Music streaming services

[Death Aflame]

I recently signed up for a 7 day trial with Rdio and I loved it. I was surprised at the depth of selection it offered--even for metal (they have most of Root's discography for christ sakes). I signed up for the service not too long after my trial expired. Does anyone here use a rdio or a similar service (spotify, pandora, etc.)? What do you think of it?

I ask mainly because rdio's discovery is not algorithm based (like Netflix) but people-based, you discover new music by following people whose taste you trust. If any ultimate metal users are on the service I'd be interested in checking out what you've been enjoying lately. Feel free to follow me as well: http://www.rdio.com/people/jordandjk/

 

[Death Aflame]

Seriously no one on here uses Spotify, Rdio, etc?

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I've tried them all. Spotify wins in the end.

Rdio has no clue what it streams at and a whole lot of their music comes in at a low bitrate but they won't tell you. Also their mobile app is fucking terrible.

MOG has a great selection, VERY high streaming quality, and their queue management is the best of the bunch. Additionally, their "sliding bar" radio is pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the radio is terribly repetitive, and tends to play the same songs in the same order for a given artist at a given setting. Also their mobile app has a nasty tendency to not let you play downloaded music when there's no internet connection.

Spotify, which is what I use currently, seems to be making the most deals with record labels right now and is having the best success with keeping on top of current releases. Additionally its radio service works very well, and their apps are clean. I hate, HATE that you can't simply "download" a song, but have to put things in playlists. It's very cumbersome and unintuitive, but the overall experience is better than the others.

Also, Spotify seems to be the service that the most companies and labels are hopping on board with. Relapse has their own Spotify app, even. It's not great, but it shows you that they're not just allowing Spotify to have their music, they're actively involved with the service.

 

[Death Aflame]

I haven't used Spotify because it's not available in Canada. Our options are more limited up here. MOG and Pandora are also not available here either.

I've tried Rdio and Songza, but arguably Songza serves a different purpose than all-you-can-eat style streaming services. I noticed Rdio hasn't gone public with bit rates of their music which is a bummer as I have definitely noticed that some music (even when you change the setting to "always" stream high quality bitrates--Asphyx's Deathhammer seemed to suffer from a low quality stream) simply doesn't sound as good as it should, even for digital. I'm no audiophile, but I do hope they work on improving this so more options are available and are clearly defined.

As for the mobile app, I've not had any problems with the Android app. It's not as robust as the desktop app or webpage, but it is still fairly intuitive, fast, and well designed, I find.

I'm not much for queue management at this point but maybe that will change. Rdio does let you sync songs to your mobile device (i.e. download). This is by far my favorite feature. Without it, I doubt I would have hopped on board--it's really the killer app. That Spotify doesn't have this option is shitty. The convenience of having access to my whole library of songs on the go when compared to hooking up cables and manually downloading every song onto my phone is a huge pain in the ass. Aside from the odd album that isn't available on Rdio, I don't think I can go back to doing that. It sounds like Spotify isn't quite as inconvenient as this, but dropping songs into playlists for mobile use is not nearly as user friendly as syncing to mobile.

I have to say I do like the social network style discovery of Rdio. It takes some work to find and follow people with interesting taste, but it is more "natural" discovery than content spit out by an algorithm. There's a bit of algorithm stuff happening where it tries to guess popular records you might like based on what you listen to and who you follow, but it doesn't get in the way or as absurdly specific as netflix, for example.

If/when Spotify comes to Canada I'll have to check it out and see how it compares.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I'd keep an eye on MOG and the "Daisy" service supposedly in development by Trent Reznor. Both are being run under the Beats audio behemoth and I'd be willing to bet that with the proper funding and a good promotional push (plus some of Trent's ideas seem damn good) it could sweep them all out.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I frequent my favorite record label's bandcamp pages daily. It's the only way I've heard some of the new stuff that's come out the past 2 years.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I gotta admit that at this point if I can't get it on Spotify or Bandcamps (meaning, anywhere official) I just let it go. I've had my days of piracy, and I really have no interest in physical media since I only listen to shit on my computer or on my phone, so on demand it is!

 

[Death Aflame]

I frequent my favorite record label's bandcamp pages daily. It's the only way I've heard some of the new stuff that's come out the past 2 years.

Bandcamp is great. I only wish it worked better on mobile devices. I've had issues where streams stop after each song, requiring me to skip to the next song, or streams of individual songs don't seem to work at all.

It works great on my desktop though.

 

[Death Aflame]

I gotta admit that at this point if I can't get it on Spotify or Bandcamps (meaning, anywhere official) I just let it go. I've had my days of piracy, and I really have no interest in physical media since I only listen to shit on my computer or on my phone, so on demand it is!

I'm feeling more and more this way myself.

That said, I did just get a record player in the summer so I still see myself buying the occasional vinyl, but it won't be the main way I acquire new music.

