YouTube Music Key: Google’s ad-free music service | Technology | The Guardian YouTube YouTube Music Key: Google’s ad-free music service The subscription service will offer concert footage and remixes in addition to the official discographies of artists, according to reports YouTube Music Key will offer streaming music videos and audio for a monthly fee. Photograph: David J. Green - lifestyle theme/Alamy Tuesday 19 August 2014 05.29 EDT Last modified on Thursday 13 October 2016 16.13 EDT Close This article is 2 years old Google’s long-expected YouTube music service will be called YouTube Music Key and will feature more than 20m songs and videos curated specifically for YouTube . The YouTube music service will offer a 30-day free trial, with a $9.99 monthly subscription giving access to “high-quality tracks - complete albums, organised into artist discographies”, specifically for YouTube with both video and audio-only streaming and offline listening, according to Android Police .

It is expected that the YouTube service will link in with Google’s existing Play Music All Access music subscription service, which costs $9.99 or £9.99 a month in the UK and is expected to be rebranded Google Play Music Key. Concerts, covers and remixes The YouTube service will offer concert footage, covers and remixes in addition to the official discographies of artists, according to reports. Google will offer an enhanced version of YouTube’s existing recommendation engine based on user consumption, making suggestions of what to listen to as users watch videos on YouTube. The service will be available through a browser on a computer as well as through smartphones, tablets and Google’s Chromecast streaming media stick. Google’s YouTube music service has been expected for a long time, which recently stalled due to negotiations with music labels. Google was also accused of strong-arming independent labels who refused to sign up for the new music service, threatening to block them from YouTube according to indie trade body Win . YouTube Music Key is expected to be offered once remaining disputes over licensing have been resolved, but could be a US-only service in launch. It is unknown when Music Key will be launched with speculation putting it before the end of 2014.

Google declined to comment. The best music streaming service – The Sweet Setup by Tyler Hayes Spotify is currently the best option available for an on-demand streaming music service. It has the features, the users, and the catalog to back up that claim. It’s a hard thing to define exactly, but in 2014, streaming music was still a novelty. Now that Apple has debuted Apple Music, it’s safe to say the age of streaming music is finally here. There’s a small chance on-demand streaming music won’t ever catch on with the mainstream population — that the monthly costs will be too preventative in some way — but, for better or worse, this is streaming music’s time in the spotlight. Nearly every top technology company has an offering in this space, and they all vary slightly from each other in features and cost. Some music streaming services are free and thus don’t require as much commitment — for example, SoundCloud or Amazon Music (for Prime subscribers). There’s also Apple Music and Google All Access, which are paid choices and want to be your only option. They try to do it all with storage of personal music in an online locker, as well as some form of Internet radio, with both complimenting an on-demand song selection.

Then there’s Spotify, which rides the line of paid and free and can be used as haphazardly as you’d like. Because Spotify restricts full access for mobile usage, it’s hard to consider it a free option for those interested in truly on-demand music streaming, but it might suffice in a pinch — or to test the waters. These different pricing tiers make it a little tricky to select only one option for all users interested in the best streaming music solution. We’re still going to try to help you narrow the selection down as best as possible and highlight services with great free features to help supplement paid ones. A note to readers: The streaming music space is increasingly volatile. There are constantly new features being released and there will inevitably be service consolidation sooner or later. A small part of recommending a music service, similar to the case with a photo service, is also to limit the risk of needing to switch to a different service because of acquisition or loss of funding. The pick: Spotify If you’ve never subscribed to or used an on-demand streaming music service, our recommendation is Spotify.

Spotify is the go-to choice right now because it has nearly every feature other services have, it has the most users (your friends,) plus it’s gotten really good at what it does. Apple Music is a very close second and is extremely promising, but lacks some features and has some software bugs out of the gate. Not only is Spotify the best option, but it’s the service least likely to call it quits on music anytime soon. You may want to switch at some point, but it shouldn’t be because you’re forced to change music services. Spotify has a free tier that makes it easy to jump in and try it. Spotify has also been running a promotion that will give you three months of premium service for $0.99. Who is it for? Spotify is taking the Netflix approach and tries tobe available on whatever platform you use — even the web to some extent. It will most likely remain the default choice for anyone not quite sure what they specifically want to get out of their streaming music service. For those reasons, Spotify is the streaming music service to beat. It’s the company betting on streaming music for survival, rather than a value-add proposition.

Spotify’s also been doing this for more than 8 years, trying to bring free and paid streaming music to the masses. You won’t find Taylor Swift’s music on Spotify , but you will find nearly every other artist that’s available to stream on all the other services. Plus, like each service, it has its own set of limited exclusives and Spotify Sessions for certain artists recording versions for the company. Spotify offers on-demand streaming music, algorithmic Internet radio, and user-created playlists, among other features. Spotify’s radio service may pale in comparison to Apple’s celebrity-laden DJs, and has never really been championed by anyone, but it will keep music flowing if that’s what you need. If you are interested in manually digging in and discovering new music, you can search based on mood, new releases, and recommendations based on your listening history. If you’re less interested in doing the work, Spotify now features a personal “Discover Weekly” playlist updated for each user every week. The Discover Weekly playlist has been widely praised for its song selections, despite being powered by an algorithm. Since most of the top-tier music services have a roughly equal catalog of music to choose from, Spotify’s main advantage is its brand recognition and large user base.

However, if you manage to discover new music, sharing it still remains a pain. Since Spotify has a free tier that is currently used by the most people ( 75 million worldwide as of June 2015 ), sharing a Spotify link has the best results. The company’s embeddable playlists remain as frustrating as Adobe’s Flash, but the communal aspect Spotify holds is nothing to sneeze at. Spotify is available for free (with ads) on the desktop, or for $9.99/month for the ad-free version. If you don’t pay, you’ll gets ads on mobile as well, with the additional penalty of having albums play their tracks out of order. The Spotify Family Plan includes up to six individual Spotify Premium accounts for only $14.99 a month. Spotify Apps Spotify’s desktop experience isn’t a shining example of how to build an app. The design is horrendous, the layout is clunky, and the app doesn’t have great performance. Like iTunes, it is what it is and if you want to listen on the desktop, you’re pretty much stuck with it. The web version requires Flash, so that’s a non-starter for many users. Spotify on mobile is little different story.

The Android and iOS versions are decent. While I have some minor complaints about the layout and colors, it works fine. Spotify also has an extensive relationship with third-party developers. This means that lots of apps can use, or might need, a Spotify premium account to do cool things with the service’s catalog of music. For example, Pacemaker is a fun DJ app that lets you remix any song in Spotify’s collection if you’re a paying subscriber. This type of support may or may not seem like a big deal in theory, but it’s kind of like the iOS and Android app situation. After a while, all of the buzz of apps being released on iOS first generates a reason to consider switching. Sonos support is another reason to keep paying the monthly Spotify fee. It’s great to have unlimited music access on your phone or computer, but having it on high quality wireless speakers in your home is amazing. Spotify Issues? Spotify has some of its own quirks and issues, like the fact that you can currently only add 10,000 songs or albums to your library before it will start rejecting new additions. This limitation has been known for awhile, but as of right now has yet to be changed.

