What, if any, streaming music services do you use?
I’m thinking of joining the 21st century and subscribing to one of these services. Since my 160GB iPod Classic finally died a few years ago I’ve been listening to downloaded music a lot less, and alternating between streaming music on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube a lot more. Currently making use of the three month Apple Music trial. I listen to a lot of music (8 hours+ per day while coding) on multiple machines, so the portability is a must, and since I use my 8GB smart phone as a replacement to the iPod, it isn’t an option to carry a large library with me any more.
Interested in opinions on the following services or others:
- Spotify Premium
- Apple Music
- SoundCloud Go
- Tidal, Google, and others… I see that Amazon launched their own rival late last year too.
The pros/cons as I see it:
Spotify Premium
Pros:
- Huge library of officially licensed music
- Data doesn’t count towards my mobile plan
Cons
- It seems to do things behind my back. E.g. I signed in with username and password and it reactivated my Facebook account for no reason.
- Lots of criticism.
- Requires a dedicated app (no web browser version)
Apple Music
Pros:
- Huge library of officially licensed music
- Can be combined with existing iTunes library for music that isn’t on streaming services, such as Panzer Dragoon Saga’s soundtrack
Cons:
- iTunes on Windows isn’t the greatest
- Requires a dedicated app (no web browser version)
SoundCloud Go
Pros:
- Awesome web based UI
- Comments on individual parts of tracks
- Lots of fan remixes mixed with offical tracks all in one place
Cons:
- Less variety of officially licensed music than Spotify/Apple Music (hopefully this will change, but right now there’s a lot of good music missing)
I would like to hear any views on these services and others. I realise that it’s not a zero-sum game, but I would prefer not to change services too often as it’s useful to keep playlists together in one place, etc.