Apple Music is losing the battle against Spotify for a stupid reason

• Apple splits its audio up into too many offerings
• Apple Music not including podcasts is hurting it
• Why are they separated?
• Want to listen to classical music? Audiobooks?

Apple is known for many things. It has the best-selling phone in the United States with the iPhone. It has been a mainstay in the computer landscape with its Mac and a front-runner with its groundbreaking tech in the tablet space with the iPad. Apple is loved by its users and not understood by those who haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid.

Nobody can deny that it’s a tech juggernaut that is showing no signs of stopping. However, there is one landscape where it is behind others and that’s audio. While Apple Music may have the best product in terms of sound, with its impressive lossless and Spatial Audio, it doesn’t have the subscribers that its rival Spotify does. Apple Music is far behind Spotify in terms of paid subscribers, as Spotify has nearly tripled the number of subscribers globally, per some estimates.

Apple Music rests on its laurels that it has the advantage in terms of audio quality and an easy-to-use app that works well on mobile and desktop. But, Apple is doing a disservice to its users in one key area and is causing it to fall behind Spotify and even some other streaming platforms. Maybe someone can actually answer this question for me: why aren’t podcasts a part of Apple Music?

Apple splits its audio up into too many offerings

It’s dividing its audience

Apple Music has integrated the former music store iTunes into its fold. Many users of Apple in its earlier days are innately familiar with iTunes, as it was where you would go to download music, TV, movies, and more. You can still use iTunes, which may seem like a strange thing, but it’s true. You can buy individual pieces of audio and video without having to pay a subscription fee. This may work for people who want to keep their files all in one place.

But you can also use all of your iTunes music on Apple Music. The subscription audio streaming service has a few tiers and delivers some top-notch streaming. If you want all the music that Apple offers, you can get it with a monthly subscription from Apple Music. You don’t have to pay per song or album like you do on iTunes. It may seem like a more sensible option to go with the all-inclusive option. But, unfortunately, Apple doesn’t have one of those.

Apple Music not including podcasts is hurting it

Most other streaming services have them

Spotify is known for having all kinds of audio on its platform for one set price. You can get music, audiobooks, and podcasts all under one roof. Amazon Music also offers podcasts and music as well as a subscription that includes Audible for audiobooks. Apple Music only includes music. It wants it to be a standalone app that only includes music and radio. That’s fine, if you want it to continue to be second.

Apple has a true chance to compete with other streaming platforms, and it’s choosing not to.

For anyone who is using Apple as their preferred manufacturer of choice, you have to go a lot of different places to get different types of entertainment. Apple Podcasts gives you access to podcasts for free. You don’t have to pay for the ones that are on there. It isn’t an extra fee. But Spotify’s free version also has free podcasts. If you’re using Apple, you need to have two different apps to be able to get the audio you may want during the day. While Apple Music does pride itself on its streamlined app, it just doesn’t make sense to not have a subsection for podcasts like Spotify and Amazon Music do. While Amazon Music’s interface is a bit clunky, Spotify’s is well-manicured.

Why are they separated?

Apple says it’s for the users

The main reason why Apple Music and Apple Podcasts are separate things is because Apple wants to keep the audio separated. Users of the two may like having them separated, as it’s easier to search them for what they are looking for specifically. The interfaces of the apps are dedicated to the audio that they are meant for, which may be a good thing for some.

I am not one of those people. I’m a bit annoyed that I have to open up two different apps in order to get what I want. I can download both music and podcasts from Spotify at the same time. Apple Music doesn’t want to clutter up their apps. But a little bit of clutter would have kept people from having to search two different places for what they want. Some will say it’s not a big deal, and maybe it isn’t. But Apple has a true chance to compete with other streaming platforms, and it’s choosing not to.

Want to listen to classical music? Audiobooks?

Go somewhere else

For some reason, there is also Apple Music Classical, which is an app dedicated to classical music. I love classical music. It’s what I typically listen to while I’m writing. Apple Music Classical takes an even deeper dive into the importance of audio quality, supporting a massive library of lossless audio. Does it need to be its own app? Absolutely not. Why would I need to have an app for a specific genre of music? Is Apple Rock coming soon?

As you can expect, audiobooks are also not on Apple Music. Those are in Apple Books, which is where you can get e-books. This makes a little bit more sense, as people already know they need to go there to read books. You can get all kinds of books there, so why wouldn’t you get audiobooks as well? It does make sense. But this is another option that could be included in Apple Music. Of course, Apple Music would have to change its name because it wouldn’t be the only thing in this app. But it’s a price that I’d be worth paying to avoid having to swap back and forth between all these superfluous apps.