On August 20, 2015, Spotify released an updated privacy policy that caused quite a stir due to the personal and uncomfortable level of personal data it wanted to collect. This has since been updated and clarified to better indicate what data would be used and in what ways. After the company’s follow up, there does not seem to be any reason for concern about malicious intentions. Spotify has been around a lot longer though and it’s had time to address any critical flaws it once had. Other paid options Apple Music Who is it for? The Apple user (Mac, PC, iOS, Android, and Apple TV) who wants to mix paid and streaming music Apple is entering year two of its foray into the streaming music space. After a rough start in year one, iOS 10 brought a much needed visual overhaul. With access across iTunes, iOS, Android, and Apple TV, it’s a great option if you are an Apple household. Unlike Spotify, there’s no free tier; it costs $9.99/month for access to on-demand music streaming or $14.99/month for a 6-person family plan.

Apple currently offers a three-month free trial which should be ample time to figure out if Apple Music works well for you. There’s also a discount available to college students. What makes Apple Music unique to Spotify? At its core, the streaming services offer roughly the same thing. Access to tens of millions of songs for a low monthly fee with options to download offline. The major difference that Apple Music brings is the ability to mix purchased, ripped, and streamed music in one library. Spotify has the option to add your iTunes tracks to your Spotify library, but it’s a simple matching method vs matching + uploading (no custom concert rips, etc). If it can’t match it, you can’t use it. Apple Music Apps While iOS 9’s version of Apple Music left a lot to be desired in terms of simplicity, iOS 10 brought a fresh approach. Connect has been demoted, while My Library has been given a top spot to the left. My Library is where you can access anything you’ve saved. This includes playlists, artists, and albums. I love the dedicated “Recently Added” section. The For You section contains things you might like, which is based on your past listening and current library.

It contains a New Music Mix (updated on Friday) or a Favorites Mix (updated on Wednesday). These are playlists I have used quite a bit since the iOS 10 launch. It also contains other albums and playlists it thinks you may enjoy. I’ve found that aspect of it to be passable, but not significant overall. Moving to the line of the next section, the Browse tab is where you can find new music based on charts and playlists. Apple provides activity playlists (workout, BBQ’ing, etc), along with top playlists for genres (singer/songwriter, alternative, etc). Many of them are frequently updated, and I have found some of them to be fantastic. Radio is a mixture of Beats1 and customized stations. While a lot of the novelty of Beats1 has worn off for me (I find it rarely plays genres I enjoy), I do believe in the model. I am hopeful that additional radio stations come alive in the future. You can also create a custom station based on individual artists as well. The Search tab does what you’d expect. If you want to find something, you can most likely find it here. The last aspect of the iOS apps I want to cover is the Now Playing screen.

Overall, the iOS 10 version is a huge improvement for me. The only thing that took a hit was the fact that I can no longer heart a song with one tap. I have to hit the ellipses in the bottom right, and then tap Love. I find myself not “liking” and “disliking” songs as often because of this. It’s also a bit confusing to locate the shuffle and repeat options (hint: you pull up from the bottom). The Mac and PC versions that live inside of iTunes have gotten a lot better, but I’d still prefer to see a ground-up rewrite of iTunes that makes Apple Music the center. The Apple TV app does what you’d expect. The features I described above are largely the same for tvOS. Having a service that works across all my devices is an incredible experience. One of the biggest issues with the original launch of Apple Music was how it fell apart on one of the key aspects: uploading your existing library. It relied on simple metadata matching which lead to awful results. I don’t have that complicated of a library, and I ran into quite a number of issues (mismatched songs, etc). Thankfully, that problem is now solved.

With iOS 10, Apple is using audio finger printing to determine which tracks need to be uploaded. This feature has been rock solid for me. While Spotify might provide a better pure streaming experience, Apple Music does a great job of mixing purchased, ripped, and streamed libraries. While this does add some complexity, it largely does what it sets out to do. If that’s what you want out of your music service, Apple Music will fit the bill. Google Music Who is it for? Google Music makes the most sense for the dedicated Android user, but it may be the sleeper service that just can’t get the recognition it deserves. This question could backfire, but, when was the last time you heard an artist, record label, or random person on Twitter mention Google Play Music All Access? Part of the problem has to be the name, but Google’s problem in the music space is brand awareness. I know people use the service, but not nearly enough. Google Music — what I’m going to refer to it as — is one of the most interesting music services available right now. It offers free cloud storage for your personal library so you can upload ripped or purchased music and stream it back anywhere — at no cost. This is Google’s equivalent of iTunes Match.

As an added benefit, even if you don’t subscribe to Google Music’s on-demand features (which run $9.99/month), you could still use this for your personal music and a different streaming service to have unlimited access to all the latest songs. Its Internet radio is a cut above the rest because of its addition of Songza, which is the music service that recommended music based on circumstances like mood, time of day, or event, rather than just by genre. One of the areas Google Music does suffer is in the playlist category. The service has playlists, of course, but they aren’t present throughout the on-demand interface. You can create your own, but they are second-class citizens to the radio function. Another interesting choice is the lack of sharing buttons throughout the interface. If you drill down to a song’s landing page in the mobile app, you can find a way that offers sharing, but the quick links (represented by …) mostly point toward starting radio listening. Even on the web, Google Music’s main “app,” sharing is not emphasized with only “get link” and “Google+” as the options. For most people, this doesn’t offer the sharing methods they typically use.

This could be a big reason for the lack of people talking about the service and sharing links to songs. If sharing was easier, I think the service would gain more awareness. Google Music Apps Google Music on mobile (iOS and Android) is a joy to use. The company’s material design language is perfectly suited and all the features are easy to find and use. The problem is that features like playlists and sharing don’t seem to be a priority for Google. Mobile is not Google Music’s problem; the biggest concern is the main web app. It appears to be a scaled up version of the mobile experience, which isn’t as bad as it sounds, but requires Flash, which will turn many users off. One of the coolest features is probably using Google Music’s Android app with a Sonos speaker. You can play music on the speaker system outside of its first-party app, acting sort of like Bluetooth or AirPlay — though its neither of those. You can use the Google Music app to control the Sonos speakers, so for those that don’t like the Sonos app, it becomes a compelling feature. Google Music Issues? Google Music gets the big picture right, but it’s the finer details where the music service gets frustrating beyond casual use.

One recent issue was with an update to its mobile app which seems to have deleted some user’s downloaded music, according to App Store reviews. Another update that began highlighting radio over things like playlists also caused user backlash, but that’s more of a calculated move forward. Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a, mostly, stealth addition to services available to Prime subscribers. Since it’s not a service worth $99/year, it’s ostensively a free service for Amazon devotees. Amazon leveraged deals to include the free music service, but to get that, it settled for a lot of back catalog rather than the newer popular music selections. This shouldn’t stop you from checking it out, but it might prevent regular or heavy usage. The Prime Music app on iOS has evolved and is quite good. One of the killer features is lyrics that sync to the music. The app design is easy to use and perfect for those looking for familiar music. The main problem with Amazon Prime happens to be by design — the catalog is random and comparably sparse. Free options SoundCloud SoundCloud is an interesting entry in the music listening space. You can compare it to YouTube as the audio equivalent.

