| 18 Recommended Products | Recommendations | Platforms | Price | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Last.fm· · · | 23 | 1 | Web, iOS, Android | $3/mo | Yes |
| #2 Slacker Radio· · · | 3 | 0 | Web, iOS, Android, Windows Phone | $3.99-$9.99/mo | Yes |
| #3 Amazon Music Unlimited· · · | 3 | 0 | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS | £7.99/month (prime) £9.99/month (non-prime) | For prime customers |
| #4 Youtube· · · | 19 | 2 | Web, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Chrome OS | – | Yes |
| #5 8 Tracks· · · | 9 | 1 | Web, iOS, Android, Windows Phone | – | – |
| #6 Google Play Music· · · | 82 | 9 | Web, Android, iOS | $9.99 | Yes |
Pro Scrobbling
Last.fm checks what you listen to the most, they're calling it scrobbling, and streams songs based on that information. It works via your computer, smartphone, iPod and other music services.
Pro Supports a wide range of platforms, music players and browsers
Last.fm scrobbles music from wide range of devices and music players, not just from official apps such as Scrobbler for Windows and Mac, Scrobbler for iOS, Last.fm for Android and Last.fm for Spotify, but also a wide range of 3rd party Last.fm apps that are available on many platforms, built using...
Pro Last.fm Tag/Artist radio
Play songs similar to "X" from Youtube.
Pro Curated music streaming service
Actual human beings take time to decide what should be played, and on what stations. Sometimes people curating these stations are professional DJs who have experience in curating music content. This makes the music streaming service feel much more organic.
Pro Large music library
Offering such a large library ensures there is enough music of different kinds to appeal to anyone.
Pro Works on a large number of platforms
Web, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry are all platforms that Slacker will work on.
Con UI is too focused on social media
About half of the UI wastes space on social media info posted by Slacker Radio hosts and DJs. Basically advertisements (but different from their regular advertisements), but in a social media setting.
Con Rather intrusive ads
While it's understandable that the free tier will have ads, between video, audio and banners, they can be quite intrusive.
Pro Possible to transfer purchased music between devices with no limitations
Purchased music can be downloaded and transfered to other music players/file storage devices.
Pro Discount for prime customers
Prime customers get a discount on the service.
Pro Mobile applications available
Mobile applications for Android and iOS.
Con Clunky desktop app
This service's desktop app is clunky and nowhere near as nice as its web client.
Pro Large catalog of music
Huge variety of music to pick from including rare recordings, covers, mixes, etc.
Pro Community created mixes and remixes
Because anybody can upload to YouTube, it has content from remixes of popular songs to hour long mixes and everything in-between. Much of this content can't be found on other music streaming services.
Pro Multiple frontends available
There are Chrome extensions (UpNext, Streamus), webapps (The Parade) and even native desktop apps (Atraci) that are all powered by Youtube. They provide additional functionality and convenience on top of what Youtube already offers.
Con Confusing service for music
There is a Youtube Music app, which allows one to stream music videos as well as just the studio audio versions of songs. This feature is not accessible on the Youtube website, or the regular Youtube app. In order to get ad free service on the site as well as the music app, ones needs to subscri...
Con Lots of ads unless you buy a subscription
There are lots of ads on YouTube, even in the middle of long songs. Some of them can be skipped, however others cannot. Most of the time ads are only displayed between songs.
Pro Individualistic and personalized user playlists
The site is human-curated not automated. This can give a more personal feel, as each playlist on the music streaming service has been curated by a user.
Pro Great for discovering new music
Due to how the service works, listening to user created playlists allows for pretty good discovery of new or undiscovered bands.
Con No way to find certain songs
8 Tracks allows you to search for a playlist based on keywords, then requires you to listen to most of that playlist without skipping. As such, it's not so good for hunting down a specific song, but is great for discovering new music.
Con Poor music streaming service outside of North America
8Tracks has changed its policy for how it supplies music to those outside of North America by not using any of their servers for those users. This change resulted in using Youtube for those users in order to still have a way to add songs to playlists. Sadly using Youtube results in many songs just...
Pro Upload library through browser
Google has added the option of uploading songs through the browser with the help of a Chrome extension download as well as directly through the desktop Chrome app.
Pro Free no advertisements
Google Play Music is a free service for storing and streaming ones library that has zero advertisements in the interface as well as the playing music.
Pro Instant mixes
Google Play Music can make smart recommendations for playlist by the user just picking an artist or song they want recommendations formed from.
Con Status bar not sensitive nor customizable
There is no way to go easily go back a specific amount of time (for example: Audible has a button that allows you to go back 30 seconds). The status bar could be more time specific. If you want to go back to a particular segment of listening, there is no way to know exactly where you will land. Y...
