Who doesn’t have a music streaming app in their smartphones these days? Everyone! Google Play, Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, you name it. Though the first two are a default fitment of Android and iOS devices respectively and offer the basics, the last two, Pandora and Spotify, aim at offering detailed and carefuly curated music streaming services.
Here are a few factors/features that distinguish the two from each other and makes them so popular nowadays.
Spotify |
Pandora |
|
|---|---|---|
| How does it work? | Spotify is more of a conventional music streaming app, where the user can add its favorite tracks to a playlist of its choice. In Spotify, users may choose the music they listen to. There is also an option in which users can listen playlists of new music inspired from the music they usually listen to. | To begin with, Pandora is more of a station-centric music streaming app. You could say it operates in a similar way as a radio station. Users may create playlists, but can’t listen straight-through an album. Pandora enables the user to select a track and build a virtual radio station around it. While doing so, it will recommend new music based on the user’s preferences. Pandora also offers a playlist feature, which users can create only entirely from songs they want to listen to. |
| Catalogue | In terms of the size of the music catalogue, Spotify has a significant advantage over Pandora, owing to remixes and covers that can’t be found in Pandora. Spotify has a estimatedcatalogue of 30 million songs. | Pandora’s catalogue is much smaller than Spotify’s. With nearly 1 million songs, Pandora is no match to Spotify in terms of quantity. |
| Price | Prices may vary all around the world. However in the USA, Spotify Premium has a price range from $4.99 to $14.99 USD/month. | Things doesn’t change a lot pricewise. A Pandora suscription can go from $4.99 to $14.99 USD/month. Both, Spotify and Pandora, have free plans as well, although users will have to endure ads around the clock, amongst other things. |
| Availability | Spotify is available in many countries, with big exceptions such as China and most of African and Middle Eastern countries. | Pandora is only available in USA |
| Who should use it? | Whoever wants to listen to the music they want to, when they want to. Users may even add tracks to their Spotify playlists directly from their own libraries. | Pandora, on the flipside, is recommended for those who like to discover new music and want to get to know new (sometimes upcoming) artists. |
Venn Diagram
