X

Streaming music showdown: Which client fits your needs?

The number of available apps for streaming music clients continues to grow and most now charge $10 per month. What else is there that differentiates these services and apps?
By Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer
6272707.jpg
1 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

The number of available apps for streaming music clients continues to grow and most now charge $10 per month. You will find music streaming and internet radio apps in your operating system software store.

Check out my full ZDNet Smartphones & Cell Phones post for details on these eight selected services.

6272708.jpg
2 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Spotify is the hot new client in the U.S. and does have LOTS of music that streams in high quality.

6272709.jpg
3 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

There are different options available to you in Spotify as you can see here.

6272710.jpg
4 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

The discovery aspect of Spotify is rather limited, but you can also search to find things.

6272711.jpg
5 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Spotify is well founded on playlists so you should subscribe to your friends playlists to see various music.

6272712.jpg
6 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Albums can be viewed and added to your playlists in entirety.

6272713.jpg
7 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

The home screen in Spotify shows your playlists and other music data.

6272714.jpg
8 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

The Premium version of Slacker lets you take over lots of control so you can create custom stations to fit your needs.

6272715.jpg
9 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Your favorite stations are attached to your account so when you sign in on a different device your favorites will appear.

6272716.jpg
10 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Slacker supports offline caching of songs so you can enjoy your music even with no wireless data connect.

6272717.jpg
11 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

You can manage your cached stations and see how much you are taking up.

6272718.jpg
12 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

There are also a number of premade stations in Slacker to help you find music.

6272719.jpg
13 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

There are several menu items available to you in Slacker.

6272721.jpg
14 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

You can share music with others in Slacker too.

6272723.jpg
15 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Slacker plays in landscape orientation too while a few others only work in portrait.

6272725.jpg
16 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Pandora is a very popular music streaming service.

6272726.jpg
17 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Pandora also plays in landscape orientation.

6272727.jpg
18 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Pandora is setup so you enter in an artist and they create channels with content similar to that artist for you to enjoy.

6272728.jpg
19 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

The Napster user interface is easy to use and fun to navigate.

6272729.jpg
20 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

There are several settings available in Rdio.

6272730.jpg
21 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

This screenshot shows a typical album art image of a playing song.

6272731.jpg
22 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Rdio has a rather unique music discover method and I imagine over time I could get to enjoy it.

6272732.jpg
23 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Rdio is a very social focused app with people sharing their listening plans as feeds.

6272735.jpg
24 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

There are several settings available to manage your music in MOG.

6272736.jpg
25 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

You can use the slider bar at the bottom of the display in MOG to control what music plays.

6272737.jpg
26 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

You can download songs for later enjoyment in MOG.

6272738.jpg
27 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

Streaming music showdown gallery 1

6272739.jpg
28 of 28 Matthew Miller/ZDNET

 

Streaming music showdown gallery 2

 

Related Galleries

Holiday wallpaper for your phone: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and winter scenes
Holiday lights in Central Park background

Related Galleries

Holiday wallpaper for your phone: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and winter scenes

21 Photos
Winter backgrounds for your next virtual meeting
Wooden lodge in pine forest with heavy snow reflection on Lake O'hara at Yoho national park

Related Galleries

Winter backgrounds for your next virtual meeting

21 Photos
Holiday backgrounds for Zoom: Christmas cheer, New Year's Eve, Hanukkah and winter scenes
3D Rendering Christmas interior

Related Galleries

Holiday backgrounds for Zoom: Christmas cheer, New Year's Eve, Hanukkah and winter scenes

21 Photos
Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6: Electric vehicle extravaganza
img-8825

Related Galleries

Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6: Electric vehicle extravaganza

26 Photos
A weekend with Google's Chrome OS Flex
img-9792-2

Related Galleries

A weekend with Google's Chrome OS Flex

22 Photos
Cybersecurity flaws, customer experiences, smartphone losses, and more: ZDNet's research roundup
shutterstock-1024665187.jpg

Related Galleries

Cybersecurity flaws, customer experiences, smartphone losses, and more: ZDNet's research roundup

8 Photos
Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'
Full of promises!

Related Galleries

Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'

8 Photos