If you're an early Spotify user, you may be looking for a new, free music-streaming service as Spotify's six months of free listening comes to an end.
Trendsetting music lovers who signed up for Spotify when it first hit the U.S. on July 14, 2011 will soon encounter roadblocks. For instance, come the six-month deadline to switch to Spotify Unlimited ($4.99 per month) or Spotify Premium ($9.99 per month), Spotify users will only be able to play their favorite songs a maximum of five times, and free streaming will cap at 10 hours per month.
It's no doubt the unlimited access to a huge library of music — about 15 million tracks — is one of the features that loyal Spotify users love.
PLAY SOUND Spotify's competitors now include: Apple Music, Deezer, Napster and Google Play Music, as well as Tidal and Qobuz, which specialise in hi-res music streaming. Now Spotify's has an even bigger rival – in terms of sheer firepower – in the shape of Amazon Music Unlimited.
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Other features include the ability to make playlists of favorite songs (up to 10,000 tracks per list) and social integration to Facebook. Songs you play automatically display on your Facebook Timeline and desktop sidebar. Plus, access content via share buttons and a convenient search bar. With Spotify Premium, users enjoy an offline mode, which means they can listen to playlists on the plane, train or beach. Finally, radio stations specifically tailor to a user's specific artist or genre preferences.
As fun and convenient as Spotify is, for many, the honeymoon phase is over with the service's free music cutoff. Here are five free music-streaming websites and applications that act as alternatives to Spotify.
1. Grooveshark
Grooveshark is a comparable service that provides free on-demand music streaming with ads. Over 30 million people use Grooveshark globally.
How it compares to Spotify: Comparable features include the option to share songs or playlists with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other social networking platforms. Like Spotify, Grooveshark offers a downloadable desktop application. Other capabilities include radio-streaming and uploading your own music. Grooveshark also offers song and artist suggestions related to your listening habits.
Differences: Since anyone can upload music to Grooveshark, audio quality of tracks may vary. With Grooveshark, there is no monthly limit for free accounts, as opposed to the 10-hour cap soon to occur on Spotify. Can you like songs on spotify free. However, ads play on both systems.
Size of Music Library: Over 7 Million Songs
Paid Options: Grooveshark-Plus ($6 per month) provides unlimited, ad-free listening. New application Grooveshark-Anywhere offers to-go music streaming at $9 per month.
Mobile Availability: Free radio streaming or on-demand access to music with paid subscription for Android, Nokia, Palm, Blackberry and 'jailbroken iPhones,' as listed on Grooveshark's website.
2. Pandora
Pandora's desktop and mobile free radio-style music-streaming service provides tailored sets of tunes based on the artist or track you input.
How it compares to Spotify: Pandora allows users to easily listen without having to search for tracks or create a playlist. 'The Music Genome Project' behind Pandora generates music related to your search terms. The radio will tweak itself according to your thumbs-up or thumbs-down ratings. However, there are limits to songs skipped per hour. Pandora's social sharing capabilities are pretty weak compared to Spotify's wide range of Facebook, Twitter and Messenger capabilities.
Differences: Spotify is clearly better if you want a wide selection of on-demand music streaming. Pandora Internet radio plays from a smaller collection of 700,000 songs, compared to Spotify's 15 million-song vault.
Size of Music Library: 700,000 tracks
Paid Options: Pandora One ($36 per year) comes with unlimited music play, higher-quality audio, unlimited song skips and no advertisements.
Mobile Availability: Free radio streaming and premium listening via Pandora One options are available on Android 1.6 and later, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod touch and Palm Pre devices.
3. Rdio
Rdio is a desktop music streaming application that allows new users in the U.S. to access ad-free, on-demand music streaming for an undisclosed amount of time a month. From the co-creators of Skype, Rdio began to offer Rdio Free with a set amount of ad-free, free on-demand music with its Facebook integration in October 2011.
How it compares to Spotify: Both non-paying users of Rdio and Spotify can play music on-demand, share their playlists and favorite songs on numerous social networking websites, receive music recommendations and listen to artist-tailored radio stations. We like how Rdio and Spotify allow free users to browse and listen to top tracks lists, albums and new releases.
Differences: Rdio Free comes ad-free and on-demand, whereas Spotify plays ads in between song sets. The company will not disclose how much time is free for users who opt out of the premium service. Rdio states, 'We’d rather do it this way than bombard people with ads…When you run out of free music in any given month, you can choose to upgrade to any of Rdio’s existing pricing plans or start free anew the following month.'
Size of Music Library: 12 million songs
Paid Options: Rdio Web ($4.99 per month) offers unlimited web streaming from browser or desktop platforms. Rdio Unlimited ($9.99 a month) offers unlimited web streaming plus unlimited mobile streaming. Unlimited Family ($17.99) offers two unlimited web and phone subscriptions.
