Remember the good old days when the only way you could take music around with you was if you dared to bring your CD player around? Even then, you were limited to whatever disk was in the Walkman, unless you dared to walk around with your mama’s CD portfolio like I did just to have some variety. Thank God those days are over, and now, like Apple says, there’s an app for that.
Just about everybody has iTunes on their computer, even if they don’t have an iPhone or an iPod, because it changed the music game forever with the iTunes music store. But before Apple Music,
the Instant Boyfriend Mixtape Service, you had to buy each song you
wanted to listen to. But there are so many other apps a music lover
should have on their phone.
Spotify
I downloaded Spotify
the day of its U.S. launch in 2011, and I’m pretty sure I’m the one who
told all my family and friends about it. I started jamming to music I
hadn’t heard in years. It wasn’t long before I went from a free user to a
paid user so I could listening to music in my car and at work. Not only
can you make your own playlist, but you can subscribe to playlists by
other users (and your friends). One of my favorites is a Kanye Sample
playlist that has the original song Kanye used as a sample, and then the
song he used it in.
Spotify has a freemium model as well.
The free version comes with ads and limited skips. You can try the
premium version for a 30-day free trial and then it’s $9.99/month. There
are also discounts for families (50% off each extra account), and
students ($4.99/month). Spotify Premium lets you play music anytime, any
place in high definition using either the web player, a smartphone or
your computer app.
I can’t remember when traditional radio got played out, but it just sort of did. Then I was introduced to Pandora by my brother. Pandora’s Internet radio lets you choose an artist or a song, and it’ll play other songs on that station that are go with it. It’s nice to find music that’s very similar, which is what I typically find when I listen to Erykah Badu radio. But if a song comes on that I can’t stand, the thumbs down comes in handy, so it can be skipped and never played again. Rating trains the app to know what you like and don’t like so it can serve up your preferences.
Slacker is another Internet radio service. It has apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Palm. Like Pandora,
Slacker creates custom stations that play music of a certain type. But
for a fee, Slacker also gives you unlimited access on demand to the
music or artists you choose. If you want to take a break from music
listening, there are also channels that offer comedy and news content.
Slacker also lets you store stations and tracks temporarily to listen to
when you're not connected.
Slacker lets you listen to more than 100 stations programmed by music experts -- a cool way to explore new genres. And Slacker can download lyrics for songs in case you want to sing along (or just figure out what the heck the words are).
TuneIn Radio Pro ($9.99), continues to evolve. Most recently, the live radio streaming service has added an optional $7.99 per month subscription service, TuneIn Radio Premium, that boasts ad-free music, live sports, and other audio content. Amid all the changes, however, TuneIn Radio Pro also maintains its core functionality. TuneIn Radio Pro still lets you fire up more than 100,000 global AM and FM stations, rewind live radio, and record programming to your storage.
This setup presents its own set of positives and negatives. On the plus side, you can tune in to talk radio and sporting events. On the downside, you can't ban or favorite individual songs or shows to customize your experience.
I discovered stations and genres that I didn't know existed, such as SomaFM: Secret Agent (which streams mysterious tunes that would sound appropriate in a James Bond flick). Of course, there are also tons of stations with American music (Top 40, Hip Hop, etc.) and talk (Mike & Mike In The Morning). Sports talk radio is well-represented by stations dedicated to specific sports (such as college football or boxing), as well as general sports-talk stations. You can also listen to podcasts that live-stream, such as TWiT.
Pandora
I can’t remember when traditional radio got played out, but it just sort of did. Then I was introduced to Pandora by my brother. Pandora’s Internet radio lets you choose an artist or a song, and it’ll play other songs on that station that are go with it. It’s nice to find music that’s very similar, which is what I typically find when I listen to Erykah Badu radio. But if a song comes on that I can’t stand, the thumbs down comes in handy, so it can be skipped and never played again. Rating trains the app to know what you like and don’t like so it can serve up your preferences.
Since Pandora has been in the game for a
minute, it definitely is everywhere. It’s Internet radio, so of course
you can access it on your browser. You can also download the app on your
phone, your tablet, and even certain cars
come equipped with it like Honda’s, Toyota’s and Kia’s. Pandora is free
for users, so you just have to endure a couple ads in between your
favorite songs. But you can subscribe to Pandora One for $4.99 a month to go ad-free.
Soundcloud
At first, I thought Soundcloud
was just for aspiring artists who just wanted people to listen to their
mixtapes. Then I found that other indie artists host their music there
too! When I hear music during a web series, I can usually find the
artist’s profile on Soundcloud, and not only can I listen to and even
download that song, but I can discover more tracks by that person and
become a fan.
I think Soundcloud has given up and
coming artists a level playing field to be found. You can search
Soundcloud by artist, band, podcast, or songs. You set playlists to
listen to on your phone, and the social aspect is brought to life by
allowing you to like, comment and repost songs you enjoyed. And best of
all, it’s free!
SLACKER RADIO
Slacker lets you listen to more than 100 stations programmed by music experts -- a cool way to explore new genres. And Slacker can download lyrics for songs in case you want to sing along (or just figure out what the heck the words are).
TUNEIN RADIO
TuneIn Radio Pro ($9.99), continues to evolve. Most recently, the live radio streaming service has added an optional $7.99 per month subscription service, TuneIn Radio Premium, that boasts ad-free music, live sports, and other audio content. Amid all the changes, however, TuneIn Radio Pro also maintains its core functionality. TuneIn Radio Pro still lets you fire up more than 100,000 global AM and FM stations, rewind live radio, and record programming to your storage.
This setup presents its own set of positives and negatives. On the plus side, you can tune in to talk radio and sporting events. On the downside, you can't ban or favorite individual songs or shows to customize your experience.
I discovered stations and genres that I didn't know existed, such as SomaFM: Secret Agent (which streams mysterious tunes that would sound appropriate in a James Bond flick). Of course, there are also tons of stations with American music (Top 40, Hip Hop, etc.) and talk (Mike & Mike In The Morning). Sports talk radio is well-represented by stations dedicated to specific sports (such as college football or boxing), as well as general sports-talk stations. You can also listen to podcasts that live-stream, such as TWiT.
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