YouTube will host your video and make it easy to share — SoundCloud does that for music, podcasts, and other audio. Because SoundCloud is the audio hosting solution, the amount of available songs varies wildly and usually includes some illegally uploaded tracks. The amount of illegal music has significantly decreased over the years, however, and lots of artists and records have gotten onboard with putting at least a few songs on the service. One of SoundCloud’s main features has been the visible waveform and the ability to comment on specific sections of the song. The comments are usually annoying, but the company has definitely built a brand around the waveform. SoundCloud’s iOS app can be frustratingly minimal, but it’s still beautiful. The way it feels like you’re sliding the background to scroll through a track instead of the track position marker, exemplifies the app’s appeal. SoundCloud may not yet be a Spotify competitor (there’s long been rumors of it being a formal on-demand service), but it’s a convenient way to dive into the underground music scene. It’s big for certain genres of music, like EDM, because of its independent nature. The Rest There are a lot of different choices if the other mentioned services don’t scratch your itch.

For example, Microsoft has Groove Music which was previously named Xbox Music. It works well if you live in the Microsoft ecosystem, but even then it’s hard to recommend to Windows lovers over Spotify. Tidal will be an interesting case-study one day. The service, which is backed by lots of musical celebrities, is trying to be the artist-friendly music service. So far, it’s yet to really prove it can offer musicians much that other services can’t. The other differentiator is its high-resolution audio quality as an added top tier at $20/month. As a competitor to Pandora , 8Tracks goes the other way and relies solely on user curation rather than computer algorithms. Users create playlists based on anything, and then those playlists are available for anyone to listen to. Deezer has never really gained a U.S. audience the way it did overseas, but it still is worth considering if high-resolution audio is on your must-have list. Deezer partnered with Sonos to offer its high-quality audio, which makes sense because you need good speakers with which to listen. Conclusion We expect the music streaming scene to continue evolving every month, but for right now, Spotify is the best pick for most people.

Spotify $0 - $9.99/Month Spotify is our favorite music streaming service because it has great features, an expansive catalog, and the social user base to back it up. 15 of the best online music players. Which music streaming platforms is best for you? - The Next Web 15 of the best online music players. Which music streaming platforms is best for you? 825 shares With a seemingly ever-growing number of streaming music services available via the Web and dedicated mobile and tablet apps, choosing the online player that best fits your need is an increasingly difficult task. Obviously, there are some big names that you might already be aware of, but there are also some newer services that launched in the last 12 months, and some of the existing ones have changed features, so we thought it well worth putting together a roundup to give you some insight into what each offers before you hand over any hard-earned cash. LEARN MORE Perhaps paying for one that lets you download tracks for offline listening, or upload your entire music library for playback anywhere could be worthwhile in the long run, even if it seems more expensive at first. Or perhaps you don’t listen that often, so you prefer a free option.

Do you need access via a mobile app for listening while on-the-move? Do you want a radio streaming-style experience or do you decide exactly which song or album you to listen to? There are lots of options out there, but here are some of the biggest and most notable online music players that are worth checking out. Spotify Spotify is one of the best-known music services available, and as such it has a 20 million strong catalogue of tracks available to listen to – it also means there’s a thriving hub of third-party apps too, like the BBC’s Playlister service among many other, with which to extend your listening. Most people will probably use it to listen to individual artists or bands, to create playlists of tracks or to listen to individual albums. However, there’s also a ‘radio’ option that plays music it deems related to your original artist of choice. In reality, this isn’t the smartest radio out there, so if what you want is automatically created radio stations, there are better options. Access is available via a online music player (above), via downloads for Windows or Mac machines, or running under WINE if you’re a Linux user.

At it’s most basic, access to streaming is free on all platforms – although depending on which device you’re using, you might get either only the option to play music on ‘Shuffle’ mode , and/or the occasional audio ad between tracks. Spotify used to charge for mobile access, so its recent changes for Android and iOS are for the better if it wants to stay competitive with rivals’ offerings. In December last year, it also removed the 10-hour listening limit for free account holders in some parts of Europe – making it all the more useful for the cost-conscious tech aficionado. The caps were never in place in the US, but used to be in full effect for the UK and Europe. A full list of countries where Spotify is available can be found here . Nonetheless, there’s still a paid-for Spotify Premium plan available for $9.99/£9.99 per month, which removes all advertising, offers higher quality audio tracks (320kbps vs 160kbps) and opens up the option of downloading specific tracks, albums or playlists for offline listening. The slightly perplexing offline sync limit of 3,333 tracks is still the most you can download, though.

While Spotify might be seen as the industry standard of mainstream music streaming services nowadays, its mobile apps lack some of the more sophisticated features of other platforms. The desktop isn’t coming on in leaps and bounds either, and has maintained many of the same features of the same service since it launched years ago, albeit with newer discovery options. For example, it still only lets you listen back to your locally stored library via the desktop app, rather than uploading them to some sort of cloud storage for access from any device. However, the single biggest missing feature from Spotify is a better way to manage your listening, other than an almost endless ream of playlists. One of the strong points for Spotify is its sheer ubiquity. As one of the largest services, there’s a good chance that your friends are using it too, and thanks to the social integration with Facebook you can keep an eye on what you friends are listening to (or share directly) for new inspiration. For: People who don’t mind paying for offline access. People that want to listen to what their friends are listening to.

➤ Spotify | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone Pandora Although Pandora is still only available to users in the US, Australia and New Zealand, it’s a veritable granddaddy of online music streaming, but walks a different line to Spotify. Rather than providing tracks on-demand, Pandora users pick an song and let it create a radio station of similar and related music. Thankfully, and as you might expect given its the primary function, this actually works pretty well and keeps recommendations sensible. As with others, there’s a free account tier that lets you get going without handing over any cash, but there’s a limit to the number of tracks you can skip per hour, per station, as well as how many skips you are allowed to perform per day. Free account holders are able to create up to 100 personalized radio stations of new and old, well-known or obscure, music and comedy. For a yearly payment of $36 or a monthly payment of $3.99, Pandora listeners can, however, upgrade to a Pandora One account, which removes all the advertising, and provides access to the service through the standalone Pandora One Desktop app .

Similarly to Spotify, Pandora reserves its highest quality audio for paying users, although it won’t please audiophiles as much as Spotify. On the Web, tracks are played at 64k AAC+ for free listeners and 192kbps for Pandora One subscribers, the Desktop app also streams at the same rate. In-home devices play 128kbps audio, and (slightly unhelpfully) mobile devices run different rates depending on the capability of the device and the network, but never more than 64k AAC+. It also lets you perform more skips per day than a free user, although the six skips per hour, per station limit remains. If you’re the kind of person who likes to customize everything you can, you’ll probably like the custom skins that are available too. Mobile access follows these same restrictions too, and there are apps available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices. For: People who want to stream radio stations rather than on-demand tracks across a variety of platforms for free, in the US.

➤ Pandora | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone Store Google Play Music All Access OK, so it has an unwieldy and cumbersome name that we wish Google would change, and we’ve already given you a pretty deep dive into Google’s music service, but here are several good reasons it deserves consideration in your short list. Google Play Music All Access is another $10 per month option that allows users to stream whichever of the more than 20 million catalog tracks that are available, but it offers a radio-style listening experience too, for users to create a station (with unlimited skips!) based on any artist, album or song that they want to choose. As well as beating Pandora to the unlimited skipping game, it’s also a step ahead of Spotify in a few ways too: mobile users can access all of the music they’ve uploaded locally via the iOS or Android apps (as well as on the desktop, of course), rather than just being restricted to the available streaming catalog. Currently, there’s a 20,000 track limit on the number of songs you can upload, but this should be enough for a modest music collection.

