There are so many ways to listen to music that it’s not always easy to find the way that you like the most. While some people look for variety in their music, others look for the quality. 

Spotify is currently the #1 most-downloaded music and audio app worldwide, according to statista.com. Spotify offers a wide variety of genres from rock to pop music so everyone can find music that fits their current mood.

“[Spotify] is just easy for me to handle. You just look up a title or sometimes you can even look up song lyrics and the song you want will just pop up. There’s so much variety of songs,” McKenzie Anderson, junior, said.

One of the reasons Michelle Feng, junior, says she likes the app is because it provides the option to create your own playlists and to save other people’s playlists so you can listen to them.

“I make a lot of playlists and I create my playlists based on likes, moods and vibes,” Feng said. “I like my songs to be specific [to] certain moods and vibes because I just like music that evokes a lot of emotion. So depending on what I’m feeling that day, I’ll just pick a playlist and listen to it.”

When users upgrade to Spotify Premium, users can gain access to over 50 million songs and unlimited skips without any ads according to spotify.com, if they’re willing to pay for the feature. But for some, the expense is worth it.

“[Spotify Premium] has no ads, so if you are in a hurry, you don’t have that extra 20 seconds of inconvenience,” Matthew Swolksy, junior who uses Spotify Premium, said. “I play the drums so I just want to find music that makes me feel like I can get into it, and using [Spotify Premium] helps because I don’t have to worry about skipping a song that I don’t like.”

For those who have used both versions of Spotify, the difference is clear.

“If you’re looking for finding new music and really having that easy, accessible streaming platform, I definitely recommend paying for Spotify Premium,” Swolksy said.

However, Anderson argues users can still get a great experience without the added price.

“I used to use [Spotify] without payment for a very long time and I still found it very useful. I could still look up playlists and find a bunch of songs and even then I could make my own playlists which I loved,” Anderson said.

However, not all apps contain the same features as Spotify.

“For me, Apple music is really hard to navigate,” Swolksy said. “[Apple music] also costs a lot more money because you have to buy [songs] because you don’t have free access to songs.”

Along with Apple music, YouTube was said to be one of the other apps that was not as useful to get music from.

“I know some people who use YouTube and I don’t think it’s the best way to listen to music, partly because there’s a lot of ads and you can’t close the app without your music stopping,” Feng said.

Not everyone likes using apps though. Many people are still accustomed to the radio, vinyls, and CDs.

“Sometimes I like to listen to a CD every now and then just to hear the original quality of music. Listening on a CD actually lets you experience what the artist wanted you to hear because if you listen in order of what the CD lineup is, it’s like the artist is telling the listener a story,” Swolsky said.

Music has a different effect on everyone and there are so many ways to listen to music but Spotify has shown to be the most enjoyable and useful.