There are present respective euphony streaming services to take between, and astatine archetypal glimpse they tin each look beauteous similar—tens of millions of tracks to stream, mobile and desktop apps, offline caching options, and each the rest. It’s not ever wide wherever the differences are, but present we’re going to item 1 of the much important ones successful 3 of the biggest services retired there. We’ve already talked astir bitrate differences, but this has to bash with however you usage each service.

Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music are surely good known and precocious profile, and each connection a broad streaming euphony room positive a ton of utile features. However, the mode that euphony playback works connected Spotify and the mode that euphony playback works connected Apple Music and YouTube Music is fundamentally different—and if you’ve lone ever utilized 1 of these services, it’s thing you mightiness not beryllium alert of.

Playing euphony connected Spotify

You tin load up Spotify playlists connected a full big of devices: Phones, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, astute speakers, car stereos, TVs, and more. There’s adjacent a web subordinate arsenic good arsenic desktop apps, truthful you’ve got a prime of options erstwhile you’re listening to euphony connected Windows oregon macOS. Most of Spotify’s functions are disposable crossed each of these antithetic devices too.

However, contempt each of these instrumentality options, you tin lone play 1 Spotify playlist astatine a time. Fire up a playlist connected your Windows computer, and the aforesaid playlist shows up connected Android; commencement listening to a bid of tunes successful the TV app and those aforesaid tunes get loaded successful the web player. Changing playlists connected 1 instrumentality does the aforesaid enactment everywhere.

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You tin adjacent power playback connected 1 instrumentality from a antithetic device, acknowledgment to Spotify Connect: Start playback connected a Mac and you tin commencement and halt it from an iPhone, for example. This works fantastically good successful definite situations, specified arsenic erstwhile you’re heading retired successful the car and privation to transportation connected listening to the aforesaid tunes you were conscionable enjoying connected your smartphone.

Where it doesn’t enactment truthful good is if, say, you privation to queue up 1 playlist successful the room and a antithetic playlist successful the study. While it lone takes a mates of clicks oregon taps to power playlists erstwhile you power locations, Spotify won’t retrieve wherever you were successful each playlist arsenic you determination betwixt them—it’s not arsenic convenient arsenic having 2 playlists connected the spell simultaneously connected 2 antithetic devices.

There are definite workarounds: You tin enactment 1 of your devices into offline mode and usage cached tracks, which volition alteration abstracted listening that doesn’t sync with your different devices, but does permission you without a transportation to the web connected that peculiar device. You tin besides acceptable up a household account, which gives you abstracted profiles for idiosyncratic people, and abstracted listening activity. Using a azygous relationship though, your listening is synchronized crossed each instrumentality wherever Spotify is installed, for amended oregon worse.

Playing euphony connected Apple Music and YouTube Music

Like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music are disposable connected a full big of devices—Apple adjacent makes an Apple Music app for Android. There’s a batch of enactment crossed astute speakers and TV platforms and car dashboards, and some these euphony streaming services tin play successful a web browser tab, too. Apple Music besides has a broad desktop programme you tin marque usage of.

The important quality betwixt these 2 services and Spotify is that your listening is abstracted connected each of your devices. You tin queue up 1 bid of albums connected your Mac, for example, and a antithetic bid of albums connected your iPhone. You tin adjacent person aggregate browser tabs unfastened for YouTube Music astatine the aforesaid time, each playing antithetic tunes.

This works truly good if you regularly leap betwixt antithetic types of music: If you power betwixt playlists of upbeat popular and lengthy instrumentals astatine work, for example, you tin person each playlist unfastened successful a abstracted browser tab. Your presumption successful each browser tab is remembered, truthful you don’t person to support starting again from the beginning.

Where it’s not arsenic bully is erstwhile you’re jumping betwixt antithetic rooms oregon antithetic devices: Playback isn’t automatically synced crossed apps, arsenic it is with Spotify. There are different options for rapidly switching the aforesaid euphony betwixt devices, including AirPlay and the Chromecast protocol, but if you unfastened up the app connected your phone, you won’t instantly spot what you were conscionable listening to connected your laptop.

Those are 2 rather antithetic ways of managing euphony streaming—and everyone volition person their preference, due to the fact that they tin some beryllium useful. However, it’s thing that’s not often mentioned erstwhile these streaming services are compared, and it shows that they’re not rather arsenic akin and interchangeable arsenic you mightiness think.