GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
A few months ago, Google and YouTube realized that I no longer lived in Lebanon and told me I couldn’t skate on paying just $9 per month for a Lebanese family Premium account. I had to face the music and switch to a two-person French Premium subscription for €19.99 per month instead — more than double what I was initially paying.
Of course, this made me wonder whether it was worth it, but also whether I wanted to keep paying for Spotify Duo, too, which had been my music streaming service of choice for over 18 years. But considering the included YouTube Music access in my now very expensive Premium subscription, I had to ask myself the question. And the answer, as I soon realized, was very easy: I just don’t want to use YouTube Music, even for “free.”
Do you listen to music on YouTube Music? 78 votes Yes, it's my primary music streaming service. 65 % Sometimes, but I use another music service. 14 % No, even though it's part of my Premium plan. 15 % No, I pay for it or use it for free even. 5 %
YouTube Music isn’t “everywhere” the same way Spotify is
Joe Maring / Android Authority
If there’s one hang-up I have around completely switching my music listening to YouTube Music, it’s that the service is not as widespread as Spotify. For now, it’s more or less accessible through all my devices, but in a limited capacity. There’s direct integration with my Google Home and Nest speakers, my Android phones and tablets, but there’s only a web app for my iMac and my Google TV Streamer, whereas Spotify has native apps for both. Even my helmet-shaped Ikea Vappeby Bluetooth speaker has a dedicated Spotify Tap button to start playing without pulling up my phone, but I have to use my phone to play music from YouTube.
It doesn’t stop there, though. YouTube Music doesn’t have native apps for the PlayStation, so you can’t stream music while you play a game because you have to use the main YouTube app instead. It doesn’t have an app for Roku TVs and streaming devices, isn’t available on Peloton or Rivian cars, and doesn’t have direct integrations with known speaker brands like Bose, Yamaha, or Denon. Even the Apple Watch app doesn’t allow offline downloads, while Spotify does.
I don't want to gamble my entire music hobby on a service that isn't universally available like Spotify.
It’s this huge difference that makes me very wary of making the jump. Music is essential to me, and I’d like to be able to access it on all my devices. Spotify is so universal and so widely adopted that I have a near guarantee that no matter which devices I have now or which ones I will buy in the future, it will be supported. YouTube Music is many steps away from giving me that guarantee — if Google can’t even build a desktop app for it, what do I even expect from other companies?
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