Mobile Availability: Available on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android 1.6 or higher, Windows Phone 7 devices and Blackberry phones.
4. MOG FreePlay
MOG FreePlay is the free version of its original subscription-required application.
How it compares to Spotify: Like Spotify, MOG FreePlay offers free music streaming with ads. However, for 60 days, new users can listen to MOG FreePlay without ads. Similar to Spotify, MOG FreePlay logs users in through Facebook and shares music with friends. The service provides recommendations based on bands and artists you have Liked on Facebook. Both players have options to create playlists, favorite songs and much more.
Differences: MOG FreePlay also offers an undisclosed amount of play, like Rdio; however, this platform gives you a chance to earn more free music every month by earning points for inviting friends to join MOG.
Size of Music Library: 13 million songs
Paid Options: Paid options for unlimited music include a MOG Basic plan ($4.99 per month), which comes with unlimited, on-demand music for your computer, sans mobile access. The MOG Primo plan for $9.99 per month comes with computer and mobile access and unlimited streaming to your phone.
Mobile Availability: Only available through Primo plan to iPhone, iPod Touch and Android phones.
5. YouTube
While YouTube is a video player, we recommend using YouTube for free, on-demand music streaming if you love listening to songs on-demand. You can use YouTube Disco to find songs by artist. A search for Beyonce turned up 100 videos, mostly from her official VEVO site.
How it compares to Spotify: Create playlists of your favorite songs for listening at work or play. You can also easily share YouTube videos on various social networking platforms.
Differences: Listening to music on-demand on YouTube may be more work — you will have to search for songs to listen to them. However, access plenty of playlists others have pre-packaged.
Mobile Availability: YouTube's pre-installed application works on Android and iOS devices. Free spotify premium accounts list and passwords 2019. Downloads are also available on Windows Phones. Web-based versions are available for most smartphones.
What music streaming applications or services do you use? How do they compare with Spotify? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Andreas Blixt
With so many applications for mobile phones and computers these days, it’s easy to lose track of what’s out there, let alone which apps contain the best quality. Here you will find the top five internet music apps on the market and what makes them stand out from their competitors.
There are things that one must look at when choosing which application to invest time and money in. These include user interface, song library, audio quality, features, compatibility and how much it costs. That being said, let’s begin the list with a count down from number five:
5. Pandora
Pandora internet radio is by far the weakest competitor to the rest of the choices in this list. Numbers don’t lie, however, and Pandora boasts over 250 million general users, which crushes Spotify’s 40 million. This may sound like a lot, although only north of 3 million of those users are paying members, while Spotify possesses over 10 million paid subscribers. The reason Pandora doesn’t have a solid paid subscriber to free subscriber ratio is simply because Pandora One (the paid version of Pandora), doesn’t offer very much as opposed to the free version. For $4.99 a month, users get no ads, more skips per day and less pauses (fewer time outs). The price is one of the cheaper options available, but you’re really getting what you pay for with this bargain.
Best Music Apps Better Than Spotify Free
Pandora features custom playlists that are very intuitive and easy to use.
One area where Pandora excels is in the user interface department. Creating stations is the primary feature on the free version of Pandora and they do it well. The content within the stations are true to the artist or song that the user chooses, although there is a significant amount of ads present and it is rare to go a few songs without hearing from advertisers. Pandora’s song library is also not one to drool over either, containing just over 1 million songs. What make Pandora one of the more attractive options, however, is the compatibility aspect. Pandora is available on Apple mobile products, Windows phone, Blackberry, Android devices, Kindle Fire, Nook, Mac and PC, smart TV’s, streaming players, blu ray players and many more. Pandora even comes standard in some automobiles such as Honda, Chevrolet and Toyota, among others. Click here to see the full list of compatible vehicles, and here for a list of compatible in-home devices.
4. iHeartRadio
An example of iHeartRadio’s local radio station feature.
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Next on our list comes the iHeartRadio app. iHeartRadio’s 40 million users enjoy a free music experience with a catalog of over 18 million songs and far less ads than the free version of Pandora. iHeartRadio is the most unique app in this selection because it allows users to listen to content from radio stations locally and across the country. The app uses the phone’s location service to determine where the user is and uses that data to come up with local radio stations. In addition to this feature, users have the ability to listen to talk shows, television and radio, from around the country in little snippets so as to not give away too much free content. iHeartRadio is readily available on a number of devices including Apple products, Android devices, Windows devices, the Blackberry 10, streaming devices and a number of vehicles. To see the full list of compatible machines, click here. The user interface is also very easy to use and has a very small learning curve making this app a must have for those who are avid radio listeners.
Below is an info graphic displaying audio quality and library size of the applications:3. Rhapsody
Rhapsody’s home page on its mobile app, displaying featured music and new releases along with what is currently playing at the bottom.
