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Music streaming services - which do you subscribe to, and why?

Deleted member 34711

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 28, 2017
697
I think it's time I completely moved on from physical music media (that's all just ripped and sitting in a box somewhere) to streaming. Which music service(s) are, in your opinion, worth paying for? Do you ever have to deal with service downtime?

I've dabbled with Spotify, it seems to have 95%+ of my collection already, is there any reason to look into something else?


Edit:
Thanks for the info everyone. Probably going to go with a Google or Spotify family plan.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 3208

Oct 25, 2017
11,934
Spotify. Only reason I pay it is because we use the family plan. $3 per month is a steal.
 

Glenn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,292
Apple Music. I know most people don't care about radio.. but Beats 1 has some great shows
 
Supercrap

Supercrap

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,352
Oakland Bay Area
Google play.

Ive used Android for almost 5 years now, have a bunch of Chromecasts at home, and enjoy YouTube without ads.

Have the family plan and maxed that out. Pretty good for 15$
 
Tobor

Tobor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,426
Richmond, VA
Apple Music.

I prefer the Apple ecosystem, the service is great, they have everything I want, and I use the Siri integration every day.
 

SFenton

Member
Nov 10, 2017
633
Spotify, but I have a free trial for Apple Music right now. AM is more curated, and while my initial discoveries were great, there's a lot of repeated content on its playlists; Spotify dynamically creates playlists, but they don't always match up to what I want.

Kind of a toss-up since I only use the services for discovery. I buy all the music I like and put it on my Plex server.
 
Veliladon

Veliladon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,557
Apple Music. Integrates better with the iPhone especially the Music app and Siri.

If I was on Android I'd probably be on Spotify Premium. I've used both and they're both really good services.
 
Shalashaska

Shalashaska

Prophet of Regret
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
1,424
Spotify. I wish it had an Apple Watch app though, I'd love to be able to download songs to it for when I go out on runs. I've semi-considered swapping to Apple Music just for that reason, but Spotify's integration with the gaming consoles has kept me from doing so.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,802
Google Play Music

- Cost me less than $5 a month
- Includes YouTube Red
- Has a web browser interface which means I can listen from anywhere with a browser
- I can upload my own songs
 
MarkRJR

MarkRJR

Member
Oct 25, 2017
355
Spotify. The app is basically everywhere, all the artists I like except for some Japanese artists are there, and the service is the only one with a student discount where I live as far as I know.

Amazon Music Unlimited just arrived in my country, so I might check it out after my student discount is up in a year or so. The price is cheaper versus Spotify with no student discount, so I'd save money there.
 
Bobson Dugnutt

Bobson Dugnutt

Self Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,052
I stream stuff on Bandcamp and buy it if I like it, that's pretty much it. If I sub to a music service again it'd have to be one that pays reasonable rates to the artists, and lets upload my own stuff.


anything else I need to check out I'll have a look on youtube or look elsewhere.

I'm tempted to get a last fm subscription for the sheer pointlessness of it
 
GG-Duo

GG-Duo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
885
Spotify.

I've tried Apple music a few times, but:

* iTunes on desktop is a slow, broken mess.
* No Chromecast support.
* Their 'new release' smart playlist isn't as good as Spotify.
* Their Artist page UI isn't as good or snappy as Spotify.
* They keep trying to push Hip Hop or Top 40 to me on the front page or in recommendations. I don't mind checking out that stuff for curiosity's sake but the way they do it is tiresome.
* Spotify feels more social. There's a lot more weird playlists on it.
 
Last edited:
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,802
TheLostBigBoss said:
How? Youtube Premium is 10 dollars a month?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They had a deal where you could gift subscriptions for $5 a month. The thing is you could gift it to yourself. On top of that, you could pay for it with Google Rewards too. So I stocked up several years of membership for less than $5 a month. Once that runs out, I'm still grandfathered in at the $7.99 rate.
 
Eros

Eros

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,658
Honestly I hate both Apple and Spotify for making it a hassle dealing with your own music files.

Apple - you have to deactivate your cloud or whatever, add, then reactivate. God forbid you're trying to add files from an Apple computer to a non iPhone. I still haven't figured this out for me.

Spotify. You can add files to the app, but only in a playlist. They won't let you add them to the library if it's not on Spotify already.

So basically whichever apps interface you like more. Both have month long trials so just do that.
 
JrBaconCheeseburger

JrBaconCheeseburger

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
553
Spotify.

It's has a better UI (Yes I just said that)

Better Playlist and they actually put an effort into it.

Apple has emojis as the cover for some playlist.

Everything Apple Music is awful and it is scary to think they might be the only game in town in the future because $$$$$$$.

I'm sorry but Rap Caviar is better than The A list Hip Hop.

Not to mention everything is The A List : (Followed by Genre name)
 
Sweeney Swift

Sweeney Swift

User Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,743
#IStandWithTaylor
Spotify Premium has all I could want and has already introduced me to so much new favorite artists of mine. Aside from Shudder, it's the only service I've ever used that actually felt like a bargain
 

VeggieBurger

Member
Jan 6, 2018
352
used to do spotify but they have a limit on how many songs u can save (10,000). Switched to Apple Music cuz they let u do 100,000
 

Deleted member 17092

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
20,360
I basically just switch between 3-4 mos trials over and over again.

If there's no trials running then apple music with my edu email address as it's only $5 a month.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
YouTube Music. I'm not a huge fan of it though, but it's the only way to get YouTube Premium now and I'm not gonna pay for more than one music streaming service.
 

ruggiex

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,079
Google Music.

Grandfathered price ($4 a month until next year then $8). YouTube premium comes with it. Let me upload my own music.
 

Deleted member 46493

User requested account closure
Banned
Aug 7, 2018
5,231
None. Went back to tagging MP3s and putting them on my phone. Would be annoying but I barely listen to new music nowadays so I already have most music tagged and ready.

Also only a fourth of what I have is on streaming apps.
 
DPT120

DPT120

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,525
None. Basic Spotify and Youtube work well for me, since I barely listen to music.
 
Slappy White

Slappy White

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,205
I don't subscribe every month but when I do it's Apple Music because I have an iPhone. I also have a SiriusXM all access subscription and spend most of my time listening to that and podcasts.
 
applejuice

applejuice

Member
Oct 27, 2017
416
Tampa, FL
Google Music here as well. There are dozens of us. Dozens! The family plan means me and my kin never have to see another YouTube ad again. I also have an ancient chromebook that doesn't have app support but Google Music has a mini web player.
 
TwntyOneTwlv

TwntyOneTwlv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,595
Ohio
I've been subscribed to Spotify for a long, long time. I always tell people I get more value from my Spotify subscription than I do Netflix and Hulu and my cable subscription combined.
 
Zushin

Zushin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,117
Australia
Used to be Google Music, then I dropped that because of their plans to change to to better suit YouTube music. Used Deezer which I loved, but switched to Apple Music when I got my XS because of Siri integration.
 
broflap

broflap

Member
Oct 25, 2017
511
Google play music.

I use the family plan so it's 6 people for $15 a month. Pretty great since it also includes YouTube Red/premium for all 6 people as well so we get ad free videos.
 
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