But there are alternatives to Spotify on Windows Phone, such as Rdio, which is also available for almost all of the platforms, and Deezer, which has new developments, especially in terms of its interface: although it maintains the Windows Phone style that we’re used to seeing, it does add enough to distinguish itself from the two previous. While it may seem like Spotify has it all, the app's features are limited if you do not pay for a subscription. Appamatix - All About Apps Appamatix is a leading source of anything app related, including iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, and more.
What is the best way to stream music on your desktop, mobile phone, tablets, or wrist? Spotify might be the answer in the minds of the vast majority of folks. Yes, Spotify is still the best music streaming service, or the king of among the most of music streaming services should not be overstated. It has the best library, beautiful interface, reasonable price, abundant discovering features, and mature social networking aspect.
But there are different types of listeners, such as audiophiles, laid-back ones, radio lovers or YouTube addicts, Spotify might not be the best option for them, and actually, they have other more good choices. Where you should go if you won’t pay for Spotify premium? Here we list the top 9 Spotify alternatives that are worth your trying and sticking with.
1. Deezer – Most Similar to Spotify but Better Sound Quality
The French streaming music site Deezer is one of the oldest music streaming platforms, which is well-known as over 53 million licensed tracks offered than most of the rivals including Spotify, over 30,000 radio channels, podcasts, lyrics and more. Now Deezer is available in more than 180 countries, and there are 192 countries in total all around the world, so you probably find something different and discover more music from other countries. Similar to Spotify, Deezer offers 320kbps sound quality for Premium users, but the main difference is that Deezer offers Elite tier for audiophiles who peruse the CD quality.
2. Tidal – Specially for Audiophiles
Tidal is the only platform which offers the unique benefit - high fidelity streaming audio quality, so it means that you can streaming uncompressed FLAC files with CD quality, especially if you have good speakers and headphones. Tidal also released a new audio format called 'Master Quality Authenticated'. MQA aims to 'fundamentally change the way we all enjoy music', that means the music streamed to your speakers or headphones sounds just as it was recorded in the studio. If you are audiophiles and want more special exclusives, Tidal is a perfect choice.
3. Google Play Music –Unlock to Access YouTube and YouTube Music
If you gave a try to Google Play Music, you may have some good experience, for example, it is the only service which allows you to integrate subscription music with a personal music locker of purchased and uploaded music. And you can pay $2 extra to fully access the features on YouTube and YouTube Music. Google Play Music also offers up to 320kbps audio quality.
4. Amazon Music Unlimited – Best for Prime Members or Amazon Echo Owners
Amazon Music Unlimited is a premium music subscription service established by e-commerce giant Amazon. It features over 50 million songs and thousands of expertly crafted playlists and stations. With Amazon Music Unlimited, uses can listen to music on all devices including smart phones, tablets, desktop, Amazon Fire TV, and Alexa-powered devices like Amazon Echo. And if you have Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap, you can pay only $3.99 per month to subscribe Amazon Music Unlimited. For Prime members, you can pay $7.99 per month to access the fully unlimited catalogue.
5. Apple Music – Best for Apple Users
Microsoft Spotify App
Apple Music joined the streaming service industry in 2015, but it was not too late in the golden age of music streaming services. On the contrary, it quickly risen to the top music streaming service to compete with Spotify. In addition to the excellent music curation and unique Beats 1 Radio, the best integration across Apple’s ecosystem, including the Siri voice control and HomePod smart speaker support, these might be the reason why you choose Apple Music.
6. SoundCloud - Great Community to Share and Listen to Awesome Tracks
SoundCloud is a popular music sharing platform in which less-known artists will upload their work and connect with potential listeners without needing record labels, but also including the popular remixes or covers. It is a good place for those who make music to be noticed in the future. It is also the best place to find some fresh, especially for jazz, trance, EDM, and discovering new artists, and listen to music for free.
7. Pandora Radio – The Most Powerful Music Discovery Platform
Pandora Radio works differently from other music discovery services like Spotify, Deezer or Apple Music, even though there are some similarities. It focuses on analyzing the structure of music to create radio stations based on their preferred music style. If you want a personalized listening experience which continually evolves with your favorite tastes, and you want try something different from Spotify, you can dive into Pandora Radio.
