Over the last few years, music listening has advanced a lot. There are no longer any CDs, vinyl records, or cassette tapes that you need to purchase. Digital downloads are no longer required. You can sign up for a music streaming service to have unlimited access to all your music on any device you carry.
There are many songs streaming services available, each with its unique features. It cannot be easy to find exemplary service for you.
You’ll want to think about streaming audio quality and support platforms such as digital assistants. Although voice assistants are improving their ability to work with third-party services and Siri is a great example, they still have a lot of work ahead of them.
Are you still trying to figure out which streaming service is exemplary for you? We researched for you. These are the top music streaming services that you should consider.
Spotify
Spotify offers a lot of songs and audio content. It’s also available on many devices, making it an excellent choice for people who listen to music on different devices.
You are looking for song streaming services that offer a wide range of music and are compatible with all devices. Spotify is your best choice. Spotify is the original streaming music service. It has apps for every central platform, including Android and iOS.
Spotify’s best feature is the fact that you can use it without signing up. Spotify offers a free, ad-based version that you can use as long you want, provided you are okay with ads being heard from time to time.
Many streaming services are only available on a desktop computer. Spotify, however, has native apps that can be used for all functions.
Spotify has an app that can be downloaded to your Mac or PC if you prefer a dedicated app. You can also download podcasts and video content. The service streams music at 320Kbps, which should be sufficient for most listeners.
There are some downsides, however. There is no live programming on Spotify, unlike other streaming music services.
Apple Music
Apple Music’s human-curated discovery options may not be as effective as Spotify’s. Although it has decent channels and suggested playlists, I found that there were fewer musical rabbit holes. If you’ve enabled social sharing, you can see the music that your friends are listening to.
But, unlike Spotify, the tab shows all your favorite songs artist by artist. So if you want AC/DC to play on your way home, it will play all AC/DC songs from all their albums.
The iOS app is excellent, the Android version is okay, but the desktop app is terrible. Sometimes songs won’t play. Clicking “Add to Library” rarely works. The back button is also a mess. It is difficult to add music to your library.
Navigating away from the browsing tab will take you to the home screen. You must navigate back to the artist or album you were looking at, except for the moment it suddenly disappears.
There aren’t any lossless or free audio-quality tiers. Only one $10 per month plan that streams up to 248 Kbps is available. It is not significantly different than Spotify’s 320kbps. You have a limit of 100,000 songs in your library.
Tidal
Tidal can be accessed on many platforms and offers better audio quality than most other song streaming services.
Tidal differs from other music streaming services because it targets people looking for higher-quality audio.
It means that Tidal offers a high-quality sound. Tidal offers a bitrate up to 320Kbps. However, other streaming song services only offer a bitrate up to 320Kbps. Tidal’s audio can also be streamed in FLAC format.
Tidal can be used with a variety of apps. Tidal has an app for every platform, including iOS, Android, and Mac. There is also a web-based Tidal app that you can use when you don’t have a native app.
Tidal has access to some great exclusive content. Tidal was the first to launch albums like Jay-Z’s 4:44 and Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo.” The service will most likely receive additional exclusive content. Tidal subscribers also have access to selected concerts and sports tickets.
YouTube Music
YouTube Music’s interface looks clean and well-designed. YouTube Music doesn’t attempt to mimic Spotify’s design, which is wise for a small music platform (from a billion-dollar company).
The song list and lyrics are displayed in a vertical window within this app. It makes navigation quicker and more intuitive. It is also easy to switch between listening to a song and watching the music video (if one exists).
It has over 60 million songs, and it makes suggestions for artists I might like. Although it is not as good as “Spotify,” it is still an excellent service. You can save 100,000 songs to your library and can share playlists with friends.
YouTube Music combines the best features of Apple Music and Spotify. You can view your “liked songs” by artists and subscribe to an artist for their complete catalog.
There is a downside to the free tier: the songs stops playing on the smartphone app when you switch apps or turn off your screen.
YouTube Music Premium ($10 per month) is a good option if you don’t like looking at your music all day. It allows you to download songs offline and cuts out ads. The desktop app does not have this critical flaw.
Amazon Music Unlimited
Amazon Music Unlimited is available on many platforms. It also integrates seamlessly with Alexa and offers discounts to Prime subscribers and Echo owners.
Amazon Prime subscribers might be interested in Amazon Music Unlimited, a music subscription service that allows them to save money.
Prime subscribers already have Prime Music. However, if you want to get a better streaming service, Music Unlimited is a better option. It offers a more extensive music collection.
Music Unlimited is available for iOS, Android, as well as the web. It is fully integrated with Amazon’s Alexa so that it will work flawlessly with your Echo or other Alexa products.
You might also get a discount if you use other Amazon products. Amazon Prime subscribers pay $7.99 per month instead of $9.99 for Unlimited. In contrast, Amazon Echo and Echo Dot owners pay just $3.99 per month.
Prime Music streams at 256kbps for audio quality. Amazon Music Unlimited boasts “tens to millions” of songs. It is pretty impressive. Music Unlimited does not offer non-music content.
