Best subscription music streaming service?

Forums › Online streaming services › Best subscription music streaming service?

1 | 2

Hammerer

2480 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 802

Lifetime subscriber

#1520236 26-Mar-2016 23:30

Recently, I looked at paid services ($13pm) with large catalogues (30 million or more tracks) for my family:

Apple Music + If existing Apple device user; Cheapest family $20pm; Song ratings work (finer control over what you do like); Videos - Most complicated interface; Lyrics on Apple devices only (Musixmatch)
Deezer + European focus - Bad search; Limited app
Google Music + If existing Google apps user - Limited device support (have to use Web)
Microsoft Groove + If Microsoft device user; Simplest interface; Four simultaneous devices - No discount for family users; No lyrics
Spotify + Broadest device support; Lyrics on desktop (Musixmatch on other devices); half price family users - Only three non-simultaneous devices; Many app bugs

I chose Spotify because it has the fewest weaknesses even if it is not the best in most areas. It has the genre I wanted (e.g. Apple didn't) and playlist support is excellent which saved heaps of time. Groove was the easiest to use and I wanted to use it but I needed lyrics.

lNomNoml

1842 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 521

ID Verified

#1520239 26-Mar-2016 23:43

TeaLeaf:

I was playing with one the other day and I can remember the name of it, you can play shuffle, you can play a particular song or an album or a theme or an artist etc. It wasnt overly expensive either. They were touting it as the paid competition to pandora.

Anyone know what Im talking about or have any other suggestions?

That's Spotify, which is also my recommendation.

dazhann

465 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 98

#1520315 27-Mar-2016 11:27

I think it all comes down to personal preference. I was a long time dezeer subscriber. I loved their recommendations for new music to listen to (hear this) and Flow which is your own radio channel which plays a mix of what you have been listening to and new music of a similar style . Yes its French so a lot of the comments are in french which would be important if you were into the social side of music streaming, im not.Anyway spark came a long with the $19 spotify pack and it was a no brainer so I switched from 2degrees to spark.

I just couldn't get into the spotify ecosystem. Theres nothing wrong with it, apart from the cluttered mess which is the ipad app, it just I missed what I had. It also doesn't help that sparks coverage at home is hopeless (I live rural) where as 2degrees isn't. So Ive cancelled by sub and gone back to deezer and when I run out of credit Ill be back to 2degrees where I can txt and call Oz on my txt and talk for no extra charge (I hardly use the data that came with the spotify pack)

CYaBro

4708 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1182

ID Verified

Trusted

#1520323 27-Mar-2016 11:48

If you have a Sonos system, and have been using Spotify, highly recommend you try out Apple Music as the quality of the audio is much better.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Hammerer

2480 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 802

Lifetime subscriber

#1520331 27-Mar-2016 12:30

CYaBro: If you have a Sonos system, and have been using Spotify, highly recommend you try out Apple Music as the quality of the audio is much better.

I've read that Spotify's 320kbps OGG format is not as good on Sonos as other higher bit-rate formats, e.g. Tidal 320kbps AAC and Deezer 320kbps, but this is the first time that I've read that Apple 256kbps AAC sounds better. It's possible that it is better perceptually. Anyone else have more info?

JamesL

956 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 342
Inactive user

#1520417 27-Mar-2016 16:03

Sonos is hardly "SQ" so I doubt you could hear the difference anyway

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

Dunnersfella

4100 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 887

#1520445 27-Mar-2016 16:18

JamesL:

Sonos is hardly "SQ" so I doubt you could hear the difference anyway

Agreed.

Unfortunately plastic speakers where styling and convenience trump sound quality are very much the norm for many people.

Hammerer

2480 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 802

Lifetime subscriber

#1520467 27-Mar-2016 17:20

JamesL:

Sonos is hardly "SQ" so I doubt you could hear the difference anyway

Although upping the bit rate from 160 to 320 produces a noticeable improvement on my mobile phones.

MileHighKiwi

782 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 581

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1522451 29-Mar-2016 19:39

Spotify for our family, ticks all the boxes. And i Heart Radio has really grown on me, I've found some great US rock stations. Pandora is great, too. We're pretty lucky to have so much content at our fingertips, I'm forever finding new artists. Run it through Sonos too, such a good set up.

Hammerer

2480 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 802

Lifetime subscriber

#1568763 9-Jun-2016 15:43

Here's a potentially big negative for Spotify if you rely on the Lyrics feature, as I do. Musixmatch who provided the feature have ditched Spotify in a hurry. Apparently thanks to good money from the corporate imperialists at Apple.

That would not be much of an issue except that Spotify have been poor at communicating with subscribers. The first thing we knew something was wrong was no lyrics. We do get this "helpful" message from the lyrics feature:

Humming is fun.

Hey lyrics fans, we're making some big improvements, so our lyrics feature is unavailable right now. Stay tuned for updates.

A new lyrics platform is not much help if it lacks lots of lyrics because subscribers would then have to renter and resync them. I already made that investment (it takes a lot of time) for about sixty songs that were missing from Spotify/Musixmatch. I don't want to have to redo them.

P.S. I could console myself with the thought that I'm a top contributor at Musixmatch, if that honour measured anything except sheer determination: if you correct one word after syncing the lyrics then Musixmatch forces another resync for the new lyrics.

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#1568769 9-Jun-2016 15:48

went from google play to spotify (raspberry pi can play spotify, it cant play google play, well I couldnt find something that would). but compared to google play spotify I found rubbish and the "[artist] radio" etc feature was pretty poor next to it, so I ended up cancelling spotify after 2 months and now back with google play.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1306
Inactive user

#1568774 9-Jun-2016 15:57

I have android phones, tablets, TV and a chromebook... Google Play Music for me.

I can stream from all my devices, save on my devices, play through my stereo.

dazhann

465 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 98

#1568866 9-Jun-2016 18:29

I do get annoyed when they talk about music streaming in the media and its like spotify is the only gig in town.Don't get me wrong I don't dislike spotify, its just there is other very credible services out there. Personally I use Deezer and its great, and for those that what lyrics, it has lyrics, but not for all songs.

I think the only company who do radio really well is pandora the only draw back is their limited catalogue. Im looking forward to seeing what they do with what they purchased from rdio. Rdio, when it first started was great, but they seem to loose direction.

jarledb

Webhead
3319 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1983

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1568882 9-Jun-2016 18:53

Love the new family subscription on Spotify. In total 6 family members can be on the same plan for $19.99 a month :)

Jarle Dahl Bergersen | Referral Links: Want $50 off when you join Octopus Energy? Use this referral code
Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by making a donation or subscribing.

richms

29099 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10210

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1568886 9-Jun-2016 19:07

Im giving groove another go (used to be xbox music) - has music videos on the xbox 360 so picked another one of those up for the garage.

Richard rich.ms

1 | 2