Naturally, given that Google has its own mobile OS, there’s no problem with accessing Google Play from an Android device through the dedicated app , but Apple owners are in luck too, as there’s also an iOS app . Thankfully, offline sync is also an option, so you can keep listening to your music while you’re on the go, even if you drop offline. Google Play Music All Access is available in the following countries : Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. Its solid and simple UI, availability across many platforms and devices, and blend of on-demand tracks with optional radio-style listening makes Google Play Music All Access a compelling option. For: Android users; people who want to access their entire catalog of music from any device; iOS users disenchanted with iTunes .

➤ Google Play Music All Access | Google Play | App Store Sony Music Unlimited Sony’s music streaming service, like many others, touts a catalog of more than 25 million tracks (“from indies to superstars”) available to play on demand, however, it’s a little different to some of the options here, in that there’s no free streaming plan available. Instead, to entice you to dip a toe into the water, there is a free 30 day trial so you can take it for a test run before deciding to carry on with monthly payments, or not. If you do decide to go ahead and pay for it, the service has two tiers: an Access Plan and a Premium Plan. It’s probably also worth mentioning that at the time of writing, there’s also a 3-month offer for $3/£3 . The Access Plan is the cheaper of the two — $4.99/£4.99/€4.99 — and allows users to access premium Channels, chart listings and editorial playlists curated by the team.

Naturally, it also includes unfettered streaming access to the entire catalogue of tracks, or there’s the option to download playlists to your library for offline access – but only up to a limit of 1,000 tracks. Given the breadth of Sony’s business, it’s little surprise that Music Unlimited is accessible from a range of different devices, and the Access Plan will qualify you for access via a Sony games console or via the Web. However, notably, what’s NOT included in the Access Plan is access from a smartphone or tablet app. For that, you’ll need a Premium Plan, which costs £9.99/€9.99/$9.99 per month. As well as providing access to the service via Android smartphones or tablets, iPod Touch and the iPhone , the Premium Plan also opens up the option of listening via Blu-ray players and Bravia/Sony Internet-connected TVs, which is worth bearing in mind if you have a decent TV and sound system set up in your lounge. Whichever plan you opt for, tracks are delivered in 320kbps AAC format, which means they’re of a higher quality than some of the other services.

Sony used to offer a MusicSync feature too, which scanned your hard drive to add details about existing non-DRM protected music tracks. However, now Sony offers its similar functionality via its Walkman app for select Xperia models. The major weakness of the Music Unlimited service is the recommendation and discovery aspect, which is far less sophisticated than some of the rivals’ services, although there are pre-populated playlists and Channels. Sony Music Unlimited is currently available in: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the USA and UK. For: Sony fans (Xperia/Brava/ PlayStation owners), who can benefit from tight integration of Music Unlimited on TVs, smartphones, consoles and tablets. ➤ Sony Music Unlimited | Google Play | App Store Mixcloud Mixcloud touts itself as the place for long form audio. In real terms, this means that it’s a great repository for DJ mixes, radio shows, podcasts and any other longer audio formats.

The company says that the average length of an upload on its platform is in excess of 40 minutes, and that the average listener stays tuned in for more than 20 minutes, and its long form format means it’s great at just running unattended in the background for hours at a time. While it’s certainly not the place to head if you want to listen to one specific track or a whole album, if you want to listen to a whole mix or radio show it should definitely be on your short list. And there’s another good reason, too – it’s completely free for end users. However, just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s lacking features. You’ll find all the usual things like favoriting tracks and creating playlists, and thanks to a recent revamp and relaunch of Mixcloud X , it now includes more streamlined playback options and branded profile pages for partners. There are also dedicated Android (below) and iOS apps too – which, again, are free to download and use, although you will need to create an account to start listening. On the Web, you don’t even need to do this.

While it doesn’t boast the same kind of track figures as on-demand platforms like Spotify or Google Play All Access Music, it doesn’t really need to. Instead, what it does have is more than 500,000 partners on board that have uploaded more than 3 million mixes – most of which are between 20 minutes and several hours long. There’s a general music selection and nothing is excluded, but the company said that the most of the catalog “has strengths” in curated music, focused on Electronic Dance Music (EDM), hip-hop, jazz, funk and world music. For: People who want access to radio shows, podcasts and DJ mixes from a mobile or the Web, but never want to pay a penny; fans of EDM. ➤ Mixcloud | Google Play | App Store Rdio Rdio is an ad-free music subscription service that allows users to listen to music on-demand, as well as to stream pre-made stations and playlists of tracks created by other users. Like many of the others, Rdio claims to have that magic 20 million song catalog and offers mobile access for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices (via a Web app).

Although you’ll need to pay a monthly subscription fee for access from a mobile. On the desktop, the service will give you six months of uninterrupted ad-free listening. After this, users get a limited number of tracks per month which can be played – once this has been used up, you’ll need to subscribe to carry on listening. For $4.99/£4.99 per month, you can get access to unlimited streaming on the Web, shown above. Increasing this to $9.99/£9.99 broadens access to include mobile devices (Windows Phone shown below) and streaming via devices like a Roku media player. There’s also a family plan which includes two (by default, although more can be added) unlimited subscriptions starting from $17.99/£17.99 per month. Audiophiles might be left pondering over the fact that Rdio doesn’t offer the same level of audio quality in its music as some of the rival options, but 192kbps should be good enough for most people. If it’s going to be the main source of music for a serious sound system though, you might want to aim for 320kbps tracks, at least.

What’s particularly good about Rdio is the clean and crisp UI and – whether this is a good or a bad thing is up to you – the integration with social media, should you wish to track your friends or share what you’re listening to. Rdio is currently available in these 51 countries . For: People who want cheap access to unlimited streaming on the Web, people who want multiple accounts/a family subscription. ➤ Rdio | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone | BlackBerry World iTunes Radio iTunes Radio is obviously, by its very nature of being tied to the largest digital music store, a big player in this list. Offering access from a range of [mostly Apple] devices, iTunes Radio can be used on your iPhone, iPad , iPod touch, Mac, PC, or Apple TV and allows seamless syncing of playlists between them. Rather than focus on user-created playlists at its core, iTunes Radio offers users a choice of more than 250 human-curated and genre-focused radio stations [Note: link opens in iTunes] to tune in to. Naturally, buying recently played tracks is as easy as a click of a button directly from the recently played list (shown above).

If none of those 250 or so take your fancy, you can always create your own personalized iTunes Radio station based around any song, artist or genre that you like. Like Amazon and Google’s music services, Apple also offers users the option of storing all your locally stored music in iCloud via the iTunes Match service, so you can play it back from any compatible device. To use this feature, you’ll need a premium subscription to iTunes Match costing $24.99 per year. Alternatively, if you don’t mind the occasional advert and can live without the iTunes Match service, then you can use Apple’s iTunes Radio service gratis. There’s one big and very large drawback to using iTunes Radio though, and that’s its limited reach. It launched in the US in September last year, and for now, there it remains. For: People in the US who own multiple Apple devices and are happy listening to radio format streaming. ➤ iTunes Radio Deezer The French company Deezer has been offering music streaming since way back in 2006, although back then it was called Blogmusik. It became a fully fledged business in August 2007.

