Ditching Spotify
After about 13 years or so of being a Spotify user I'm finally kicking it to the curb. It's been admittedly tough for sure, as I've used it for over a decade and I have a really big library on there. Now I feel is the right time to ditch it - as we learn more about the CEO of Spotify's increasing investments into AI warfare companies, many artists I like and respect have been pulling their catalogs in protest. Speaking of AI, I personally dislike how much Spotify seems to be leaning into it to the detriment of their service... their recommendation algorithms seem to have gotten worse and the proliferation of AI generated music on the platform is one that I have seen increase with my own eyes.
It has been an adjustment for me though I will admit. Having to move my library of 10+ years, learn a new app for music and losing some of the Spotify conveniences I did appreciate was tough at first. But honestly, I miss it less and less over time.
For now, I decided to switch to Apple Music - mainly because they gave me three months for free and they finally added an auto library transfer from Spotify. I do like it but honestly, I don't know if I'll stick with it. I've thought to myself multiple times during this process "man I wish I kept up with my MP3 library!"
When I was younger I was very very meticulous about seeking out music, sharing songs and tending to an MP3 library. I had thousands of songs from friends, college media servers, Tumblr downloads, burned CDs from the library, dubious online sources... and I would go on iTunes and very carefully update the metadata for each song because I was like that. Oh and it was all connected to a Last.fm account too for stat tracking.
At some point, probably when I started using Spotify, I stopped doing all that. The convenience factor was most likely why - finally a legal method to listen to all the music I wanted and I didn't have to hunt hard for it. Now though, my library has become fragmented over the years as stuff gets removed from streaming and you lose track of things you've saved. I also tend to listen to the same stuff over and over again now but I think I just have to get better at seeking out fun new music again.
It's not to say I hate Apple Music though. There are quite a few things I like about it:
- The UI is much nicer than Spotify and there's an actual library view!!
- You can upload your own MP3s and they sync them across your devices
- I LOVE the radio stations. They're all human curated with real DJs (crazy how this is a pro in the year 2025 LOL)
- The lyrics view and karaoke mode for every song are really awesome
- I'm impressed with the audio quality, even if some of the mixes on certain songs sound a little weird
And the stuff I don't like...
- More of my friends use Spotify so it's harder to send songs to them
- You have to brute force Last.fm scrobbling. Spotify was all automatic no matter what device you were using. I have different apps on my Mac and PC for scrobbling, and on mobile they make you do convoluted stuff. No scrobbling at all when I use the TV or PS5 app. But I'm sure the general public doesn't care about this stuff at all lol.
- Their recommendation algorithms are still tuned to the couple months I used Apple Music for in 2015/2016 and even after a few weeks it hasn't adjusted yet. Plus they're mostly not good!
- I will miss Spotify Wrapped because I am a stats freak. But also at the same time I have changed my listening habits worrying that it will influence my year end stats so maybe not having it will be a good thing.
We'll see how long I end up using Apple Music for. I've been slowly building back my MP3 library using SoulSeek, buying from Bandcamp when I can and getting physical media and importing it to my computer, but I admit I still do appreciate the convenience of the streaming service. I feel like downloading is what I'm going to continue doing in the end so I can be back in control of my full music library again plus continue to support artists I love in more tangible ways (and I can finally break free of iTunes and use something cool like foobar2000 or my circa 2004 Halo 2 Windows Media Player skin).
In the process of writing this blog, I realized that Apple Music is missing a whole Nujabes album from their catalog so it might happen sooner rather than later lol. The joys of 2025 internet am I right?!?!?