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The most immediate way to directly compare the two is their respective music catalogues. Currently iTunes has over 20 million tracks while Samsung has clearly been rather busy as it has already accumulated around 19 million.
Apple does have more but not by a huge stretch and it's likely Samsung is still in the process of accumulating more content for its rival service as it's planning not just on tackling iTunes but other competing services such as Spotify too.
Another key difference lies between the two free and subscription based branches of each service. With iTunes you can optionally sign-up for iTunes Match for £21.99 per year.
This allows users to scan their entire music collection and iTunes Match will either upload tracks it doesn't have to the iCloud (up to 25,000 of them) or offer you access to ones which it does.
Ultimately using this you can access and stream your entire collection through the cloud from any location in the world via an iOS device or iTunes client.
Samsung's Music Hub has a similar feature but its approach to subscriptions is more broad-brush. With Music Hub you've either got the free option which lets you browse the entire 19 million track catalogue and listen to 30 second streams, but after the 30 seconds you have to buy the track to carry on listening.
The alternative is a £9.99 per month ‘Premium' account which frees up the whole catalogue for you to stream freely and store for offline use. Importantly, iTunes still doesn't let you do this.
On top of that, the premium model will do what iTunes Match does by scanning your existing music collection and allowing you to access those tracks through the Music Hub. If you've got any tracks it can't match you'll get 100GB of cloud storage and it'll upload those oddball tunes for you.
Most importantly of all, this scanning of your existing collection doesn't end at mp3 files or scanned CDs, it'll recognise content you've bought on iTunes and integrate these as well.
The most immediate way to directly compare the two is their respective music catalogues. Currently iTunes has over 20 million tracks while Samsung has clearly been rather busy as it has already accumulated around 19 million.
Apple does have more but not by a huge stretch and it's likely Samsung is still in the process of accumulating more content for its rival service as it's planning not just on tackling iTunes but other competing services such as Spotify too.
Another key difference lies between the two free and subscription based branches of each service. With iTunes you can optionally sign-up for iTunes Match for £21.99 per year.
This allows users to scan their entire music collection and iTunes Match will either upload tracks it doesn't have to the iCloud (up to 25,000 of them) or offer you access to ones which it does.
Ultimately using this you can access and stream your entire collection through the cloud from any location in the world via an iOS device or iTunes client.
Samsung's Music Hub has a similar feature but its approach to subscriptions is more broad-brush. With Music Hub you've either got the free option which lets you browse the entire 19 million track catalogue and listen to 30 second streams, but after the 30 seconds you have to buy the track to carry on listening.
The alternative is a £9.99 per month ‘Premium' account which frees up the whole catalogue for you to stream freely and store for offline use. Importantly, iTunes still doesn't let you do this.
On top of that, the premium model will do what iTunes Match does by scanning your existing music collection and allowing you to access those tracks through the Music Hub. If you've got any tracks it can't match you'll get 100GB of cloud storage and it'll upload those oddball tunes for you.
Most importantly of all, this scanning of your existing collection doesn't end at mp3 files or scanned CDs, it'll recognise content you've bought on iTunes and integrate these as well.
Accessibility
A crucial difference which could give Samsung's Music Hub the edge is that it can be used via a web browser. iTunes can be used on variety of devices by installing the iTunes client or app, but a browser-based approach is far more universal.
However, it's important to note that currently Music Hub is only available on the Samsung Galaxy S3, but this is set to change in the not-too-distant future.
Samsung is already hard at work getting things ready so that you'll be able to access it from a variety of Samsung smartphones and tablets and even Blu-Ray players, Smart TVs, speaker docks and fridges will be getting a look in. Theoretically you'll be able to access your music from any device in your home, assuming you buy mainly Samsung products, of course.
Eventually there'll also be a Music Hub app for iOS devices too so Samsung really is taking the fight to Apple's home turf. We imagine it's quite likely an Android app will be launched to make the service available on non-Samsung Android devices and there's plenty of scope for other operating systems too.
Recommendations
iTunes has the Apple Genius service which suggests new artists and tracks users might be interested in based on their existing collection. Samsung is aiming to one-up this with its own recommendation engine which allegedly will take on board a more diverse range of factors when looking for music to recommend.
Extras
The Samsung Music Hub has a few extra tricks up its sleeve which mimic other music services, such as Spotify and Last.fm, and cover areas which iTunes hasn't ventured into at all yet.
The main one is a personalised radio streaming service which will track your listening habits and pick songs based on your musical preferences or tags you select yourself. This is similar to Last.fm but it's a bit more versatile as you can also create your own playlists or throw particular songs into a customised radio setup.
Conclusion
Well, don't go ditching your iTunes account just yet. For one thing, the fact that Music Hub can use your iTunes content means the two can co-exist.
In addition there's the issue of current availability, as appealing as Music Hub sounds it won't become something to recommend until Samsung expands from just having it on the Galaxy S3. Hopefully that won't be too long as it is sounding like very impressive stuff.
A crucial difference which could give Samsung's Music Hub the edge is that it can be used via a web browser. iTunes can be used on variety of devices by installing the iTunes client or app, but a browser-based approach is far more universal.
However, it's important to note that currently Music Hub is only available on the Samsung Galaxy S3, but this is set to change in the not-too-distant future.
Samsung is already hard at work getting things ready so that you'll be able to access it from a variety of Samsung smartphones and tablets and even Blu-Ray players, Smart TVs, speaker docks and fridges will be getting a look in. Theoretically you'll be able to access your music from any device in your home, assuming you buy mainly Samsung products, of course.
Eventually there'll also be a Music Hub app for iOS devices too so Samsung really is taking the fight to Apple's home turf. We imagine it's quite likely an Android app will be launched to make the service available on non-Samsung Android devices and there's plenty of scope for other operating systems too.
Recommendations
iTunes has the Apple Genius service which suggests new artists and tracks users might be interested in based on their existing collection. Samsung is aiming to one-up this with its own recommendation engine which allegedly will take on board a more diverse range of factors when looking for music to recommend.
Extras
The Samsung Music Hub has a few extra tricks up its sleeve which mimic other music services, such as Spotify and Last.fm, and cover areas which iTunes hasn't ventured into at all yet.
The main one is a personalised radio streaming service which will track your listening habits and pick songs based on your musical preferences or tags you select yourself. This is similar to Last.fm but it's a bit more versatile as you can also create your own playlists or throw particular songs into a customised radio setup.
Conclusion
Well, don't go ditching your iTunes account just yet. For one thing, the fact that Music Hub can use your iTunes content means the two can co-exist.
In addition there's the issue of current availability, as appealing as Music Hub sounds it won't become something to recommend until Samsung expands from just having it on the Galaxy S3. Hopefully that won't be too long as it is sounding like very impressive stuff.
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