With many years under its belt already, Deezer is now a mature service with a catalogue of 30 million tracks available for playback. Like the others, at its most basic it offers playlists, music discovery, favorites and integrated social features but it also offers a wide range of different mobile clients including iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry. It’s also available on Mac/PCs too, as well as via a dedicated Windows 8 app. Failing all that, you could of course just fire up a browser and use the Web player (below). The free listening option provides unlimited music for the first month, but after this you’ll have just two hours per month. If that doesn’t cut the mustard, Deezer has Premium and Premium+ plans available for $4.99 and $9.99 per month respectively. Upgrading doesn’t only remove the listening restrictions, it also unlocks access to higher quality tracks (320kbps) and allows access via mobile apps too. Like Spotify, Deezer also gives you the option to import your local library of MP3’s for playback through the desktop client, but it stops short of actually cloud syncing your library so you can play them back from anywhere.

Users that sign up for a free trial of Deezer Premium+ via Facebook are given 15 days to test out the service, before needing to enter card details to carry on using it. Happily, it’ll work in a lot of different countries too, a full list can be found here . For: People who are happy to pay for access to one of the largest digital music catalogues available to stream and want most of their use to be via the desktop client. It’s also one of the few services that offers a native app for BlackBerry device owners. ➤ Deezer | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone | BlackBerry World Xbox Music Xbox Music is Microsoft ’s music streaming service that ties together its desktop, gaming, mobile and tablet devices for true multi-platform access, and a replacement for Zune. It only launched last summer, but it’s already had a makeover for Windows 8.1 and launched on iOS, Android and via a Web player . Naturally, it’s available on Xbox consoles too. Microsoft clearly has ambitions in the space, as Xbox Music already offers more than 30 million songs – more than most others here.

Streaming is free and you can create radio stations based on a particular artist, but the music is ad-supported. Free streaming then becomes limited to 10 hours per month after six months, so if you want to carry on using it, realistically you’ll end up paying. As well as providing all the usual sort of playlist and playback functionality, it also scans locally stored files and matches tracks with those in existing playlists on its services. There are benefits and drawbacks to Xbox Music. While it offers multi-platform access, using it on a mobile or console requires an Xbox Music Pass ($9.99/£8.99 per month), this does open up the option of offline listening too, though. Xbox Music listeners using a Microsoft console that do pay for the service will also get access to more than 70,000 music videos available to stream. A full list of available countries where the service is active is available here. For: Microsoft/Windows device owners, people who want to stream videos as well as music.

➤ Xbox Music | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone SoundCloud If you’re looking for a huge repository of music, but one that also lets you upload your own mixes and tracks too, then you’re probably looking for SoundCloud . Primarily intended platform for people to share their own musical creations and mixes, as it has grown in popularity and size, big artists and labels have also signed up, allowing for some of their music to be available through the platform. It’s been around since 2007, but SoundCloud got a revamp in 2013 that was intended to make it easier to use and attract even more listeners. However, this move also attracted some criticism that it was heading more towards the mainstream, and was less about artists. Nonetheless, with a Web player and native mobile apps for Android , iOS , Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 smartphones and tablets (Android tablet shown below), there’s plenty of ways to listen to tracks on SoundCloud. Like Spotify and Deezer too, there’s also a third-party app ecosystem built around SoundCloud, in which you’ll find more than 100 more apps designed to extend the reach and usefulness of it.

SoundCloud offers three pricing tiers : Free – Offers two upload hours, 100 downloads, unlimited playlists and access to some stats, like number of plays, downloads, comments and favorites of tracks. Pro (€3 per month/€29 per year) – Allows four hours of uploads, access to posting tracks in ‘Quiet Mode’ (allowing you to control comments) and Spotlight (allowing you to pin up to five tracks to the top of your profile to receive more attention). It also includes more detailed stats, with reports on who is playing your tracks and where they’re located. Pro Unlimited (€9 per month/€99 per year) – Allows you to upload unlimited single sound file sizes up to 2GB each and within an upload time limit of 30 hours per week. For: People who want to share their own music with the world, as well as listen to others’ creations. ➤ SoundCloud | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone Store | BlackBerry World Grooveshark Grooveshark is an online music streaming service for playing back individual tracks, artists or albums since back in 2007.

The free tier allows ad-supported listening of tracks across a wide range of genres , but it’s really the hassle-free listening and good selection of electronic dance music that scored it a place on this list. Without even creating an account, you can start queuing up tracks in a playlist – although to save a playlist you’ll need to at least create a free account – simply by searching. If, when you get to the end of the list you’ve created (or before that point, in fact), you run out of tracks, there’s the option to start a radio station based on the tracks you’ve been listening to. Handily, if the station then throws up some unknown tracks that you rather like, then you can choose to save the whole tracklist to a new or existing playlist. If you fancy yourself as having a pretty good taste in music, you can also choose to broadcasts your listening sessions for others to listen along with. However, while it has an easy to use interface in some areas, free users won’t be able to access the service via anything but the browser. For $50 per year/$5 per month, users can subscribe to the Anywhere premium subscription plan that allows usage via Android or iOS apps (on a jailbroken device) .

It also brings the option of a desktop download for Mac (OS X 10.7+) and Windows machines. For: Web listeners. While it lacks some of the finesse or more advanced integrations of rival platforms, if you’re a Web-first listener and would rather not spend any cash, Grooveshark could be well worth a look. ➤ Grooveshark Slacker Radio Slacker is another radio-style streaming service that’s available across a range of platforms, but unlike, say, Pandora, listeners aren’t restricted to only being able to listen to radio stations. At its most basic, users can access the service on the Web and via mobile apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone (shown below) to access hundreds of playlists curated by Slacker’s music experts and while it doesn’t shout about the exact number of tracks it has to offer you, it does boast about having “more than 10x the music of Pandora”. On the free tier, listeners get to listen to as much free radio as they can take, but also endure adverts. Skips are also limited to six per hour.

Paying $3.99 per month gives users access to the Premium plan, which allows for unlimited ad-free streaming, unlimited skips, song lyrics and the option to store your favorite stations on your smartphone memory card. Bumping this up to $9.99 per month turns it into a fully fledged music on-demand platform, with individual artists, tracks and albums available to stream or sync for offline play. It also unlocks the ability to create playlists. Slacker suffers from the same problem (from an international perspective) as iTunes Radio and some of the other services in this list, as it’s only available to users in the US and Canada, and there’s no word on if or when it might expand beyond these horizons. For: People who like Pandora, but want more music and a slicker design. ➤ Slacker Radio | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone Store | Amazon App Store TuneIn Radio TuneIn Radio is a little different to the other radio streaming services in this list as it focuses on acting as a hub and player for commercially available radio shows. In total, there are more than 100,000 live stations available, and more than 2 million podcasts.

Radio stations can be filtered by location or by genre, but there’s an obvious drawback to listening to regular radio in this way: the adverts remain, no matter what you do. There is actually a chargeable app for iOS (currently $0.99, but usually $6.99) and Android ($6.99) that allow users to record live radio, but still won’t get you out of listening to those adverts. There are also free apps for Android and iOS too. It’s also available for Windows Phone, BlackBerry, some Roku players, through some Internet TVs – and even directly in some cars. For: People who like listening to traditional radio stations, but want to do so from one single platform. ➤ TuneIn | Google Play | App Store | Windows Phone | BlackBerry Myspace (Music) MySpace might seem like an odd one in this list, but since it relaunched, it has re-angled itself as a music and video platform, rather than as a social network.

