Streaming services like Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music have fundamentally changed the way we listen to music. For around 10 euros a month, you can listen to any new record, play any song from almost any artist – anytime, anywhere. But which music streaming service does it best? Stiftung Warentest tested the Android and iPhone apps from nine streaming providers. The result is surprising, since the test reveals significant differences in the range of functions – for example in terms of managing playlists, setting options or exchanging information with other users.
Spotify, Deezer and Co: This is the test winner from Stiftung Warentest
Stiftung Warentest has a clear test winner: With a particularly rich range of functions, market leader Spotify is clearly at the top and is the only streaming service to receive the grade “very good”. Second place goes to Deezer – grade: “good”. While the Android apps from Amazon Music and YouTube Music also score “good”, the iPhone applications only get a “satisfactory” from Stiftung Warentest. It’s things like managing the playlists or the settings in the apps themselves that make the Android apps better.
→ Spotify: This ingenious app shows you what the music streaming service doesn’t want you to see
Also only “satisfactory”: Apple Music and Tidal. Like four others, the latter music streaming service also advertises music in lossless compressed quality. The promise: a better sound. But the testers of Stiftung Warentest could not hear any discernible advantage.
The tail lights are the streaming pioneer Napster as well as the cheapest and the most expensive offer in the test: Aldi Life Music for 7.99 euros – behind it is also a version of Napster – and the French service Qobuz for 14.99 a month. The three apps for Android and iOS received the grade “sufficient” and are therefore nowhere near as good as Spotify.
This is the free alternative
All of the music streaming apps examined by Stiftung Warentest have one thing in common: they cost money. At least 8 euros per month; the test winner Spotify even around 10 euros. But there is an alternative that is free and even ad-free. In a detailed article, we show what the free Spotify alternative can do.
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