Top 5 Music Streaming Services
If you’re looking for something good to listen to, you have a variety of services, both free and paid (both) to choose from. Now that Grooveshark is sadly gone , it’s time to take a fresh look at the world of streaming music and see which one wins. This week we’ll be taking a look at the top 5 based on your nominations.
Earlier this week, we asked you which music streaming services were the best , old or new, and which ones you thought were the best. After Grooveshark left, we needed someone to replace our previous two- time poll winner , and you’ve received tons of great nominations. Here they are, in no particular order:
Google Play Music
Google Play Music has been around for a long time, but you may not be aware of it because of how often Google updates, improves and adds additional features to the service. It launched in beta back in 2011 as a cloud-based music player, so you can take your entire music collection with you wherever you go. Then he gave us a scan and match in 2012, so you got high quality versions of the crappy mp3s you downloaded years ago, submitted to Google Play Music All Access based on a subscription in 2013 , added YouTube to the mix with YouTube Music Key last year , and even recently added carefully curated playlists, automixes and more . All in all, Google isn’t neglecting the service, and its catalog of 30 million songs, all streamed in MP3 format at 320 kbps, delights listeners. As a combo music player and store, you can upload your own collection (up to 50,000 songs), reconcile it to get the best versions of the songs you own, and then be able to fill in the gaps in your collection with songs. and albums from the Google Play Music store. Even if you don’t want to buy, you can just sit back and listen to the automatically generated playlists (using technologies from Songza, which we will talk about later and which Google acquired in 2014), Internet radio, unlimited streaming of any song in the catalog (with subscription to Full Control) and much more based on the music you already own and enjoy. Stream on demand with offline access to your favorite tunes, so you can keep listening on the plane or anywhere you don’t have internet access. Now, with the inclusion of Music Key and YouTube-based music and playlists, Google Music is expanding its reach to include those people who also use YouTube as their primary service for finding and playing music. The service is available in 58 countries with a 30-day free trial of All Access, after which it charges $ 10 per month. Even if you haven’t signed up for Full Control, Google Music is a great cloud music storage service and player.
Those of you who have nominated Google Play Music praised both the free and paid versions of the service for helping you store, expand and access your music collections across all your devices. Many of you also praised how well their browser player works even in environments where other streaming music services are blocked, and the fact that Google Play Music makes it easy to keep track of a folder full of tunes that you can simply drag and drop new music. and download it instantly so you can listen to it on your phone is a nice bonus. In fact, the ease of use for the money and the breadth of music choices were some of the features that captivated many of you, as well as the fact that many of you also use it as an archive and online repository for all of your songs. makes it even better than many of the other options. Some of you now prefer Google Play Music, especially since buying Songza from Google means that many of these old customized and carefully curated playlists have made it to Play Music, while others are happy with what YouTube Music Key has to offer as subscribers will either get the full benefit both for the same price. You can read more love (and some criticism) in the (very long) nominations thread here .
Spotify
When Spotify came to the US in 2011 , it ended the era when we used VPNs and other tricks to get access overseas . Regardless, Spotify has performed so well not only in the US, but also in 60 other countries, where the service has over 60 million users. The service has come a long way in that time too – in addition to regular updates and tweaks, Spotify now also makes it easier to listen to all of your music offline , gives you the opportunity to save on the cost of multiple home accounts (and student accounts !), And more. Spotify boasts a catalog of over 20 million songs that you can browse by artist, genre, album, or simply search for a specific track, tons of complete albums to listen to in both free and paid versions, the ability to create and share playlists for any mood , events or whims, navigating to Last.fm and internet radio based on artist, genre, or mood, you can sit back and do other things while Spotify finds songs you love. Spotify also has its own ecosystem of apps, which other streaming services use to extract music from it (and give you access to your own music), and allows you to insert music into your phone or computer for listening in the same interface. In fact, there are tons of Spotify features under the hood that you might not have tried and are worth taking a look at. The free version of Spotify gives you a ton of these features, but when you upgrade to premium you remove ads, gives you access to mobile apps, lets you download music and listen offline, high quality audio streams (Vorbis files at 320kbps versus Vorbis format 160kbps that free users get, although the apps can also play local mp3 and AAC files) and more. The premium costs $ 10 per month and you can sign up for a three-month trial for $ 1.
