Donald Bell
Donald Bell, senior editor at CNET, a leading consumer technology website now operated by CBS. He is a musician and has extensive experience covering the digital audio sector. CNET.com
Instead of depending on compact discs or radio stations, hundreds of millions of people worldwide now listen to music through digital streaming services, often for free. And the field is expanding. The two leading services, Pandora and Spotify, which offer millions of selections, are being joined by new entrants including Beats Electronics, the headphone company that was recently acquired by Apple for $3 billion, and Amazon, which launched a new service called Prime Music. There are important differences among the services, which can be accessed through computers, tablets, smartphones and, in some cases, on TVs and car radios.
How to choose the music-streaming services that suit you best…
IF YOU WANT TO SELECT SPECIFIC SONGS
These “on-demand” services let you listen to exactly the song and/or artist you choose, which is not possible with services such as Pandora. It’s like having access to a massive collection of millions of albums. (However, a few notable artists, including the Beatles and Bob Seger, currently are not available through these services.)
Upgrade option: Spotify Premium removes the ads, allows you to select specific songs even on the smartphone app, lets users download songs for off-line listening and increases streaming speed for slightly better sound quality. (Sound-quality problems with streaming services often stem from poor Wi-Fi or cellular connections or low-quality speakers, not the services.) $9.99 per month.
These free services do not allow you to request specific songs. Instead they create “stations” for you featuring customized playlists based on the artists and/or songs you favor and the feedback you provide about the songs played. Not all of the on-demand services do this, and those that attempt to do it tend not to do it as well as the services listed below. There usually is a way to skip songs you don’t like, though this skipping typically has limits.
These services are a great way to discover songs and artists appropriate for your musical tastes and that you haven’t necessarily heard before…or rediscover songs and artists you have forgotten.
Which service is best for you depends largely on which does the best job coming up with songs you like. Enter the same song or artist into each of the following as a starting point, and see which best hits the mark.
Pandora listeners can skip up to six songs per hour per “station,” up to 24 total each day. But Pandora’s sound quality is lower than that of most major competitors, particularly with Pandora’s free version. And Pandora’s catalog is smaller than most—it claims “more than one million songs” and can be slow to add new music. Pandora offers tracks from comedy albums in addition to music. Some cars and aftermarket car radios now are specifically Pandora-enabled and can stream either the paid or ad-supported version of the service. Pandora.com
Upgrade option: Pandora One eliminates ads and improves sound quality somewhat. $4.99 per month.
Upgrade option: Avoid ads by signing up for iTunes Match, $24.99 per year.
Upgrade option: None available.
Some music-streaming services offer unusual twists on the features provided by more prominent services. These services can be streamed through a web browser, and some offer apps for smartphones.
AccuRadio is a lot like Pandora, but listeners can skip as many songs as they like (free, AccuRadio.com). 8tracks offers playlists designed by fellow 8tracks users (free, 8tracks.com). Hype Machine offers music from more than 800 music blogs (free, HypeM.com). Rhapsody’s new UnRadio service is like Pandora One, Pandora’s paid ad-free service, except that you can skip an unlimited number of songs and listen on demand to songs previously played that you marked as favorites, even off-line ($4.99 per month, Rhapsody.com).