What will Suit You: Spotify vs Pandora
Listening to music has never been easier. Cassettes and CD players were better than previously available platforms. But right now, we can find a good musical app, install it, and use it to listen to a lot of music. Still, finding a good app that costs a reasonable price and offers amazing service seems a hectic task.
Spotify and Pandora are the two leading apps in music and entertainment. Both offer free and paid services for accessing basic and advanced features. But what will suit you the most? Let us draw a comparison between them and help you choose among them.
About Spotify
One of the most demanding musical apps, it has a huge inventory of 4 million podcasts and more than 100 million soundtracks. It was made available for users in 2006. 226 million paid users among 573 million users use its services regularly. It has a wide area of acceptance and usability, currently available to users in more than 180 countries.
About Pandora
Pandora was developed before Spotify in early 2000. Tim Westergren, Will Glaser, and Jon Kraft are credited with creating such a marvelous app. The idea was conceived from a famous music search engine, commonly known as the Music Genome Project. Pandora also provides music on-demand and radio mode.
Comparison Between the Pandora and Spotify
Prices and Subscriptions
Both applications offer use of free services initially. But they cost monthly charges when pro-level access is required. Here is the comparative chart of prices:
| Plan | Pandora Price (Per month) | Spotify Price (Per month) |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | $9.99 | $10.99 |
| DUO | No | $14.99 |
| Student | $4.99 | $5.99 |
| Family | $14.99 | $16.99 |
| Plus | $4.99 | No |
Pandora has slightly cheaper rates than Spotify, offering complete access to the music library. So, it is a winner regarding prices.
Free Plan
Users who want to test the application before purchasing any plan or cannot afford paid subscriptions can use the free versions of the app. However, there are certain restrictions for free users. Let’s find out those restrictions and compare the said apps.
| Feature | Spotify | Pandora |
|---|---|---|
| Display of ads | No | Every 15 seconds |
| Skip Songs | 6 per hour | 2-3 |
| On-demand Playback | Available | Limited |
| Sound Settings for Desktop Users | 24 Kbps (Low) 96 Kbps (Normal) 160 Kbps (High) Automatic settings are applied as well | 64 Kbps (Standard) |
| Sound Settings for Mobile Users | 24 Kbps (Low) 96 Kbps (Normal) 160 Kbps (High) Automatic settings are applied as well | 64 Kbps (Standard) 128 Kbps (High) |
| Best Quality | 160 Kbps | 128 Kbps |
Spotify is a winner as it offers better sound quality and options to adjust to free users.
Music Library
Spotify has a massive musical library compared to Pandora. It now has over 100 million songs, and a new list of songs, up to 60,000, is added to the inventory daily. On the other hand, Pandora has around 2 million songs and a reasonable amount of podcasts.
Though Pandora has a good music collection, Spotify’s is huge and updates more frequently. So, Spotify is a winner regarding music inventory.
Quality of the Sound
Before we proceed further, here is a comparison of the sound quality for both apps:
| Quality | Pandora | Spotify |
|---|---|---|
| Low | No | 24 Kbps |
| Normal | 64 Kbps | 96 Kbps |
| High | 128 Kbps (Mobile users) | 160 Kbps |
Spotify allows users to adjust sound quality up to 5 different settings whereas Pandora allows just 2. Spotify’s best streaming speeds are 160 Kbps and 320 Kbps whereas Pandora has just one decent streaming speed of 192 Kbps.
Spotify has better results and customization options than its competitors.
User Interface
The user interface is very important in terms of choosing an app. Spotify has the same view as the desktop version of iTunes. Its search results are similar to Google Searches as they offer quick and easy access to the songs and tracks. The Theme color can be set to dark for better visibility.
Pandora displays the songs in order and categorizes them into different categories. Its ”My Collections” look similar to the Jukebox. Users can control the music as they like and choose between mobile, desktop, and web views.
Though Pandora’s developers have made a good endeavor to keep the interface simple and cool, Spotify’s user interface is stunning. So, Spotify is a winner.
Read more about why Spotify Premium is worth using and how to change profile picture.
Sharing on Social Media Platforms
Spotify has better musical listening and sharing features than Pandora. Using Spotify, you can send an active music listening history to your loved ones on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. However, this is not possible with Pandora. You can also send your favorite lists through email while using Pandora.
Spotify is a winner due to its flexibility and amazing connectivity with different social media platforms.
Conclusion
Pandora and Spotify have been known to music lovers for around two decades. Both have huge music libraries, cool interfaces, and many customization options. Spotify is better than its competitors due to its massive media library, amazing options to adjust sound quality, and ease of use.