Those of you who have nominated Spotify have praised it for being one of the first and nearly ubiquitous “find song and play” services that also lets you save that song and listen to it whenever you want. You loved creating and publishing playlists that you could then update and customize with the people you shared with, and the ability to add friends on Spotify to share music and see what other people are listening to. Others of you say Spotify is sort of the gold standard – the streaming service that others are comparing to – and that you happily pay with your premium account for improved audio quality and, of course, no ads. Many of you have said you prefer Spotify’s approach to genre or artistic radio, and some of you have praised their promotions and discounts for students and families, which could lead to a much-needed price cut for the monthly service. You can read more in this nominations thread , or this one , or this one here .
Pandora
While many people prefer streaming music services that include internet radio along with the ability to search and play anything, or the ability to store their own music catalogs, Pandora makes things simple (and conversely accessible) by sticking to what it has. works best. , and since its launch in 2000, it has done well: an Internet radio based streaming, fun and genre format. The Pandora model is simple: you create internet radio stations based on genres, artists, or songs, and then sit back and flip through the songs you hear to further improve the radio station. Pandora is the custodian of the Music Genome Project, a huge collection of artists and styles and their relationships, and this technology is integrated into the Pandora service. While it has never been your favorite music service in general, it has been our favorite internet radio service and not too long ago we rounded up a ton of great Pandora radio stations to listen to while you work . Pandora also does not sit still. Their new station, Pandora Premieres, airs the albums weeks before they are available for purchase , and after some disputes over their pricing, showed that they listen to their community even if they really want to make more money. The service is offered in free and premium (in the form of Pandora One) flavors, with over 250 million users in the US, Australia and New Zealand. Free users get ad-supported radio stations streaming 64k AAC + on the internet, and Pandora One users get a boost with 192kbps internet streaming. Pandora streams at 128 kbps to home stereos, and all mobile users receive streams that vary by signal, up to 64K AAC + . Pandora One users get more passes per hour and ad-free listening. The premium service will set you back $ 5 / month or $ 55 / year with a choice of monthly or annual billing.
Those of you who have nominated Pandora have said that you often use it in conjunction with another streaming service because you really appreciate the way Pandora handles music for you without lifting a finger. Many of you have reported the common problems Pandora has always had – repetitive songs and often boring radio stations – but others have noted that after you’ve tuned in to a radio station you like, repeating the same things means you hear songs. that you like. really like it that can’t be bad. Others have pointed out that you use Pandora One in situations where you enjoy streaming but don’t want to use tons of data, like streaming on the go in your car (this is my personal use case), or when you’re abroad, or sipping … office Wi-Fi. Others noted that Pandora does multi-format stations right, especially when other services don’t, and that it’s ideal when you want to press a button and have music to listen to, rather than wasting time setting up playlists or searching for music. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Amazon Prime Music
Amazon Prime Music may be one of the newest contenders in this roundup, it only launched last year and boasts just over a million songs in its lineup. Regardless, Prime Music adds more music all the time, and it’s completely free if you have an Amazon Prime account (which you probably do already ). Prime Music puts all this music on all your devices, both iOS and Android, thanks to the Amazon MP3 app, and can also play local music files. As long as you are online and logged into Amazon, you can download and play any songs from the Prime Music catalog, save them for offline listening, or stream them directly from the Internet. You can also use Amazon Cloud Player to store your own music in the cloud, and to shop and buy new music at the same time. While the individual Amazon services are linked by separate names, the entire collection comes together to provide you with a service very similar to Google Play Music, where you can upload your own tunes and listen to them on the go, buy new music to add to yours. a collection or download to listen to on your computer or offline, and free music with a premium account (a la Amazon Prime) that you can listen to anywhere, anytime. Amazon Prime Music also recently introduced features such as human-created playlists based on specific artists, genres, or moods in the form of Prime Playlists and Prime Stations, which give you unlimited skip internet radio and the ability to customize it to suit your tastes. Listening is ad-free and included with the Prime subscription. It’s also worth noting that all Prime Music streams and downloads are in variable bitrate MP3 format (256kbps average) DRM-free (although all files have metadata that can be identified on your Amazon account).
