixes you get here will find nowhere else. SoundCloud reaches every possible type of music lovers and various audience with the best streaming services.
Spotify is ranked 1st while SoundCloud is ranked 4th. Here are the Reasons why most people prefer Spotify:
Spotify vs Soundcloud: Costing
When price comes into Consideration, you definitely will choose a lesser price with more features. Though there are compromises always. Spotify and Soundcloud both provide the free versions of the Applications but for more features, you need to subscribe for some cost. Let us discuss the cost Incurred in both the Platforms.
Spotify
You can get Spotify premium by subscribing for the premium pack.
● In the start, you will get a free trial of $0.99/month
● Monthly subscription charges- $9.99/month- unlimited, ad-free streaming and downloading.
● Spotify charges for student- $4.99/month – you have to re-register yourself as a student every year.
Family pack- $15/month – this allows you to have 6 people in one account with the
same address.
Soundcloud
- SoundCloud Pro Unlimited – $12 per month, if billed Yearly and $16 per month, if billed monthly with Unlimted Upload time.
- SoundCloud Pro- $6 per month, if billed yearly and $8 per month, if billed monthly with 6 hours upload time and many other features.
As we see the Above comparison, SoundCloud is costlier than Spotify. Spotify provides very less cost subscription pack for students and family packs too, which are budget- friendly. Here, Spotify wins!
Spotify vs Soundcloud: Sound Quality
Spotify
Spotify is a great online streaming app that permits you to listen to songs anytime and anywhere. Premium Version of Spotify is an ad-free version. Aside from Ad-free concept, it
provides high-quality streaming, that is, 320kbps. For mobile, there are different types of speed quality for different users. Low, Normal, High and Extreme are the speeds that offer 24kbps, 96kbps, 160kbps and 320 kbps of speed respectively. Apart from Speed now, the Premium version allows you to listen to offline music too. You can download up to 10,000
songs on each of 5 different devices.
SoundCloud
The sound Quality on SoundCloud is very low i.e up to only 128kbps, which is terrible. Even there are some high-sound songs that are not compressed to this much. This SoundCloud doesn’t stand much in case of sound quality. Hence, Spotify wins!
Spotify vs Soundcloud: Offline Streaming
Spotify
Spotify allows you to listen to songs and download them too. Thus you can listen to the song anywhere and everywhere as once songs get downloaded, no internet access is needed to enjoy the music.
Soundcloud
Soundcloud, on the other hand, doesn’t provide any such feature. There is no support for offline streaming in SoundCloud. Suppose you are travelling in a flight and wants to listen to music then SoundCloud is of no use.
Spotify vs Soundcloud: Auto-Playlists
Spotify
The algorithm behind the Auto playlists in Spotify is very accurate. “Discover Weekly” and “Release Radar” playlists are algorithm based playlists updated once per week with a fresh batch of songs based on your listening habits. At the end of the year, Spotify gives you the most listened music in the year playlist thus you can have a re-tour to your favorites.
SoundCloud
Soundcloud whereas doesn’t rank much in this case. the recommended songs by the Application are pathetic and thus doesn’t fulfill user’s choice. This is because the algorithm behind isn’t working well and needs some improvement.
Advantages of Spotify
- Easy to use
- Budget-friendly
- Supports offline use
- Algorithms behind plays perfectly.
- Social connect is great
- A large collection of music from old to recent.
- Creation of Big Artists Release is missing.
Disadvantages of Spotify
- The free version is restricted
- Remix feature is not there.
Advantages of Soundcloud
- The free version is more than enough for most
- Artists can upload their remix of the songs
- Creation of Big Artists is on Top List.
- Your own creations can be shared privately to the chosen list only.
Disadvantages of Soundcloud
- Sound quality is too low.
- Algorithms don’t run perfectly
- Offline Listening to songs is not allowed.
- The autoplay feature is pitiful
There are pros and cons of both the Apps. For me, Spotify works well because it fulfils my requirements within the budget. If you are an artist and have an interest in remixing and recreation then SoundCloud is calling you buddy! but if you are an on-the-go person, listen to music is your first choice like me then Spotify is your destination. The choice is yours!
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