As such, you’ll find a massive library of music on there – but beware of raw numbers, a huge amount of MySpace’s usage before the relaunch was for bands and musicians and so it follows that a huge amount of the music available to listen to on the platform is from little-known artists. On the positive side, if you’re just looking for a free way to listening to signed and unsigned artists alike on the Web, then this is one way to do that. It’ll particularly appeal to iPhone owners too, who can use the MySpace app to stream personalized radio stations or to listen to stations curated by your connections. For: People who want a (sort of) social network and a music service rolled into one. People who like discovering unsigned artists. ➤ Myspace | App Store Beats Music Beats Music is easily the newest service on this list, so new in fact that it hasn’t even quite started up yet anywhere, but it will on January 21 . However, only for users in the US – although further expansion is to be expected, judging from the signup page for people outside the States .

Backed by Dr Dre and boasting a catalogue of more than 20 million tracks, Beats Music will launch with iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps, as well as being available via the Web. Rather than choose specific tracks, it seems Beats Music users will generate a playlist by using cues in the real-world, like people, locations, activities and genre. So, if context-smart music streaming is what you’re looking for, then this might be worth checking out – although, it should be noted that most if not all of the services in this list offer some form of music discovery or recommendation service. Once it’s up and running, the service will cost a straight $10 per month, that’s it, there are no other options and no freemium business model. You will be able to take it for a test drive with a 30-day free trial, though. For: People who want some human recommendation and curation, as well as access from a smartphone or tablet. ➤ Beats Music Amazon Amazon is clearly the elephant in the room when it comes to this, as it doesn’t offer a music streaming service. Yet. However, we’d be surprised if it didn’t offer one in the future.

What it does have right now is the Amazon MP3 store and the Cloud Player . The former lets you buy MP3s and the latter lets you upload them (and any other locally stored music) into Amazon’s cloud for playback across a range of devices. With a company like Amazon, one of the most ambitious and diverse around, it’s really only a small step, rather than a huge leap, to see it launch an on-demand streaming music service. For now though, it doesn’t. Round up As you can see, there are plenty of online streaming options available, with some being more suited to radio listening and others focusing purely on providing individual tracks and albums on-demand. Most of those included in this list offer an algorithm or human curation aspect to discovery of new music, but you’ll likely need to spend some time using any of them before it accurately learns what you like. For true multi-device, multi-functional, streaming with the additional benefits of being able to upload your own music collection too – Google Play Music All Access gets a shout out. If you’re looking for the best all-rounder, Google’s is pretty high in the list. Slacker is similar, but US-only and has no provisions for uploading your own music collection to the cloud.

And Rdio is a company that’s getting a lot of traction at the moment for its six months of ad-free listening and simple design. Ultimately, this list should be enough for you to narrow it down to two or three that you’d like to try out, and handily most offer a free trial so you can try them on for size. Get to it. Featured Image Credit – Shutterstock Google launches free music streaming ahead of Apple Music debut - The Verge Google launches free music streaming ahead of Apple Music debut Linkedin As Apple Music nears its June 30th launch, Google is getting more aggressive about trying to sell users on its own Google Play Music service. Today the company is launching a free, ad-supported tier that offers curated playlists (a la Songza) designed to accompany every moment of your day. The handpicked stations themselves aren't new; Google brought them to Play Music's paying subscribers last year after its acquisition of Songza. But now everyone in the US can listen; the curated playlists are available today on the web and Android, with an update for iOS also due very soon.

Google is another big fan of human curation For Google, sticking with playlists was an easier approach to free music than the on-demand, ad-sponsored tier that Spotify offers. The free half of Spotify's service has been the subject of harsh criticism from musicians who feel the company underpays artists. Google seems confident it can avoid this by going the "music radio" route, and its existing licensing agreements guarantee a big selection at launch. If you can already stream a band's music with Google's subscription music service, all of those same tracks will be part of the now-free radio side. (Yes, that includes Taylor Swift's back catalog.) A hipster-friendly example of Google Play Music's curated playlists. The difference between this and Spotify is that with Google you never have control over exactly what songs are playing. Google Play Music product manager Elias Roman seems to think that many people won't mind, since he believes most consumers are after an effortless "lean back" experience. "They want the music to be awesome. They want it to be contextually relevant, but they don’t want to tweak a lot of knobs," he told The Verge. The company's team of music experts has assembled every curated playlist from top to bottom.

Here, Google shares the same "humans over algorithms" philosophy that Jimmy Iovine and Apple Music have been pushing. Whenever you pick a mood, genre, decade, or activity-based playlist, you can be confident that an actual person programmed what you're hearing. But Google does lean on algorithms for some things. If you start a new radio station based on a particular artist or song, that's when everything gets handed off a computer. Free users get ads, limited skips, and no offline playback As you might expect, the free service loses out on several features that premium subscribers get — and also handcuffs you with some restrictions. Free users are limited to six skips per hour, a number that's become the industry standard in recent years. You can pause tracks, but there's no ability to rewind, scrub through songs, or even see what's coming up next. People who pay for Google Play Music have full control over playlists and can manipulate, edit, rename, and save them for offline playback. "You can make it your own," said Roman. Free listeners get none of those things; a playlist is much more like a radio station and you don't get to customize it.

One nice perk is that even free tier users can listen to streams at up to 320kbps so long as you've got the data connection to support it. Apple and Google are running the same playbook: streaming, cloud, and store What Google is doing here isn't nearly as ambitious as Apple's second try at music radio; there are no live 24/7 broadcasts or renowned DJs introducing you to new artists. But people still use Songza for a reason; the playlists are pretty excellent. Google's app is much more polished and nicer to use, so if you don't mind ads, it could be a great soundtrack for the gym or work commute. And ultimately, Google hopes it will be enough to convince people to start paying. Subscribing lets you listen without interruptions, take playlists offline, or instantly start streaming any song in Google Play's catalog of 30 million tracks — the same number Apple and Spotify point to. The company refuses to say how many subscribers it has, a hint that it's not faring nearly as well as Spotify. But when you add free streaming to Play Music's premium service, free cloud locker, and the regular MP3 store, Google's music ecosystem starts to look pretty compelling.

Apple's running a very similar playbook, after all. Which will you choose? Best Music Streaming Service Comparison Table | Safe Smart Living Home > Entertainment > Audio > Best Music Streaming Service Comparison Table Best Music Streaming Service Comparison Table 14 E-mail Total: 112 How do we keep this site running? This post may contain affiliate links — the cost is the same to you, but we get a referral fee. Compensation does not affect rankings. Thanks! This table is a companion resource to our article Spotify vs Rhapsody vs Pandora vs Google Music vs Rdio vs Beats that compares the most popular music streaming services. If you click on a company name in the header (or footer), you will be taken to a more in-depth review on the main article page.

Best Music Streaming Service Comparison Table Service Library with Songs for Flat Rate Access 30 Million Blackberry, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet Kindle Fire, Blackberry Logitech, Sonos, Squeezebox, Control4, TivO, Xbox Logitech, Sonos Control4, Sonos, Logitech, Squeezebox, TivO, Xbox, PS3, PSP, PS Vita Logitech UE, Roku, Sonos, Xbox Sonos, Bluesound, Linn, Auralic, Mirage, Squeezebox, Amarra, McIntosh, Wadia, Electrocompaniet, Meridian, Lode TV Onkyo, WD, Boxee Box System, Tivo Roamio Apple TV, Apple Watch Onkyo Receiver, Denon Receiver, Yamaha AV Receiver, Marantz Receiver, Pioneer Receiver Chromecast ABOUT Kimberly Alt Kimberly researches everything before she buys. She wants to make sure she is getting the best bang for her buck by purchasing the best product/service, which is why she loves her work. She has a degree in Multimedia Journalism and has been researching and writing professionally since 2013 to help consumers make more educated decisions.