8. Last.fm - Discover Great Music That Fits Your Style and Know What’s Hot
Last.fm is a music site founded in 2002, and it remains popular though other music streaming services quickly rise. Last.fm allows users to streaming music foe free with unlimited skips. Especially, the 'scrobbler' feature makes Last.fm different from other music discovery services. 'Scrobbler' pays attention to and keeps track of all the music you listen to, then creates the best personalized music recommendations for you. What’s more, Last.fm can be integrated with other music services, including iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, and more.
9. iHeartRadio - Free Radio-Style Streaming Service
iHeartRadio is a free radio-style streaming platform in which you can listen to songs, news, podcast and stream radio from over 1,500 AM and FM Live radio stations all around the world. And you can create your own radio stations based on your favorite music. In here, you can also listen to music with the lyrics displayed.
Top 9 Alternatives to Spotify for Streaming Music
| Deezer | Tidal | Google Play Music | Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | SoundCloud | Pandora Radio | Last.fm | iHeartRadio | |
| Monthly fee | $9.99 | Tidal Premium $9.99 / Tidal HiFi $19.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 and $7.99 for Prime members | $9.99 | $9.99 for SoundCloud Go | $9.99 | $9.99 | iHeartRadio All Access: $9.99 for web and Android, $12.99 for iOS |
| Free trial | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | 3-month | 30 days | 60 days | / | 30 days |
| Music library | over 53 million licensed tracks | over 60 million licensed tracks | over 40 million licensed tracks | over 60 million licensed tracks | over 60 million licensed tracks | over 135 million tracks | 1-2 million tacks | / | over 15 million licensed tracks |
| Sound quality | 320kbit/s MP3 quality for Premium/128kbit/s MP3 quality for Free/CD-quality for Deezer Elite | 320 kbit/s in AAC for Tidal Premium, variable in FLAC, ALAC, MQA for Tidal HiFI and MQA, | 320 kbit/s | 256 kbps in AAC | 256 kbps in AAC | 256 kbps in AAC | 192 kbps in AAC | 128 kbps in AAC | 128 kbps in AAC |
| Offline listening | Yes, with paid subscription | Yes, with paid subscription | Yes, with paid subscription | Yes, with paid subscription | Yes, with paid subscription | Yes | Yes, with paid subscription | Yes | Yes |
| Supported devices | Android and iOS devices, computers, TV, car or home audio system, game console | Android and iOS devices, computers, TV, car or home audio system like Sonos | Android and Apple devices, computers, Adobe eBook reader, Google Home devices, Android TV | Android and iOS devices, computers, Amazon FireTV, Fire tablets, Alexa-powered smart speakers like Echo | iOS or Android devices, computers, Apple TV, Apple Watch, HomePod, Sonos speakers | iOS or Android devices, computers, Sonos, Chromecast, and Xbox One. | iOS or Android devices, computers, Kindle devices, Sonos, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Ruku, Google Home | iOS or Android devices, computers, Nokia, Sonos, Squeezebox | iOS or Android devices, computers, Xbox One, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung TV |
| Web player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Extra Tips: How to Download Spotify Music to 320kbps MP3 Files
For people who want to get high quality 320kbps MP3 songs from Spotify, Sidify Music Converter is definitely the best choice. It does a truly great job to download and convert Spotify music to MP3, AAC, WAV or FLAC with the best sound quality kept and without any other poor encoding issues. It records accurately and quickly, and adds the correct tags and album art correctly.
Sidify Music Converter
- Download Spotify song or playlist to MP3/AAC/WAV/FLAC.
- Keep 100% original audio quality of Spotify after conversion.
- Keep all ID3 tags and metadata to well organize music library.
- Burn Spotify music to CD and share Spotify music via Email.
- Fast conversion speed & batch conversion & clean user interface.
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Spotify changed the way people listen to and discover new music. It has become a force to be reckoned with, and only a few can match the fantastic music streaming service. I recently started using Spotify, and I faced a little trouble getting it to work. Spotify was not working on my Windows 10 PC though it worked fine on my Android.
It took me some time to go through all the settings and sift through the support forums to find solutions that actually worked. Without further ado, here is a list of solutions that will help you resolve the same and get Spotify working on your Windows 10 computer.