 

[matt schrauben]

I don't understand the "non-physical medium" mentality. In my book you can't beat a physical album. Not only do you get the art, booklet, liner notes, etc, but unless you are streaming your music in full quality WAV, you can't beat the sound of a phyiscal album.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I don't understand the "non-physical medium" mentality. In my book you can't beat a physical album. Not only do you get the art, booklet, liner notes, etc, but unless you are streaming your music in full quality WAV, you can't beat the sound of a phyiscal album.

And just where, pray tell, are you doing all of this? Do you drive around with 2,000 CDs in your car? Do you have them all sitting beside you at all times? Are you okay with leafing through that many albums to find the one you want? And where are you STORING all of these albums?

The fact is, with Spotify and its ilk, I can be in my car, get a text from a friend that says something like "dude the newest Incantation is badass", and within 30 seconds I'm listening to it. And not only that, but no one can break into my car and steal them from me (I've had CD wallets taken before).

Plus, let's say you want to listen to 40 new albums this month. That's, what, $600 for you? $10 for me. It would take me five years to pay in monthly dues what it would cost you to buy the number of albums I listen to in a month. Since I got MOG and spotify I think I calculated I've listened to about 200+ new albums that I hadn't heard before. You think I have the cash to buy that many albums?

Yeah you lose a lot in terms of presentation and perceived clarity (your ears can't tell the difference between 320 and FLAC, I'm sorry, they can't, and even 192 is about the upper end unless you're listening through incredibly expensive studio monitors), but the convenience is way, WAY worth it.

Side note: audio quality is SUCH placebo. I've had people listening through Skullcandy buds on an iPhone tell me they'll only rip music in 320. The fuck is wrong with you, that's just taking up space you'll never be able to notice. Even with my Atrios and an amp on my laptop the difference between 128 and 192 is minor. Noticeable, but minor. Above that and unless all you're listening to is live performances of orchestral music there's just no point. What, did you really need extra clarity in that Napalm Death album??

 

[Mort Divine]

Don't care for streaming services like those, I'm happy with Google Music or Audiogalaxy.

I can rip my collection to my computer, upload it to the Google Cloud and have it anywhere I want.

 

[matt schrauben]

And just where, pray tell, are you doing all of this? Do you drive around with 2,000 CDs in your car? Do you have them all sitting beside you at all times? Are you okay with leafing through that many albums to find the one you want? And where are you STORING all of these albums?

The fact is, with Spotify and its ilk, I can be in my car, get a text from a friend that says something like "dude the newest Incantation is badass", and within 30 seconds I'm listening to it. And not only that, but no one can break into my car and steal them from me (I've had CD wallets taken before).

Plus, let's say you want to listen to 40 new albums this month. That's, what, $600 for you? $10 for me. It would take me five years to pay in monthly dues what it would cost you to buy the number of albums I listen to in a month. Since I got MOG and spotify I think I calculated I've listened to about 200+ new albums that I hadn't heard before. You think I have the cash to buy that many albums?

Yeah you lose a lot in terms of presentation and perceived clarity (your ears can't tell the difference between 320 and FLAC, I'm sorry, they can't, and even 192 is about the upper end unless you're listening through incredibly expensive studio monitors), but the convenience is way, WAY worth it.

Side note: audio quality is SUCH placebo. I've had people listening through Skullcandy buds on an iPhone tell me they'll only rip music in 320. The fuck is wrong with you, that's just taking up space you'll never be able to notice. Even with my Atrios and an amp on my laptop the difference between 128 and 192 is minor. Noticeable, but minor. Above that and unless all you're listening to is live performances of orchestral music there's just no point. What, did you really need extra clarity in that Napalm Death album??

I get the convience of it. I just doesn't appeal to me, I perfer physical albums in every way. And yes I have tons of albums in my car. I also have tons at home or wherever I feel to keep them. Why would you want to listen to 40 albums in a month anyway? That's overkill, I perfer to enjoy albums one at a time for a longer duration.

Audio quality is not a placebo. And the difference between 320 and a physical album is noticable. Sit and listen to them side by side and you'll hear it. Is it a HUGE difference? not really. Slight at best, but when you start going down to 192 or lower the difference is pretty substaintial. Granted, as you stated, if you are listening to your music through cheap earbuds, who gives a fuck? I'd agree, but I generally listen to my music through some pretty solid speakers.

Either way it's all a matter of preference. And my preference has more to do with that I'm just the type of person who likes to hold something physical in his hand over streaming an album off of my phone. Something about physical albums just tickles my fancy.

 

[Eligos]

I listen to that much music and rely on Spotify heavily. Some of us get bored and like to have loads of variety instantly available and subject to change on a whim.

Even with my favorite 40 or so albums I carry in my car, I risk getting in an accident by taking my hands off the wheel and eyes off the road if I want to listen to something else.

 

[matt schrauben]

Fair enough good sir.

 

[Stacy Gray]

TinyTunes music streaming app gives access to thousands of latest music tracks for free. Users can stream music and download them from any Android device. Download TinyTunes app at http://tinytunesapps.com/