Con No way to start the app in ones library
The app offers no way to actually start up in ones library, either in the desktop Chrome app or the Android app. For those that only use this app for listening to their purchased or uploaded music this is pretty annoying as there s no real need for the front page of recommendations and activity. T...
Con Quality only as high as 320kbps MP3s
There is no option to listen to lossless music, even if that is what the user has uploaded. The highest quality is 320kbps MP3s. If a lossless track has been uploaded and the user then downloads the track at a later date the file will also only be a 320kbps MP3.
Pro Built-in lyrics
Deezer comes with a lyrics feature where users can see the lyrics when the selected track is playing.
Pro Available to customers living outside the US
The Deezer music streaming service is available in 182 countries. There are 192 countries on this world, which means Deezer is available in all but 10 countries.
Pro Huge collection of music
The Deezer music streaming service has more than 40 million songs, which makes Deezer one of the largest music catalogs available now.
Con Elite is only available on Sonos systems
Elite is the highest subscription tier that Deezer offers. However it is only available on Sonos systems in the US.
Con A lot of songs are cut at the end
Many songs are not played until final chords, and many others are of very low quality records, showing audio distortions. This is frustrating.
Con Poor search and discoverability
It can be difficult at times to find the music you are looking for. Search can be hit or miss quite often. On top of this, the top tracks section for artists tends to be a pretty poor selection of tracks, nowhere near what anyone would consider "top tracks".
Pro Most personalized radio experience
The Pandora music streaming service is the best at predicting which songs the user would enjoy hearing. Unlike services which have rudimentary recommendation algorithms, Pandora uses over 400 selection attributes that are combined to form over 2,000 focus traits including rhythm syncopation, key t...
Pro Easily learns what you like and dislike
The Pandora music streaming service allows you to rate each song played with a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" to signal your opinion of the song that is played. The station incorporates every single rating to intelligently learn your preferences over time, resulting in an extreme...
Pro Extremely versatile stations
Unlike other music streaming services, Pandora allows you to create a station from a single song, artist, album, or genre, and the service has a huge library of over 800,000 tracks from 80,000 artists. More importantly, Pandora lets you mix and match an unlimited number of input criteria to crea...
Con Not available outside the US
For those that live outside the US, the service is not available to them, which greatly limits users from around the globe.
Con Limited skips
Pandora makes it very difficult by limiting your playlist to only a specific song or artist. The player also does not allow you to rewind or repeat any songs. You are only granted six skips per station per hour, and even this is limited to 72 skips per user per day. This is often frustrating if...
Con Limited bitrate
Most songs played on Pandora Radio are 128 kpbs bitrate. That being said, the paid version of the service offers songs with a bitrate of 192 kbps.
Pro Huge collection of music and fast access to newly released songs
Spotify has over 20 million songs and arguably the largest collection out of its competitors and usually has the fastest access to new music. The Spotify desktop client allows local music files to be imported with the option of syncing with a mobile device which largely mitigates the issue of mis...
Pro Has a free version
A free, ad-supported account allows streaming from an extensive library of music.
Pro Client's functionality can be extended via third-party apps
Spotify desktop client allows for third-party apps. They extend the functionality of Spotify and many of them offer new ways of discovering music. Noteworthy apps include Moodagent, Last.fm, Swarm.fm, ShareMyPlaylists, The Hype Machine, We Are Hunted, Shuffler.fm.
Con Free account have lots of ads
If you hate commercials you would buy premium or go on using something else.
Con Poor Audio Quality
There's a high range of bitrates and most of vary from average to bad.
Pro Dozens of genre-specific channels
DI.fm currently lists 89 distinct channels, each representing a different sub-genre of electronic music.
Pro Cross-platform
DI.fm has apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows phone.
Con You have to sign up
You can listen to DI.fm for half an hour before you're asked to sign up for a free account.
Con Electronic only
DI.fm is electronic-music only, so you'll be limited to exploring within that genre.
Con Occasionally the channels won't connect
Every once in a while, the channels won't connect and you have to wait some time and try again.
Pro Multi-language
hearthis.at is a multi-language website with several languages available.
Pro SoundCloud integration
Allows importing SoundCloud tracks if you have a SoundCloud account.
Pro Explore tab has new music constantly
Explore tab on SoundCloud shows trending music that can be filtered based on genre/tag. There's a constant stream of new music.
Pro Follow people
You can follow people with similar tastes or that often find new music. When they favorite a song, SoundCloud will notify you about it.
Pro Recommendations
Links to related music, based on what you're listening to, can be found in the sidebar.
