Like any other music lover, I was pretty hyped about the fact that Spotify was coming to India. In the lookout for a decent music streaming app, I quickly jumped ship to Spotify premium as it was the new craze among my generation.
On my part, I followed the crowd and opted for a student plan on Spotify without any tangible research. Little did I know that after a month of using it, I would plan to change my subscription.
No music streaming service is perfect, and your choice depends on the kind of phone and songs you want to listen to and how much you’re willing to pay each month to listen to music.
But as with most music streaming apps, Spotify has its own drawbacks. In fact, there are quite a few things that are wrong with Spotify — things that convinced me to look someplace else for my music demands.
I can’t access my downloaded music at one place on Spotify
Of course, like any other paid music streaming app, Spotify allows me to download songs and hear it in offline mode. But the problem is that I can’t access my downloaded music at one specific place.
Apple Music does thing differently by having a separate tab where you can find all your downloaded music, while Spotify just mixes it in with the rest of your library which contains both downloaded and songs, having no separate tab for it.
In your library, you’ll see primary tabs for your podcasts and music and in music, you have your playlists, artists and albums but strangely no option of having all the downloaded songs at a single place.
Many songs, albums, and artists are missing from Spotify
Legendary metal bands such as Linkin Park, Led Zeppelin and Green Day are not available on Spotify. Also, artists such as Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis, bands such as Coldplay are just not available to you on Spotify.
These aren’t even old Hindi or Punjabi singers but classical and popular English artists and not finding them on Spotify is just downright disappointing. In comparison, Apple music gives you a way wider choice than that available on Spotify.
A missing album or two probably isn’t something to worry about. But you may want to look beyond Spotify if you really want it all when it comes to the complete catalog of songs.
Also Read: YouTube Music Launches In India At A Nominal Price: User Shares Real Experience Of It
Apple music comes at a cheaper price
With the introduction of Spotify in India, Apple music has reduced its prices significantly. After buying the student pack of Rs. 60 on Spotify I got to know that Apple Music is available at Rs. 49 a month which is somewhat cheaper.
The fact that Apple music gives me a much better experience in terms of music choices alone added with a cheaper price gives me little to no reason to continue my subscription on Spotify.
Spotify’s playlists are really not that great
Although this feature looks promising, I feel that these playlists don’t make any sense most of the times. I started with this playlist feature but quickly stopped using it.
My problem is that I end up skipping all the songs these playlists play for me. The discover weekly feature mostly displays songs that I hate and I mostly don’t listen to them. Again, this is a very personalized feature and some might like it, but most people just don’t .
Spotify does not allow you to move your playlists
This is something that can be problematic to a number of people. You can import all the songs and playlists you’d like to Spotify. And of course, afterwards, you can spend hours making your favourite playlist only to waste all your effort.
In case you decide to leave Spotify, there’s no playlist export function to help you take your playlists with you. That’s a lot of hard work wasted and is prompting me not to leave Spotify just yet. Anyway, kudos to the marketing team at Spotify.
The User Experience
Personally, I really like the display on Spotify, especially when it comes to the display on your laptop. But some argue that it’s busier and more difficult to navigate than apple music. Again, that’s a really personal choice and something I have heard others complaining about.
All in all, I like spotify but not to the extent that it might make me stick to it in the coming months. Sooner or later I plan to change my streaming app and move to something better.
Image Credits: Google Images
Find the blogger at @AarooshJairath
Other Recommendations:
How Do We Use Spotify In India? : We LivED It