preferred music streaming service ??

[albireo13]

We have gone totally streaming for our music a few years ago. We use Sonos throughout the house.
So far we have been using Pandora, Sonos, Spotify, and our library of ripped CDs.


Audio quality has been ok but not sure if we can do better.
I am looking into other services which might have higher quality audio.
Before signing up for a bunch of trial memberships I figure I’d ask opinions.


A few I am considering so far … Tidal, Tunein, Amazon



Thx

 

[Trailwalker]

We are a Spotify family. I can almost always find what I'm looking for, even local artists, and the app plays across all of our home and vehicle devices. I have tons of ripped CDs but don't listen to them anymore. My hearing isn't as good as it was though, so I'm not paying that close attention to audio quality.

 

[rembrandt]

My CC Pocket Radio

 

[Fotodog]

I have been using YouTube Music for the last year, and it’s the best service I have ever used. I’ve tried others over the years such as Pandora, I Heart Radio, and Sirius. I discovered it by accident because it’s included when you upgrade to YouTube premium. It has the biggest library of any I have used, for example my wife is Taiwanese and sometimes listens to Chinese music. For me, I can search for just about any artist or song and it’s available. One feature I really like, which some other services also have, is finding different artists and songs similar to what you originally searched for. I have found a lot of new artists this way.

The sound quality is awesome. I watch a lot of YouTube music videos on my iPad using my Bose earbuds and every note is crisp and clear. I still have Sirius XM in my car, and there’s a noticeable difference because Sirius uses compression. I got a Lexus this year with a Mark Levinson sound system, and paired with Apple Car Play it’s a great combination. For the best possible sound quality, I use the wired connection. I had an hour’s drive recently, told Siri to play 461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton, and was instantly listening to great music for my trip.

 

[Midpack]

I'm still too cheap to subscribe to a music streaming service, I used free Pandora and I've had Sirius trials. We have over 2500 songs in our Apple Music (former iTunes) library, about 80% legally ripped from CDs, we can add others any time we'd like, and don't add a lot of new music to our library anymore. Also really like having custom playlists in Apple Music, we use them much more often than not. Maybe we'll subscribe some day, maybe not.

We have free LiveOne (formerly Slacker?) in my car, it's useless to me.

 

[Dash man]

We use Apple Music, Pandora and SiriusXM. I haven’t checked out YouTube music, but will soon. Pandora is mainly for my DFIL, but we sometimes use it too. Apple Music comes with AppleOne which we share with family members. SiriusXM is used for our cars. I’ve been considering dropping it for years, but they lower the price every time I try to cancel.

 

[Chuckanut]

The free version of Pandora. I like the way they toss int their own ‘similar’ music when I play my favorite artists. I’ve discovered some good music from my middle age that I never knew existed.

 

[Chuckanut]

My CC Pocket Radio
View attachment 53526

I have the CC batter/crank/solar powered radio and I like it for voice such as talk shows and the news. But for music, that little speaker hurts my ears.

 

[FIREd_2015]

iHeartRadio

 

[Jerry1]

A few I am considering so far … Tidal, Tunein, Amazon

Qobuz is another high quality audio provider.

Qobuz - Unlimited high quality streaming (United States)

More than 100 million tracks available for unlimited streaming in high sound quality. Qobuz is also the worldwide leader in 24-Bit Hi-Res downloads.

www.qobuz.com

The free version of Pandora. I like the way they toss int their own ‘similar’ music when I play my favorite artists. I’ve discovered some good music from my middle age that I never knew existed.

I’ve tried a few others, Amazon, Apple Music and Spotify and IMO, none of the compare to Pandora when it comes to matching me up with music I like.

 

[aja8888]

XM in my car @ $6/month. When walking, I stream Amazon Prime Music to my headphones.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Got about 10 new CDs between my B-day and Christmas at the end of this year. Ripped them into iTunes on my computer to add to the 25,000+ songs that are already in there.
Still using iPods to listen to all that music at w*rk, while walking on the treadmill, and while in my truck.

My newest complaint: The cardboard sleeves that new CDs come in do not fit in my CaseLogic™ CD organizer trays. Here is a photo showing the difference in size:

.

 

[simple girl]

I use Pandora - free version. I love it. I create my own stations and love that I can "tune" them to what I like by giving the thumbs up or thumbs down button. I love how the service introduces me to new music that aligns with my style.

 

[Jerry1]

My newest complaint: The cardboard sleeves that new CDs come in do not fit in my CaseLogic™ CD organizer trays. Here is a photo showing the difference in size:View attachment 53529.

