Sorry Spotify, YouTube Music’s Supermix won me over with its perfect chaos


YouTube Music logo on smartphone with headphones

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Like millions of others, I was a die-hard Spotify fan for years. But lately, I’ve been having a bit of a music app mid-life crisis, and I’ve found myself straying toward YouTube Music. With most music streaming services offering practically the same songs, features, and price tag, how do you choose “the one?” For me, it all boils down to how well the app can read my mind.

You see, my musical taste is anything but simple. I enjoy a wide range of genres, from lyrical rap to 90s Bollywood to 140 BPM techno bangers and everything in between. This creates a couple of challenges when it comes to music streaming. First, I’m often unsure what I’m in the mood for. Second, I’m mostly in the mood for a mix of things at once.

It’s all good when I know exactly what I want to listen to; I can pick a song or mood and let the app handle the rest. In those instances, both Spotify and YouTube Music get the job done. But even then, I’ve noticed that YouTube Music’s “song radio” feature works better for me, and a lot of you seem to agree.

Are you happy with song radios on your music streaming service?

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The real struggle starts when I’m in musical limbo, wanting to listen to something awesome but having no clue what that something is. Spotify tries to solve this with its “Daily Mix” playlists. You get individual playlists for rap, EDM, and whatever else you’re into. They’re not bad, but it feels like these playlists often put me in a box.

Spotify also generates “personalized” playlists based on my listening habits,  like “upbeat mix,” “rap mix,” or “2010s mix.” But these mixes are again genre-based and, in my subjective opinion, include more “popular” songs than tracks I connect with.

YouTube Music also has “My Mix” playlists, which function similarly to Spotify’s genre-based offerings. But then, there’s the “Supermix” —  and that’s where the magic happens. It’s chaotic, unpredictable, and precisely what I didn’t know I needed.

YouTube Music’s Supermix is chaotic, unpredictable, and precisely what I didn’t know I needed.

Supermix is like a musical rollercoaster, a beautiful chaos of songs that perfectly reflect my eclectic taste. It’s an automatically updated playlist that doesn’t just collect what I’ve been listening to lately; it also digs deep into my listening history, bringing back some forgotten favorites that I haven’t heard in ages. And the best part? It throws genre out the window.

As you can see, my Supermix playlist is wild. Case in point: the playlist section visible in the last screenshot starts with the song “Calm Down” and ends with “Melt ur Brain.” It’s like a DJ with no rules but with exactly my taste, and that’s why it all just works.

Sure, sometimes you want your playlists to stick to a consistent mood — like keeping it chill or staying groovy. But I’ve realized that there’s something really freeing about letting the Supermix surprise you. My wife and I have had the best road trips recently, just letting the Supermix do its thing. Every few songs, we’d look at each other like, “Wait, this is on here too?” It’s an endless shuffle of surprises, and it keeps things fun.

The Supermix is just one of the many features that are making me consider switching to YouTube Music for good. What’s your experience been like with Spotify, YouTube Music, or any other streaming apps? Please drop a comment, and let’s compare notes.

Spotify HiFi could finally be coming, but it’ll cost you


Spotify logo on a phone.
Getty

We know you’ve been burned before, but according a promising report from Bloomberg, Spotify is poised to announce a new premium add-on later this year that will finally deliver its much-anticipated HiFi option, as well as some new playlist creation tools.

Although Bloomberg’s report, which cites a “source familiar with the plan,” is light on specific resolution details, it says that the new high-fidelity audio option will be sold as an add-on for existing customer,s who could be charged at least an additional $5 per month depending on their base plan.

The add-on will not only deliver better quality audio — which has been a sore spot for some Spotify users considering that many of its streaming service competitors such as Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon Music have been delivering hi-res streams for years — but will also include some new playlist creation and library management tools.

In April, Spotify announced that it was beta testing a new AI Playlist creation tool with its U.K. and Australian users that allows them to use ChatGPT-style text prompts to create playlists. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether this is the new playlist tool that Bloomberg’s unnamed source is referring to.

Spotify AI Playlist meny.
Spotify’s AI Playlist feature Screengrab / Spotify

Spotify has been dangling its HiFi carrot out there since first announcing it in 2021, and the rumors have come on the regular ever since (this exact same story broke around this time last year, too). One of the more recent hints came in April of this year when a Reddit user spotted some code in the Spotify app that suggested that the HiFi tier could deliver lossless audio with up to 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC files.

This new HiFi plan information comes on the heels of Spotify’s second price increase in less than a year, with the service’s most popular Premium individual plan going from $11 to $12 per month next month. Spotify’s Duo plan also jumps to $17 per month and the Family plan to $20 per month,while the Student stays the same at $6 a month. It’s unclear which plans the new HiFi add-on will be eligible for.

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