Many of us get our entertainment, news, and pay our bills online. So, it’s not a big surprise that we access our music over the Internet as well. Many individuals subscribe to on-line music-streaming services that are either free or cost money. The advantages are many. People don’t have to transfer their music files onto different devices and they can listen to it anywhere they have access to the Internet.
If you are curious as to the differences in these services, we have highlighted a number below.
Pandora: Pandora is very widely used because of its simple user interface. After navigating to the website, you can input a song or artist you want to hear and Pandora will create a “radio” station determined by that information. This is a great way to learn about new artists with similar sounds. The stations that Pandora creates are easily customizable as well. If Pandora chooses an artist that you don’t like, you can select the thumbs down symbol on the song. Pandora allows for further customization by allowing you to “seed” your station with various artists. While you can listen to Pandora without creating an account, it is crucial if you want to save your personalized stations.
Grooveshark: Grooveshark is a lot like Pandora. But you can also build your own playlists manually, all without creating an account. However, those who want to save their play lists will have to sign up for a free account. Like Pandora, Grooveshark also provides recommendations for songs that you might like based on your past musical selections. Grooveshark also has an interesting feature: You can help build the service’s database of music by adding your own favorite songs and artists if you can’t find them in Grooveshark’s existing collection.
Rhapsody: Rhapsody has remained fairly popular due to its huge database of music. It has more then 14 million songs. Unfortunately, while many of the services we have discussed offer a free version, Rhapsody does not. It is $10 a month for unlimited music.
Spotify: Spotify is one of the most widely known music-streaming services out there. After its release in 2008, it expanded rapidly. Spotify has a user friendly interface. You can enjoy entire albums, decide to create a “radio” station based on your tastes, or create playlists that you can share with other Spotify users. This is attractive to people who enjoy the nostalgia of creating mix tapes. Many people love Spotify’s integration with Facebook. By utilizing the Facebook app, Spotify creates a running list of what you are playing day by day. You can also see what your Facebook friends are listening too, in real-time.
