It took me about 30 seconds to realize that I'm switching from Spotify to Apple Music

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It has changed how I listen to music. The ability to access all of my music without clogging up my iPhone (and try out new albums at will) has been amazing.

On Wednesday, I decided to give Apple Music a shot. I'm by no means an Apple fan, but I'm definitely locked into its walled garden. (I use a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.)

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It took me about 30 seconds of playing around with the service to realize why I'm switching from Spotify to Apple Music.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't think Apple Music is revolutionary. Not by any means. It is essentially the same service as Spotify in a repackaged, aesthetically pleasing, and sometimes confusing frame. That being said, there are a two main things that sold me, although they won't be applicable to everyone.

1. Integration with iTunes

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I was an anti-streamer for a long time. I loved my 35,000+ tracks in my iTunes library. It took me 10 years to build. I had playlists made for every occasion. I meticulously rated every song from 1 to 5 stars in my library as I listened to it so that I could find my favorites, DJ a party easily, and know what to reccommend.

Apple Music is fully integrated into my iTunes library. You know, the one I spent years cultivating and curating. One of my biggest problems with Spotify has been that I often forget about bands and artists I love because it has none of the information that I've built up over the years like ratings and play count.

Spotify made me something of a creature of the moment. I was always listening to the latest album and trying out new music, but I was often at a loss for what to listen to next because I couldn't remember some of my old favorites.

In addition, I often found myself switching between Spotify and the Music app on my iPhone so that I could play the hip hop mixtapes and albums by Bandcamp indie bands that don't make it into Spotify. Joining Apple Music will fix that. Now it's all in one place.

2. Way more offline downloads

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I've been crushing my data usage streaming songs from Spotify on my iPhone. Not having to worry about if I'm going to hit my limit will let me download more offline when I'm in WiFi and save me tons of my data.

These may not seem like huge deals to most people, but I think that's kind of the point. Spotify and Apple Music are so similar that I have little loyalty to either service. At this point, whichever one serves my needs better is going to win and I have little compunction about switching between the two.

Also, T-Swift's 1989 is a nice kicker. Been meaning to give that a spin for a while.