Apple Music or Spotify if you don't have unlimited data plan

By: Eric Cao

Everyone listens to music and has different taste as well as concern about the quality. But have you ever thought about the correlation between music streaming quality and data usage? If you are not a financially strong music streamer and don't have an unlimited data plan, the best thing is to start thinking about what music streaming service you should use and which quality you should listen on.

As you might or might not know, the top streaming quality you can stream on Apple Music is 256kbit/s, and on Spotify is 320kbit/s. (McGauley, Thrillist) As Gauley shows, there is a small difference of data usage when you stream music in different quality. The better the quality is, the more data it will take up from your data. You are probably wondering which streaming service you should commit to based on your financial situation. 

If you are a music enthusiast and care about the quality, then you shouldn't hesitate to choose Spotify since it offers 320kbit/s quality music. However, that doesn't make Spotify more worthy, especially for people who want to limit data usage as much as they can on streaming music. 320kbit/s quality lets you listen to richer over all sounds. (Villas-Boas, Business Insider) Nevertheless, the difference between 320kbit/s and 256kbit/s is not that significant. Therefore, you won't be able to notice unless you have a great pair of headphone or speaker while listening. (Villas-Boas, Business Insider) And obviously, since we are trying to figure out the best solution financially, buying a quality headphone or speaker will not do it. 

In case you just listen to music for the sake of listening and don't have that much of data, streaming music on Apple Music is good enough for you. Streaming music in 256kbit/s will give you almost the same experience and quality and is best for you to save data. This also goes with Spotify. However, Spotify will satisfy your need of listening to amazing quality music with 320kbit/s options. Of course, this is only plausible if you can financially afford it.