Those of you who nominated him praised him for being great, mainly because he works with your existing music collection, gives you tons of free music to listen to since you’re already a Prime subscriber, and of course The fact that you also get a free digital version of any music you’ve already bought from Amazon (CD, vinyl or mp3 format) is automatically added to your account. Many of you love the custom radio stations and free internet radio offered with Prime Music, and while most of you don’t like the user interface, there is a lot to love about it . Read more in the nomination thread here .
plug.dj
Plug.dj is an interesting addition to the lineup, in part because it is not technically a streaming service (for example, it does not support its own music catalog to listen to or mobile apps that let you take your music with you), but rather a huge community of music lovers and listeners. who love to share and listen to music (including some of us at Lifehacker). The service has been around for a while, but really came into its own when Turntable.fm closed , leaving it a popular imitator of the original service, which was suddenly more popular, more feature-rich, and more loved than the one that closed its doors. Plug.dj supports searching the site’s database of shared music from users, YouTube videos and other web music sources to create playlists and of course play for the crowd in a “room” where users take turns DJing for everyone. who is listening. to the stream. Users in the room then vote on the songs to show their approval (or lack thereof) and influence the overall flow of the room. Even if you create a room alone, just to listen to your favorite songs from both your computer and the Internet, this is a great way to while away the time, and if you prefer to sit down and listen to someone else’s DJ or spinning collection of songs in a fun and active community environment, you can do that too. The service encourages you to participate by offering virtual costumes and stickers for your avatar. The service has come a long way from being a clone of a player, however – there are tons of communities and rooms to join, local “currency” you can use to buy costumes and avatars, and a premium account for $ 3 a month or $ 30 a year. which unlock all avatars and icons, special paid member status (which others can see in chat) and much more. This, in addition to the real money purchases you can make (usually costumes and avatars), helps keep the service afloat. In addition, plug.dj has always been open to international users and is available to anyone who wants to register.
Of course, we should point out that plug.dj encouraged its users to nominate (and massively support it) nominating it here in the top five, but not taking into account the fact that it is not a music service in the same vein as others. here, even if they didn’t, he probably would have gotten support to get into the top five. While it’s definitely different, it’s a great way to relax and listen to music at the touch of a button, change room or another type of music depending on your mood or what you want to hear, or get involved and start looking for tunes and create playlists. if you want to. Plus, it’s just fun to use. The community is huge, and it’s not uncommon to hop onto a site in the middle of the night and find a room filled with people swaying to great music. Popular DJs and other promoters often stop and put DJ rooms on the site, and the social aspect doesn’t just attract people, it keeps them connected to the site. Don’t take my word for it, you can read the very extensive nominations thread here to find out more.
Now that you’ve seen the top 5, it’s time to put them to a vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite:
Honorable mentions
Honorable mention this week are to Rdio , which, according to many of you is the best, most attractive and fun-to-use interface of all the services that you have tried, including many of the above. Both mobile apps and desktop tools work well, letting you listen to music properly and giving you a radio tuned to your tastes, the musicians you already like, and a huge collection of music for free (or for $ 10 a month if you need more features like ad-free streaming, playlists, and listening to the full album.) Rdio also offers discounted memberships for families, students, or even internet-only listeners, which could save you a few bucks on the usually underrated streaming service that it deserves more attention. You can read more praise in his nominations thread here .
Another honorable mention this week is Songza , which may have been the internet’s first service to “find everything you want to hear and play,” even if that didn’t allow you to hold on to the song you wanted to hear in those days. it again. The service has since grown into an amazing source of human-made playlists and radio stations, and was one of the first to offer mood-based stations and playlists that gave you something to listen to depending on how you felt. Again, another heavily underrated service, but not so underrated as to elude Google’s attention, which acquired it last year and integrated many of its most popular features into Google Play Music. Read more in the nomination thread here .
Do you have anything to say about one of the applicants? Want to substantiate your personal favorite even if it wasn’t on the list? Remember, the Top 5 is based on your most popular nominations from the Call for Applicants thread earlier this week . Don’t just complain about the top 5, let us know which option you prefer and justify it in the discussions below.