For the past year and a half, I have been an avid Spotify user. Although I do admit that I approached our green friend with a good deal of caution. A free music streaming app? Yeah free music. The words conjure up images of another green program, one that gave my Mac virus after virus… ahh yes, Limewire. So I was hesitant to buy into the hype. I’m was also a die-hard iTunes guy. To this day I cherish the playlists that have grown from the 1,400 songs sitting in my library. They cover a wide range of my life, ranging from puberty to chiefing my first heater -“High School Dance Mix” to “DUb! Stub!” (it’s an electic mix dominated by Apex Twin).

But after using Spotify several times, I began to understand the benefits of using a subscription based streaming model. The options were seemingly endless – I could listen to as many songs as possible for no charge at all. In fact, out of a certain stubbornness and frugality (being poor) I still don’t pay for the premium service. By not forking over the money you’re forced to listen to playlists on shuffle mode and nauseatingly repetitive ads (like Blau advocating healthy sexual habits or The Dukes of Hazard promoting Auto Trader). Sure it’s unbearable at times but after awhile I started to use Spotify more and more, building up new playlists and discovering new music. But where Spotify really hooked me was its seamless experience of sharing new music with your friends – a valuable tool for the blog life.

Which brings me to my point. Just as I was about to pull the trigger and pay for premium, Apple released its music streaming service – Apple Music. My head snapped to attention and my brain pretzeled. Apple Music or Spotify? Which is better? Now I’m completely invested in the hottest race since Trump announced he was running for President. iTunes vs. Spotify. The battle for music streaming domination. Who you got?

*Honestly I’m kind of ride or die with SoundCloud.

Stay tuned for more updates on who has the edge in taking home the heavy weight title. In the mean time, here’s a freshie from Goldroom…