If you're a college student reading this, I have great news for you! You qualify for a $4.99/month membership from Apple Music and Spotify. You may or may not have known this. Spotify was the first to offer this reduced price for college students as their Premium service typically costs $9.99/month. Apple Music and Spotify are both digital music services that give you access to millions of songs whether you're on the go or at home. They are great services if you listen to music everyday. Do you have either one of these services? Are you thinking about getting one of them? Find out which music service is for you!

Well first off, Apple Music will only be an option for you if you have an Apple product. When iOS 10 launched, Apple Music was one of the new features. A free three month trial of the service was offered, allowing you to try out Apple Music and see if you wanted to keep the service. After the three month trial expires, you were charged $9.99 every month unless you opted out of subscription. Of course I didn't keep track of my trial and was charged $9.99 but with a quick call to Apple, I was able to fix that. I cancelled mine because at the time, I already had Spotify Premium and didn't want to pay for both.

One difference between Spotify and Apple Music is that Spotify has a free version and Apple Music only has the free three month trial. You're probably thinking why pay for Spotify if there's a free version. Well the Premium version grants you unlimited skips, no advertisements, and allows you to download music so you can listen "offline", meaning if you don't have service you still have access to your music. The listening offline is also an option with Apple Music too. With the Spotify free version, you don't have these luxuries. You can even try Spotify Premium for 30 days to see if you like it before you buy it.

Here is what both services look like.

(above) Desktop view of Spotify

(above) Apple Music

All in all, the services are quite similar and it's up to you to figure out which one you prefer. I suggest trying both out and seeing which one is for you. I use both services but I pay for Apple Music. I used to have Spotify Premium before the Apple Music Student membership became available. I typically use Spotify Free when I'm on my computer and I use Apple Music when I'm on the go. The only difference that I've noticed is sometimes artists will make deals with Apple Music to have their new music streamed exclusively on their platform. So, there are case when Apple Music gets new music before Spotify gets it which I guess you can say is a perk of having Apple Music. A perk about Spotify is that you can follow your friends and if they make their playlists public you can follow their playlists. Also, on the side bar you can see what your friends are listening to.

Now it's up to you to decide which subscription you would prefer. Happy listening!