Man that’s irritating. Who the heck dreams up that stuff without consideration for historical storage cases/shelves . . .?

 

[Qs Laptop]

We have gone totally streaming for our music a few years ago. We use Sonos throughout the house.
So far we have been using Pandora, Sonos, Spotify, and our library of ripped CDs.


Audio quality has been ok but not sure if we can do better.
I am looking into other services which might have higher quality audio.
Before signing up for a bunch of trial memberships I figure I’d ask opinions.


A few I am considering so far … Tidal, Tunein, Amazon



Thx

You definitely can do better audio quality than Spotify and Pandora, and probably better than your ripped CD's with Tidal or Amazon Prime Music Unlimited.

Recently I had a 5 month free trial subscription to Amazon Prime Music Unlimited. The sound quality was excellent because it's high bit rate, similar to CD sound. They also have ultra high definition files that's better than CD.

My nephew, who is a professional musician and an audiophile, has Tidal. Tidal also has HD sound and ultra HD sound files. I've heard it in action and it sounds fantastic.

I didn't like Amazon's user interface (on my phone) and figure Tidal's UI has got to be better. Amazon has podcasts and audio books. I'm not sure if Tidal has these. Tidal is geared to music lovers; Amazon is more general purpose.

Between these two, if for mainly music, I'd go with Tidal.

 

[DrRoy]

We have gone totally streaming for our music a few years ago. We use Sonos throughout the house.
So far we have been using Pandora, Sonos, Spotify, and our library of ripped CDs.

I recently upgraded my audio system (details here Upgrading my 2 way stereo system. Amplifier next?). I found that home burned cd's and compressed music files were of noticeably lower quality than original CD's. I've been getting some additional CDs as a result. If I get a streaming service at some point it will have to be high definition.

 

[Golden Mean]

Youtube music, Amazon music (they were the first to let you "buy" mp3s unfettered). 90% of my music listening is GrooveSalad on SomaFM (for about 15 years now?) which is just a direct AAC stream played with mplayer or mpv.

 

[swakyaby]

I’m bothered by ads when listening to music, so I pay for subscription music streaming. I have trialed several subscriptions like Pandora plus, Tidal music, Amazon music unlimited, Sirius XM, and Apple music. Eventually, I have circled back to Tidal music which I play on my Sonos speakers. Tidal is also supported in my Tesla, so I enjoy it there too.

 

[swakyaby]

The Sonos speakers I have in my family room (Arc, subwoofer, rear 300s) are really more general purpose for movies and music, not audiophile quality to my ears. So the Tidal HD and ultra HD quality are probably wasted on me, but it’s there if I ever get a dedicated audiophile stereo setup.

 

[Music Lover]

I'm still too cheap to subscribe to a music streaming service, I used free Pandora and I've had Sirius trials. We have over 2500 songs in our Apple Music (former iTunes) library, about 80% legally ripped from CDs, we can add others any time we'd like, and don't add a lot of new music to our library anymore.

I'm cheap but also I've paid for the same music several times already in the from of records, tapes, and CD's.

Now they want me to pay a monthly fee?

No, take a hike.

 

[yakers]

I pay for Pandora, just love it. Sons says that defines me as a boomer, busted!

 

[GenXguy]

I see recommendations with no prices. I was disappointed in a free service I tried a while back. I kept wanting to skip songs (because most songs I don't like much), and then it gave me a message that I had already skipped the maximum allowed in the free version. Total turn-off and uninstalled. I don't listen enough to justify paying much for any music.

 

[Jerry1]

I see recommendations with no prices. I was disappointed in a free service I tried a while back. I kept wanting to skip songs (because most songs I don't like much), and then it gave me a message that I had already skipped the maximum allowed in the free version. Total turn-off and uninstalled. I don't listen enough to justify paying much for any music.

Not sure if you were trying Pandora, though I think they all work about the same, but you should have done a thumbs down instead of a skip for the songs you don’t like. Doing that will improve the music that they feed you. I hardly skip our dislike any of the songs I now get from Pandora (free).

 

[robnplunder]

Youtube music.

I also have my own streaming device, Aurender 100. It contains about 7000 tracks which I can stream at will.

 

[GenXguy]

Not sure if you were trying Pandora, though I think they all work about the same, but you should have done a thumbs down instead of a skip for the songs you don’t like. Doing that will improve the music that they feed you. I hardly skip our dislike any of the songs I now get from Pandora (free).

I'm pretty sure it was Spotify, and it was a probably 4 to 6 years ago. I don't even recall now if it played advertisements.