Con Audio ads in some uploaded content
Some content on SoundCloud includes audio ads, particularly sponsored podcasts. (Note that SoundCloud itself doesn't add these - all the audio you're hearing is exactly as it was uploaded.)
Con Interface is full of bugs
The SoundCloud website has tons of problems, including issues with notifications, favorites, and uploading sounds.
Pro Available cross-platform
A Groove Music application is available for Windows 10, Xbox, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. There is also a web app that will open all of your music with a simple sign in.
Pro Huge music library
Groove Music has a massive music library with over 40 million songs, more than Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and Google Play Music,
Pro Integration with OneDrive
Groove Music integrates the music streaming service with OneDrive so that users can stream their own music files hosted in their OneDrive.
Con Inconsistent updates to Android app
It's a lot better than it used to be, but the update cycle is a slow and painful process.
Con Poor music quality
Bitrate quality is not explicitly stated by Microsoft, but music is reported to be streamed at 192kbps WMA which is lower than most comparable streaming services. While music is downloaded at 256kbps WMA, an improvement but still lower than Google Play Music and Spotify.
Con No social network integration
This may be a huge pro or a con for different types of people. Groove Music does not offer comprehensive social integration like other music services such as Spotify. The only social feature Groove Music offers is the ability to a share a link to a song to Twitter, Facebook, or email. Groove Music...
Pro iTunes Store has a huge selection of media
iTunes has a huge catalog of videos, songs and podcasts in the iTunes store.
Pro Playlists created by people
The Apple Music streaming service focuses on playlists selected by curators rather than intelligent radios in other streaming services. Choosing playlists selected by the curators improves the experience with another method of music discovery. Of course you can still heart or disheart any song on...
Pro Syncs across devices
iTunes can synchronize playback information, podcast subscriptions & settings and automatically download purchases made on other devices.
Con Heavyweight
Appears to get bigger and bigger with each update, without really adding more value to someone who just wants to listen to and organize music.
Con No free plan
While there's a 3-moth free trial that lets you test out features of the service, Apple Music is a subscription-only deal. There's no ad-supported free version or anything like that.
Con Apple Music is tied to iTunes
It is not tied to itunes.
Pro Amazing quality
The Tidal music streaming service has a maximum streaming quality of 1,411Kbps bit rate with FLAC-formatted lossless files. This is quite an upgrade compared to most music streaming services, which go at about 320Kbps bit rate.
Pro Built-in audio search
The Tidal music streaming service mobile app has a built-in audio search, similar to Shazaam and Soundhound.
Con Expensive
At $19.99 per month, it's one of the most expensive streaming services out there (there is a cheaper subscription available at $9.99/month).
Con Songs may take some time to load
the Tidal music streaming service may take up to 10 seconds of buffering to load and play a song, sometimes even stopping a song mid-way to buffer.
Con No free tier
The Tidal music streaming service has no free tier available. Only a 7-day trial. While the trial is helpful for learning what the service has to offer, it may not allow for a complete picture due to the time limit.
Pro High quality streaming
Music streams at 16 bit, 44.4 khz, Flac, CD Quality. Also, high-res is available.
Con Officially available in a limited number of countries
Qobuz is only officially available in 10 countries (which does not include Canada and the US). You can use a VPN in order to pay for the service in an unsupported country. Some users have mentioned success with contacting the country and being added manually (you can read more here).
Pro Easily save music for offline use
You can download MP3's to your mobile device for offline use, this is convenient for those that do not have an internet connection throughout the whole day.
Pro Free to stream music
The service is completely free, meaning you never need to pay in order to stream what is available on the site.
Pro Share playlists over Facebook
Create and share your favorite playlists with your friends on Facebook. This way you can socially display and even discuss what you have been listening to.
Pro Fun terminal-like interface
Using a terminal interface as the front end of the player is quite the unique twist for a music player on the web. It can be fun for those that are/aren't familiar with such an interface due to how original and easy it is.
Pro Easy music discovery
Just type in the command to play a particular genre you are interested in and it will play that style of music randomly. This allows for a way that you can discover new music you may not be familiar with.
Pro Fast interactivity
A fast music service geared towards terminal users. The premise being, that you input specific "terminal" commands to listen to particular genres or artists. This can be a quick way of finding and playing music for those familiar with a terminal interface.
Con Only uses the Soundcloud music streaming service
There is no way to get other licensed music, you can only play what is available on the Soundcloud music streaming service.
Con Limited genres
For the available genres the user can pick from, there are only so many listed. Any more fine grained controls of being able to play genres not listed is not supported. This means the eclectic and more niche genres can only be played by directly selecting the bands that play that style of music.
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