You forgot Tune In Radio Pro.
But Napster? Seriously?
One of the most highly anticipated must streaming services, Spotify, finally launched in the US in mid-July and I bought a month of service to try it out. I then tried it out along with several other streaming music services to see what one worked best for my needs. I tried Spotify, Slacker Radio, Rdio, Pandora, Last.fm, MOG, Napster, Zune Marketplace, and Rhapsody. There are many other apps that play internet radio stations, but I wanted to focus on those apps streaming music from servers and not radio content.
Before we dive into the details of this article, please understand that I am a person with just a couple thousand songs in my own personal collection (rather small collection really) and I prefer to stream music to my devices or download it for offline enjoyment. On my iPad and HTC Flyer I also enjoy music when connected to a WiFi network so streaming music in high quality is my preferred practice. I enjoy music from a large number of genres, including classic rock, christian, jazz, country, and more so streaming subscription services give me the flexibility to enjoy a wide range and also discover new music.
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| Image Gallery: Check out some screenshots of streaming music apps on an Android devices. |  |
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There is no one best service for everyone and even though I offer a conclusion for the best service, remember that this is for MY NEEDS and you may find another service that your prefer. The great thing is you can try out these services for yourself to make the most informed decision.
In this article I present my experiences with the following and offer a few screenshots in an image gallery captured from my Droid Charge:
- Spotify
- Slacker Radio Premium
- Rdio
- Last.fm
- Pandora
- MOG
- Napster
- Zune Marketplace
- Rhapsody
I used my Samsung Droid Charge to test these services since they are all available on the Android platform. I also include what platforms you can find each service on and include some thoughts on the other clients in my summary thoughts. My iPad is a perfect device for streaming music as I enjoy music while I surf and test out apps in my home that is covered with WiFi.
Spotify
Spotify is the newest music streaming service and generated quite a bit of excitement at launch. I signed up and paid the $9.99/month for the Premium service that is needed to use Spotify on your mobile phone. There are mobile clients for Android, iOS, webOS, the older Windows Mobile, and Symbian. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work on my new Nokia E6 because the high display resolution and small landscape only orientation of the display.
As I stated in the introduction, I like to discover new music and the client in the US is lacking the ability to simply enter a genre and have music fed to you. I understand this “radio” option is available in Europe so we may eventually see it here. Thus, all of your music is played through playlists. Spotify does make it pretty easy to add playlists from your friends through Facebook so it is more about playlist discovery than music discovery.
There are reportedly over 15 million tracks in Spotify’s music collection so you shouldn’t find anything lacking. You can play music in 160 kbps or 96 kbps, depending on the connection you have available. A reader pointed out that technically it can stream at 320 kbps, but it is listed in the Android app as 160. Unlike most other clients, Spotify can serve as your device music player by including your onboard music too. Offline mode is great so you can cache music on your device to listen to later, such as when you are on an airplane.
Slacker Radio Premium
Slacker Personal Radio has been around for a few years and has evolved into a valuable service that has been one of my favorites because of the large number of mobile clients they support and the performance I have experienced with very few repeat songs. Slacker has a reported collection of over 8 million tracks, but honestly that is way more than I could ever hope to use.
I like that Slacker is all about listening to stations and discovering music. You can also listen to music offline when you don’t have a connection. You can share your Slacker experience via Twitter or email and they are one of only a couple that have a full native iPad application. Others with an iPad app include Pandora and Rdio.
Rdio
I have heard a lot about Rdio and finally decided to give it a try as part of this article. One great aspect is that Rdio is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry so I am covered. There is also an iPad-optimized application that looks great. Rdio has a slight twist on the music discovery process with a dashboard that has quick access to recent activity and heavy rotation tunes. You can also search for your favorite music and create playlists.
You have the ability of adding the tracks you already own to your collection which gives you the ability to listen to them on the Web, with the MAC or PC client, or iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, Sonos, Blackberry or Roku. Offline mode is supported so you can download some music to take with you. Rdio is one of the most social services with the ability to share your music listening session with friends and then choose to listen to friends’ music.
Last.fm
Last.fm has been around for quite some time and is what I really started with on my Nokia Symbian devices. Last.fm invented the term scrobbling and other clients actually will use it to share out music. The have a reported 7 million song library. but they are also free so it is tough to complain about that. The app is free, but the radio part is limited to a 50 song trial and after that you need to become a subscriber for all platforms but Windows Phone 7. However, it is cheap at only $3 per month so if you skip a cup of coffee you can purchase and enjoy Last.fm content. Check this link for the breakdown of services.
There are Last.fm clients for Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7, and players like Xbox LIVE and SONOS. Last.fm does a good job with song discovery and the ability to share your music experience, but there is no offline music to take it with you. I do like the user interface and music selection though.
Last.fm is handy for finding local music events and is supportive of the local economy.