1. Relaunch Spotify
It is possible that the Spotify app didn’t launch correctly and this may have led to an error. To check, simply click on the red ‘x’ on the right side of the window to close Spotify. Give it some time to shut completely.
Wait a few seconds and relaunch to check if everything is working as intended. If not, don’t worry, we have got more tricks up our sleeve.
2. Reboot PC
I keep recommending this solution in almost all of my Windows 10 guides. Rebooting the PC is a good idea to resolve errors without doing much of tinkering around things. Simply click on the Windows icon and select Restart.
It will take a few moments, so you can take this time to decide what you want to listen to next on Spotify.
Also on Guiding Tech
7 Power Tips for Spotify to Enhance the Music Listening Experience
Read More3. Task Manager
Several users reported that killing the process associated with Spotify in the Task Manager helped them resolve the issue. Sometimes, the process never stops properly or continues to run even after the app is closed. And when you launch an app, like Spotify, Windows gets confused because according to it, Spotify is already running. Dumb, I know. That happens even though you have closed the app.
To kill the process, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc shortcut on your keyboard to launch the Task Manager and under the Processes tab, look for Spotify.
When you do, right-click on it to open options and select End task. Wait for a few moments until Spotify disappears from the Task manager. Now relaunch it to check if it is working or not.
4. Hardware Acceleration
Many Spotify users have claimed that unchecking the Hardware Acceleration option helped them bring sanity to their life. If you can open the Spotify window, press the Alt key on your keyboard and under the File menu, select View.
Spotify App Pc Windows 10
Now uncheck the Hardware Acceleration option and close Spotify. Wait a few moments and relaunch it again to check if it is working or not.
5. Reinstall Spotify
If you are still haven't managed to fix Spotify, then it's possible that there is something wrong with the installation files of Spotify. Do not skip this paragraph thinking uninstalling means clicking on the Uninstall option in Control Panel. There is more to it.
Hit the Windows key on your keyboard and right-click on Spotify to select the Uninstall option.
If the app asks you for confirmation, click OK. Now Press the Windows key+E on your keyboard to open the File Explorer and navigate to the below folder structure.
You need to delete the Spotify folder here. If you are unable to view AppData under YourUsername, right-click on Quick access and select Options.
Under the View tab, click on Show hidden files, folders, and drives option and then click on Apply and OK. You can now see the hidden folder named AppData.
Do not install Spotify from the Windows Store. A Spotify support staff has recommended users to install it using the ‘full installer package.’ That means follow the link shared below and install it from there.
Download SpotifyAlso on Guiding Tech
21 Spotify Music Tips and Tricks You Must Check Out
Read More6. Update Drivers
Spotify uses audio drivers to deliver music to your ears, and if the drivers are missing or not up to date, you are in a fix. Download Driver Easy using the link below. Run the program. Driver Easy will scan your Windows OS and suggest missing drivers for many apps including audio if any.
If you find audio in the list, follow the steps to download and install the latest version. The free version will work fine. However, note that you can only download one driver at a time as the free version doesn’t support parallel downloads. Still, it saves time as you don’t have to hunt for the drivers on the wild web manually. If you can, you may go that route. Either way, update your audio drivers.
7. Compatibility & Admin Mode
Navigate to the folder where you have Spotify installed on your drive. Usually, it’s the C drive. Right-click on the Spotify.exe file and select Properties. That will only work if you have installed Spotify using the link I shared above in the point 5, and are using an OS older than Windows 10. If you don’t meet both the criteria, skip this point.
Under the Compatibility tab, select Run this program in compatibility mode for and select the Windows OS version that you are using.
In the same tab, also select Run this program as an administrator. Click on Apply and OK. Relaunch Spotify and check if the issue is resolved.
Discover, Listen, Repeat
Spotify is a fantastic app for music streaming which you can use to discover new music and listen to them. It sucks when the app fails to work on Windows 10. Some users have suggested using the web version as a workaround, but that is not really a solution, just an alternative. You might do it if none of the above solutions worked for you.
Next up: Spotify not working on your Android lock screen? Here are 5 ways to resolve that error.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextTop 5 Ways to Fix Spotify Not Working on Lock ScreenAlso See#spotify #windows 10
Did You Know
Free Spotify App
Windows 10 is the last Windows since Microsoft is changing the approach of building and delivering OS.