Best Bluetooth Speakers: Bose Soundlink vs Beats Pill vs Jambox vs JBL Charge December 5, 2016 November 15, 2016 Metanoid Android I’m surprised Tidal didn’t feature in your comparisons. I was a Spotify Premium customer for a number of years but have used Tidal for the last 18 months. You say Spotify has great sound quality. Well, compared to Tidal it really, really doesn’t. I use Tidal at Hi-Fi quality which is basically CD quality on my HTC. I can download or stream at this quality; yes, it uses a lot more data but I have an unlimited data mobile contract and plenty of storage. I stream to a Monitor Audio S200 speaker. Doing A-B comparisons between Spotify and Tidal (both at their respective highest qualities) the difference is significant, light and day (everyone who’s heard it says the same). I believe even higher quality is available when using Tidal on a PC and connecting to a decent DAC via USB.

In terms of cost, yes at £20 in the UK, it’s more expensive but for anyone who used to buy CD’s or vinyl in days gone by, it really isn’t, it’s expansive! Ah, now I see why Tidal may not have featured in your comparisons. I think it only just came on the scene about two years ago. Coronos W Thanks for this comparison. Is there any reason Rdio was excluded from the chart? Edit: Never mind, I just discovered it was shut down. Tavish This doesn’t say anything about privacy and what type of information these services collect from us for the music service as well as sell to third parties. All these services request (or automatically have) permissions to access information about our phone and data stored on it. It would be extremely helpful to know how this information is used. I have heard of companies like veracode doing analysis of apps, maybe you can team up with someone like them to get some insights? That’s a great suggestion! We will keep this in mind for our next audit! Saxman77 The article states the highest quality streaming rate (Bit Rate) is 320Kbps.

You haven’t mentioned Deezer which has 36 million tracks and has an option to stream at 1440 Kbps, which is CD quality. On a good quality stereo system the sound quality is dramatically more engaging with deeper defined bass, richer vocals and more realistic instrumentation. Xbox streams at 192Kkps, yikes! Blanca Perez Out of curiosity, why is Google Play not rated as high as Spotify? I have tried both (and Beats, MOG, Rdio, Deezer, Rhapsody Tidal, and others I’ve forgotten) and see little difference between them except if you run the music through a high end sudio system, Google sounds better. That’s why Google is my favorite. Kimberly Kurimski Great question, and glad to hear that Google Play is working well for you! We think Google Play is a great music streaming service. We just felt that the other 3 were a little bit better. Google Play could easily make our top 3 in our next audit. Brian Sheely Can’t wait for the Apple Android app to come out! Hope the icon jiggles when I longpress it.

Apple really knows how to put the “Fun” into FUNctional….and always at a reasonable price. Glad you found this article helpful! exadeci Desktop Software is OSX not iOS. BoneDoc Could you please add Songza to the list? Also, kbps streaming rate would be great too! Thanks! John Dubock I’ve used Rhapsody desktop for years, sound quality is sucky compared to Pandora. The interface of Rhapsody is so dated its painful. I have a Sansa Clip to download a few songs for exercise, can anyone recommend a solution? I use my phone for calls only. Thanks for the comment John! You’re looking for a music streaming service to replace Rhapsody? Have you tried Spotify? RadicalElation Rhapsody has a new interface both for their website and desktop program, as well as their mobile app. I’m not sure if it’s standard yet, but I opted into the beta for it a couple months ago. On top of that, you can go into your settings, on the old version or new version, and select the sound quality of download AND streaming, up to 320kbps.

yodacohen Rhapsody no longer offers 320kbps downloads. 160kbps is maximum. Not happy. 667 Google Play does have a desktop music manager, it does stream to TV using Chromecast too. Artist radio and discovery is available and with Songza like updates you can even generate activity based radio stations. You do not seem to cover the Youtube Key option which you get with Google Play, which is an interesting addition which nobody else seems to provide. Thank you for all the information! The table has been updated. Mike As an artist myself, I would like to see which pays artists’ the most. Rhapsody used to pay a penny per stream which at the time was the most. Spotify was the least at 0.0001 or something like that. It’s important to know if you care about the artists. If you only care about free music then I guess it wouldn’t be. 2) large variety and number of songs 3) easy to use and access Leslie Jones Evans I am very interested to know the difference in artist royalties….any idea where one finds that information?

I love all the music at my fingertips (Rhapsody user contemplating Spotify), but I do care about the artists and will gladly pay a little extra for their art. Sorry Leslie, we haven’t done any research on artist royalties for this category. Vaughan Elphick To be honest, and let’s be bluntly honest, music is highly pirated, not by people that just don’t want to pay, (this is a huge misconception) but rather cannot. It is why YouTube hit it off so huge with free music paid for by ads and Spotify are doing the same, yes the artist gets less, but what would they rather, nothing at all? This is the digital age where you get less but you get more people listening so it works out the same if not better and will only keep getting better as the population is not getting any less. iKrontologist All of these streaming radio services have contracts with RIAA member labels from Big 4 to independents. But also deal directly with artists themselves. Like Google’s YouTube member singers, they represent themselves and most bypass the recording industry entirely, earning much more than artists signed to major labels.

Who get a mere pittance of what Sony BMG, EMI, Warner (WMG) and Universal! But more recently Apple tried to secretly dig out a better deal from them through Beats connections. Which would have had artists getting even less from them, than what they get now. RIAA group of labels refused to budge as this would most likely lead to another eBooks scandal for Apple. Thus the Apple’s new premium service will stay at $9.95 just like the rest. Smart move by the record industry for once!!! Everett Vinzant “RIAA group of labels refused to budge as this would most likely lead to another eBooks scandal for Apple.” Could you site a factual source for this information? Your statement isn’t even remotely accurate, and I’d like to know where you got this from. As for Apple attempting to dig out a “better deal,” here is some information that corrects what you said by adding context: iKrontologist And I must be Rocking Your Boat here “safesmartliving”! haha….. Blanca Perez In your link “Apple” appears once, and gives no info about negotiations with the companies.

Leslie Jones Evans I am very interested to know the difference in artist royalties….any idea where one finds that information? I love all the music at my fingertips (Rhapsody user contemplating Spotify), but I do care about the artists and will gladly pay a little extra for their art. Novais I’d rather pay for a service that support the artists. I reckon it’s an important variable in the decision-making process and you should have taken this into account in your article. Kimberly Kurimski Thanks for the input! Each person values different features higher than others. As you mentioned, supporting the artists is important, but wasn’t one of the criteria we included in this article. Perhaps there is another article available online with this information included. Vaughan Elphick I thought YouTube actually pays the least, from which, before these all came out, had no competition. If these guys fail, it is back to YouTube. Many people cannot afford to pay, (or just will not) so I’d be thinking the artists would rather something rather than nothing?

