No matter where you go, it seems like people always have their headphones in. From schools to buses to the city streets, people need their music. It can be the ultimate source of relaxation, motivation or just a way to get through the day. At Issaquah High, you cannot walk through a busy hallway without seeing countless students with headphones or AirPods in.

Music is a versatile tool, as there are so many reasons and situations in which it can be used. Sophomore Charlie Underwood, who listens to music between four to five hours per day, thinks that it “helps with coping, and is a really easy distraction from what is going on.” Similarly, senior Leah Kratochvil uses music when she needs to “relax or get [her] mind off school work.”

Interestingly, junior Nicole Hayes believes that “listening to the same songs from when you do a worksheet to when you study the worksheet helps out.” Senior Sam Griffith deems music as a way to “spark creativity” in many aspects of his life. “It just puts me in a better mood in general,” said Griffith.

Over the past few years, two services have emerged as the most popular for music streaming. According to BBC, Spotify was developed in 2006, “as a response to the growing piracy problem the music industry was facing.” People were finding easy way to listen to music without having to pay money, therefore giving no credit to the artists. Thirteen years later, Business of Apps estimates that Spotify has roughly 96 million subscribers and 30 million songs.

Its main competition, Apple Music, burst onto the scene in 2015 and has gained popularity by securing deals with huge artists like Taylor Swift, Drake and Frank Ocean. In those deals, Apple Music can stream their music before anyone else. Some people value hearing music as soon as it comes out, so they love Apple Music. With those exclusive deals, Fortune estimated that it has gained 50 million paid and trial subscribers.

There are two versions of Spotify. One is a free version, and the other is called Spotify Premium, which is a monthly subscription. According to TechCrunch, Spotify premium costs $9.99 per month, but there are also student discounts and family plans which can reduce the price. Apple Music is also $9.99 per month, including similar student discounts and family plans. The main difference is that for Apple Music, there is no free version.

It became clear that the vast majority of students favored one streaming service over all of the others. Spotify is the most popular service around the world, and it is no different at Issaquah High School.

Junior Ryan Tuohy is a Spotify Premium user, and plans to stay subscribed for years to come. “There are no ads. You can download music and listen without Wi-Fi,” said Tuohy. Although Apple Music offers those features as well, he sees more settings that set Spotify apart from the likes of Apple Music. “Spotify gave me Hulu too, has a cool dark theme, gives more settings, and allows you to fade in songs,” he said. Not only can Spotify provide great music, but it can help people save money on their other streaming services like Hulu.

Sophomore Charlie Underwood prefers Spotify because, among other benefits, he can connect his music to his Amazon Alexa speaker. The Alexa speaker and many others are “certified as Spotify Connect compatible,” according to CNET, which means “you can use the Spotify app as a remote to control playback.” Apple Music only connects to other Apple devices, which limits the potential of the streaming service.

In spite of having and enjoying Spotify for many years already, Underwood has “always been considering Apple Music.” He believes that a switch might be beneficial for him because, “you can easily interface it with your phone and it might be quicker and more efficient.” Since he has an Apple phone, it is understandable to see why he might want to switch to a music streaming device that is run by Apple.

Although some students have found it a tough choice to choose a music service, others not have to think too hard about which one they would use. For example, Kratochvil first downloaded Spotify because all of her friends had it and were really enjoying it. Soon enough, she became another happy Premium subscriber. Her favorite thing about Spotify is the queuing feature, which allows users to pick which song they want to listen to next with one quick swipe to the right. “It just makes everything so easy,” said Kratochvil.

Although most students had Spotify, freshman Matthew Snodgrass was the one exception, using Apple Music. “While the library is kind of small, I can get the songs from my phone on to my computer. I have grown used to it,” said Snodgrass. Also with Apple Music, he can get downloaded MP3s and put them on to iTunes.

Despite how popular Spotify seems to be at Issaquah High School as well as globally, Snodgrass is very content with Apple Music. “Yes, for sure, it is worth it. There is not much else I would ask for from it.”

Despite all the analysis from experts, there is really not too much of a difference between Apple Music and Spotify, the two most popular music streaming sites. Both offer millions of songs and have sleek designs which allow music listening to be very easy. Meanwhile, Apple Music has exclusive deals with some of the hottest artists, whereas Spotify has over ten million more songs.

If people value those exclusive deals with top artists, the decision is pretty easy for them. But, if one’s favorite artists are not necessarily in the mainstream, Spotify may be the best option. In conclusion, as long as people are content with their service, there does not seem to be the need to decide on the “better” one.