Coming in at number three is Rhapsody. Rhapsody begins the list of applications that allow users to pay a certain amount of money per month (in Rhapsody’s case, $9.99 a month) in order to have the ability to download songs that are available to them when the user is offline. Rhapsody enjoys the largest library out of all of the options in this list (over 32 million songs, which is updated every Tuesday with new music) due to its acquisition of Napster at the beginning of 2012. This gave Rhapsody access to Napster’s library of songs as well as their subscribers. The user interface on Rhapsody’s mobile app is well put together, however, is a bit more involved than it’s competitors seen earlier in this list and requires a bit of a learning curve due to its extra features. There is no free version of this application, only a 30 day trial that can only be used once, making this one of the few disadvantages to Rhapsody. Compatibility for the Rhapsody application is average compared to its competitors. The only vehicle that it is available to sync with without using any cables is Ford, along with only being compatible with a small number of smart TV’s including Vizio, LG and more. See the full list of compatible devices for Rhapsody here.
2. Beats Music
Beats Music comes in as a close second to Spotify in this list. The allure of this application cannot be denied, it is absolutely beautiful. It is clear, however, that the design is meant to appeal to a younger demographic and may not be for everyone. The user interface is intuitive and fun to use, showcasing a modern design to match to Beats by Dre brand. The features that make up the app are fresh and take a fun spin on finding new music. “The sentence” is an exclusive feature to Beats Music, playing music for whatever the user is in the mood for by creating a sentence comprised of four categories (see photo to the right). This feature adds a comedic value to the app while being able to have fun finding new music. Beats Music consists of over 20 million songs, which is updated every Tuesday, similar to Rhapsody, with over 30 genres to select from in the “find it” option. Another unique feature that the app offers is profiles to famous musicians, similar to Twitter in that the usernames begin with an “@” symbol. These profiles contain a bio about the artist, latest releases, top songs, the ability to follow them and a “beats playlist” of their best work. The profiles are organized by Beats Music moderators and not the musicians themselves, however. The cost of this service after the 14 day free trial is $9.99 a month and is free for the first 30 days, or, for AT&T users, it is $14.99 a month for a family of five while being free for the first 90 days. The compatibility of Beats Music is its only downfall, as it has a limited selection of suited devices, being a relatively new application. Currently, the apps serves users with Apple products from the past few years (i.e. iPad third generation, iPhone 4, etc.), Android devices running OS 4.03 or higher, Windows Phone 8 or higher, Sonos wireless speakers, and the latest versions of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.
1. Spotify
Spotify’s sleek user interface presenting the “genre and moods” categories.
Does Spotify Have Better Music
Although there is a lot to like about Beats Music, Spotify ran away with the title of best Internet music app because of its ability to stream music without being forced to pay a monthly fee after the free trial is complete. Users of the app can stream full albums on shuffle for free at any time with a set number of skips given, on top of being able to create their own stations, similar to Pandora and iHeartRadio. Like Beats Music, Spotify offers a premium version of their service for $9.99 a month, which gives users the ability to download an unlimited amount of music for the user’s offline listening pleasure. There is also a $4.99 unlimited option that is limited to desktops and laptops in addition to not being able to download songs. Spotify features a 20 million song catalog, which is updated every Tuesday when new music typically comes out, the same goes for Beats Music and Rhapsody. Compatibility isn’t Spotify’s sting suit, however, making this its only downfall. Like the rest of its counterparts, Spotify is available on Mac and Windows computers, Apple mobile products, Android devices, Windows Phone 8, as well as a number of Blackberry devices. Lastly, the user interface is just as good, if not better than Beats Music while maintaining a more mature look. There is a bit of a learning curve, but this won’t be too much of a hassle and isn’t a make or break feature for the app. Uncovering new music is made very easy with the “Discover” tab, which shows what music is trending in the user’s area and what is popular in general on Spotify. The “Browse” tab features a “Genre and Moods” category which is broken up into different subcategories so the user can listen to the type of music they are in the mood for at that moment, similar to Beats Music’s “The Sentence.”
Which Is Better Spotify Or Apple Music
There are many more quality internet music applications on the market than what is just on this list. That being said, a few honorable mentions include Slacker, Rdio and iTunes Radio. Slacker claims to have 10 times the amount of music than Pandora, with playlists that Spotify “can’t touch.” Like Spotify, there is a free streaming alternative with ads and limited skips, along with two different payment options if the user elects to go that route. There is a $3.99 radio plus option, which gives the user unlimited skips with no ads, as well as a $9.99 premium package with the same features as the previous option on top of being able to listen offline and having unlimited access to their library. Rdio is another free internet music app with the choice of paying $9.99 for an ad-free listening experience of their 25 million song catalog. Lastly, there is iTunes Radio, which failed to make the list simply for the fact that it is only on Apple products and nothing else, along with not having many features and not having an alternative payment option available.
Best Music Apps Other Than Spotify
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