RadicalElation I asked a relatively large artist two years ago how much he gets from Rhapsody, if anything, and he had no idea his music was even on there and hasn’t seen anything from it as far as he knows, even though his music has reached their top trending lists for a particular genre. I’m sure there might be different deals with different labels, so there might not be an easy way to find out for listing purposes. Robert Gary My uncle’s music shows up on Rhapsody. He didn’t know about it. Says he’s never seen any money for it. 486DX50 Is it something the artist/singer signs without reading the small font that says: “We have the right to distribute your music in any way and here is your $500. Thanks”? Otherwise I would expect big checks coming in. Blanca Perez The artist typically deals with a label which owns their music under their contract. The label deals with the streaming service and the label pays the artist what their contract says. It’s hard to make money by selling streaming. There are very few economies of scale. Costs of music are per song so don’t get cheaper as it’s streamed more.

As the customer base expands server costs go up proportionally. None of the streaming companies are making any significant money. An artist who thinks he/she isn’t getting enough needs to take it up with the label. Some artists can, and do, not stream their music. 486DX50 Sorry we didn’t make this change sooner. Thank you for bringing this to our attention again. dechah Hi there. Please consider adding Xbox Music Pass to the mix. There are apps for Windows Phone, Android and iOS devices, and there is an app for Windows 8 and above PCs/tablets, as well as Windows RT tablets. There is also a web player and a native app on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. You can have up to four devices registered for unlimited offline playback. In other words you can fill a Windows Phone, or a Windows tablet or a Windows PC etc with as many tracks as you want to download from the catalogue on up to four devices for offline playback. Android and iOS and both Xbox types are currently streaming only. The two types of Xbox enable a user to blast the music out of their home theatre speakers.

A Music Pass subscription also gives a user access to around 100,000 music videos on their Xbox devices. Only one stream is playable at any one time. There is no restriction on having all four registered devices playing offline music at any one time. Playlists are synced across devices via the cloud. Sound quality is superb. Xbox Music works brilliantly with Cortana, particularly in a car setup where you might bluetooth pair your Windows Phone handset to your car audio head unit. Wow, looks like you’ve done all the research for us. We will consider adding Xbox Music Pass to our article in the next audit. Thanks for bringing it to our attention! Michael Google Play Music for Android - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com + by: Eddie Cho on May 17, 2013 Hot off the presses of Google IO 2013, Google Music is back with a new name, look, and service. Formerly known as Google Music, Google has now opted to brand their player as part of the Google Play Service. And though the name doesn't exactly flow very well, Google Play Music is now much more than just the cloud-powered player that comes with Android.

In an effort to compete with the likes of iTunes, Spotify, and Pandora, Google has come out full force with new label partnerships that include Universal and Sony. The result is a completely overhauled app filled with swipeable playlists, a brand new streaming radio service, music recommendations, and more. First thing you'll notice is the trademark card style: Google has brought a fresh coat of paint to make the music experience much more consistent with the card designs found in Google Now and the Play store. Swiping from left to right opens a menu with a few options: Listen Now, My Library, Playlists, Radio, and Explore. My Library has been redesigned to be more consistent with the card-like designs of Google Now and the Google Play Store. Swiping from left to right and bottom to top will respectively open your main menu or bring up the current track. Aside from the compete redesign, users will be most curious about the streaming experience. Does it beat Pandora or Spotify? Pandora, probably yes. As for Spotify, it really boils down to a matter of preference. One of Google's more innovative features for its radio service is the ability to see all the tracks queued for play.

Users can bring up a list of all the intelligently generated tracks and customize their radio as they see fit, down to the song. Don't like what's coming up? Simply swipe it away. You can also reorder tracks as you see fit. It's a feature that's yet to be fully embraced on rival radio services. The signature 3-dot menus are scattered all over the app, allowing users to store music onto their phones for offline use or queue up songs in a playlist. The original cloud-based storage still works, but you're forced to continue using the less-than-stellar Google Music desktop application. Another potential turnoff is the absence of a free tier; you'll be paying for this service. If you're already accustomed to the iTunes-like management and slick mobile take of Spotify, then by all means stick with it. But if you're heavily invested in the Google ecosystem and design perks of its ICS flavoring and so on, then it's worth a shot... especially considering the free 30-day trial. In terms of general music library size, it's harder to gauge, but having the big three labels onboard should support most music lovers' tastes.

All in all, it's a solid effort on Google's part and certainly an improvement over last year's version. Is it the overwhelming Spotify killer? No. But it's different and it's got more bells and whistles than what initially meets the eye. From Google: Google Play Music makes it easy to discover, play and share the music you love on Android and the web. With our new All Access service (US), you can play millions of songs on Google Play, listen to radio with no limits, and enjoy playlists handcrafted by our music experts. Keep listening for just $7.99/month when you start your trial before 6/30/2013. With both All Access (US) and Standard, the Google Play Music app lets you listen to your music collection anywhere. All your music is stored online, so no need to worry about syncing, storage space or offline playback. What's new in this version: Google Play Music family plan.

Google Play Music Increases Song Storage Limit To 50,000 From 20,000 Google Play Music Increases Song Storage Limit To 50,000 From 20,000 {{article.article.images.featured.caption}} Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Full Bio The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Loading ... Loading ... This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe Play Music is a music streaming and storage service that lets you listen on the web, smartphones or tablets. Previously, you were allowed to store up to 20,000 of your favorite songs on Google Play Music for free. Now Google Play Music has upgraded the storage space to 50,000 songs at no cost. The extra space is a free upgrade for users, meaning that there are no catches and it is applied automatically. There is an “All Access” subscription available on Google Play Music that costs $9.99 per month, which lets users access on-demand streaming of any song and play custom radio stations.

Individual tracks can be purchased from Google Play Music for about $0.99 per song. Google Play Music has more than 22 million tracks available for streaming or purchase and is available in 58 countries. And the Google Play Music mobile app offers offline listening. If you do not have a Google Play Music account, you can create one at play.google.com/music using your Google login. When you visit that website, you will see a message from Google that says “Encore! Encore! Now you can upload up to 50,000 of your favorite songs and listen to them on your phone or on the web.” After that, you can add upload your music collection. You can stream or download music through your Android, iPhone, iPad and Adobe Flash-supported web browsers. Google Play Music offers personalized recommendations based on what you listen to and creates contextual playlists known as “Instant Mix.” I use Google Play Music to store my MP3s from my PC and listen to them during my commute to and from work. Google Play Music / Credit: Google Google acquired music streaming service Songza in July 2014 and integrated its technology into a Google Play Music feature called “Listen Now” four months ago.

Based on the time, your mood or the activity you are doing, Google Play Music will recommend certain playlists. Google Play Music competes against iTunes Match, Spotify Premium and Amazon Music. iTunes Match -- which lets you store up to 25,000 songs -- plays back the songs you have in 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality even if the original copy is lower quality and offers ad-free music on iTunes Radio for a cost of $24.99 per year. Amazon Music lets you store 250,000 songs for $24.99 per year or 250 songs for free. Spotify Premium offers ad-free music, playlist shuffling and creation, on-demand streaming of any song, offline listening and high-quality audio for $9.99 per month. In terms of features that are available for free, Google Play Music appears to be ranked at the top because 50,000 songs is the best offer I have seen so far. Each song that you upload to Google Play Music can be as large as 300MB, according to Liliputing.com .

Multiplying 300MB with 50,000 songs means that Google Play Music is offering 15TB of free storage. Do you use Google Play Music? What are your thoughts about the free upgrade? Let us know in the comments below!

Question: Name Google's music streaming service?
Answer: Play