Spotify VS. Google Play Music All Access vs. Beats Music App: Like streaming TV, streaming music is a dominant if not more dominant online habit, and more and more places and providers are cropping out in the industry. Below we take a quick comparison at Spotify and Google Play and deliver a straight review of the Beats Music App.

Priced at $9.99 (Spotify differs per country), these providers compete for your money in exchange for music in your ears (or headsets).

Spotify vs. Google Play Music All Access

Both Spotify and Google Play Music All Acess (or Google Play Music for simplicity) offer unlimited ad-free streaming for subscription. However, in Spotify, you can listen to music online for free. The catch is that there are occasional ads popping up. You can also skip music being played for only a few times. But for a monthly subscription of $9.99, Spotify Premium gives you all the liberty to play music offline. Google Play Music allows you to listen to unlimited songs free, but with ads, but with the Google Play Music All Access, you’re able to enjoy ads-free listening for $9.99 a month.

Spotify, however, is the biggest subscription streaming music service available. According to The Guardian, it has 40 million active users and 10 million paying subscribers.

Google Play Music needs to widen its reach if it plans to take the leading music streaming service down. As of the moment, Spotify has the edge when it comes to reach because it has a desktop application available for PC or Mac that lets you connect the music you’re listening to from your mobile or tablet to the computer.

Matt Peckham of TIME says, “I had mixed feelings about Google Play Music when it launched last May [2013] with fewer perks than a service like Spotify. But if you prefer Google’s online app-related modus operandi, Google Play Music lets you upload up to 20,000 songs of your choosing (accessible across all devices).”

Google Play Music’s edge is that it lets you add that much music to your very own online music library. This is definitely a plus because it will let you save storage from your device. Meanwhile, Spotify has its own way of giving you your own library by letting you create your own playlist. But admittedly, it is more limited compared to what Google Play Music All Access can offer.

However, only Spotify is connected with social media networks. It lets you see what your friends are listening. “Spotify is more social, and all my friends use it. I also actually like the FB integration. I can't easily share music with my non-G+ friends using All Access,” says one user in reddit.com.

Peckham adds, “Spotify offers high fidelity streaming and a robust 20-million song catalog across a range of platforms with conventional social networking options, all for a flat take-it-or-leave-it $10 a month.”

From the looks of it, Google Play Music All Access has the potential to take Spotify head on.

Beats Music App review

CNET notes that with the Beats Music app’s “extensive playlists and spot-on recommendations mean you’ll never have to hunt for music.” The tech site also noted it’s stylish design but notes that “the app can be overwhelming because it’s crammed with so much content.” The latter is a reason, however, that maybe to a music lover’s advantage – enormous amount of choices.

iMore.com in its review with the headline “Beats Music review: So good I may finally ditch Rdio!” writer Allyson Kazmucha says that, “When it comes to music curation, Beats Music does not disappoint. The care and attention that went into balancing usability and features set shows.”

In general, review for the Beats Music app has been positive, though some still find it unimpressive, considering that streaming music services with ads are still a good bet for some who doesn’t want to shell money for their tunes.

“Beats Music will likely appeal to the music lover that wants to constantly discover new music and follow popular artists and groups,” writes Andrew Martonik of Android Central, “but for the average listener, your money can be spent elsewhere.

As far as curation, however, which is critical for any streaming music service, Beats Music app is in a good position and is “dead on accurate 99.9% of the time.”
Like Spotify and Google Play Music All Access, Beats Music has tie-ins with a carriers. AT&T users can get up to 3-months free trial and only $14.99/month for a family sharing plan.