Music streaming services

Can the forum give me a quick run-down of online streaming services that might replace XFM that I now miss? Preferably something that works with Android.

Or maybe a decent internet radio station (not Radio 6), cos all I really want to do is put the radio on and not be subject to shite or waffle.

Spotify, Google music, Pandora and a few more

Spotify has a trial of premium for £0.99/month for 3 months (normally £9.99) – total,game changer for me. Well worth trying it for a quid a month to see if it suits you. Basic spotify isn’t really worth it imho.

What’s the difference, how do they work etc, cost?

£10/mo is a bit steep tbh.

They work by streaming their library to you, they offer you different things for different amounts of cash. I do Spotify free and Pandora free there are a few ads but I an live with that. The quality will differ but it depends how much of an audio geek you want to be. Most have a great comparison table for what you get (it changes so best look them up to see what it is now)

The spotify £10 allows you to download to use the music offline. So if you buy more than one album/10 songs a month from iTunes you’re winning. As mikewsmith says it depends what you want from it, I used the basic service at home for a year or so. There are a few years and you have limited capacity to choose which songs you listen to when you select an album/playlist. You can’t use the music offline with basic either. For me – I spend a lot of time away from home often without decent wifi so it’s good to be able to use the music when offline.

But for the £0.99 trial it’s almost a ‘no brainier’ to give it a go and see if you like it.

And then run spotify through your hifi with Google Chromecast…

What sort of music do you like? Sounds to me like internet radio would suit you better. The premium streaming services all offer higher bit rates but that might not bother you.

Radio Paradise is quite good if you like Americana and stuff like that.

Deezer for me, much nicer interface

Ah, the tenner makes more sense if you can download it. Is it good enough to burn to CD and play on a nice HiFi?

I used to really like XFM with new indie stuff, it got me buying CDs again for the first time in a decade or more.

Radio X has more **** DJ waffle and far fewer new tunes.

Is it good enough to burn to CD and play on a nice HiFi?

What do you call nice and what can your ears tell?
Better option is to play direct through the HiFi (not sure the T&C’s will allow burning as you only have the offline access as long as you subscribe)

As a slight aside Jango radio is quite a nice little free streaming thing that’s good for finding new artists you like.

If you had Spotify Premium that’ll play at 320kbps. You could then buy a little bluetooth dongle to stream onto your hifi, rather than burn to CD.

You can’t just burn downloaded files to cd. The quality is very good though, you have an option of 3 different bit rates.

I play mine thorough the hi fi from the phone and am very happy. For the current trial pricing it’s a no brainer IMO, give it a whirl. Fwiw, I was cynical before I went premier, but it’s great! I’m converted. I’ll quite often just leave it on ‘discover’ new music based on my library. It’s an excellent way of discovering new music.

If quality playing on a HiFi is important along with having access to all the tracks in an album rather than some missing due to rights issues (as is often the case with Spotify), just buy the CD, rip to FLAC and store on a NAS to play on the HiFi or other devices.

However, Amazon Prime do music streaming now, and Prime sub is getting you Movies & TV also plus the free next day delivery.

Generally on Amazon you can buy albums as MP3 to download. I think they’re 320kbps MP3s which is good, even if not top audiophile quality and not lossless. Anything I buy I prefer to get it lossless if I can as I can then convert it to whatever I like without loss of quality and still have the original, just like a CD.

Kenny, the aim here is to find new music, which buying and ripping CDs does not help with. I was happy listening to the radio and then buying CDs from that

Well for me Spotify/Pandora hooked up to the HiFi and play it on radio. Heard loads I didn’t know about off a few good playlists (will vary as to what you like) quite easy install and try. If you like it pay for it if not don’t.

Actually, hadn’t realised XFM has gone / rebranded.

New presenter line up though… Chris Moyles, Vernon Kay, Johnny Vaughan and Ricky Wilson ! 😯 , oh dear 🙁

Enjoying Jango Hot Indie playlist immensely. American or not it’s highly enjoyable. Liked a couple of tracks that could make it into the Christmas list already, not disliked anything.

Also the stream is way better quality than the Radio X one. Time to up my data allowance with EE…

I use spotify and run it though my kindle which is connected to my amp and I control it through my phone

I run Spotify though our Hifi and the sound quality is excellent, on a par with the CD player. I just have a 3.5mm jack plug plugged into an iMac headphone socket, connected to the Marantz PM6004.

You can then use a Phone, iPad or another laptop to remotely control Spotify on the iMac, or redirect it to another device on the fly – works very well. I can even remotely play stuff in the office at work – just to keep the cleaner’s happy….

You can get 6 months of free Deezer if you’re a Three customer: http://try.deezer.com/three-web/
I use it at work as Spotify is blocked.

At home I use Spotify and a Google Chromecast Audio – works brilliantly.

Google music is the same cost as Spotify but also let’s you upload your own mp3 library if it’s something that isn’t on their catalogue. You can then steam that on any of your devices.
This in conjunction with chromecast / chromecast audio is a great solution for me. Supposed to be audio sync between multiple chromecasts coming for a multi room setup.

I’d put my own music on my phone/device.

Can you control Google music through Google now?

Just about to add the Deezer offer. All you need us a 3 sim to add the charges to if you don’t cancel, including pay as you go.

Signed up on Friday and enjoying it so far. But £10 seems steep

FIP radio is great online, plays a very wide range of music, and only a couple of minutes of waffle in French once an hour. Only time I really notice that is in July when I stick my fingers in my ears in case I hear whose won that days stage of the Tour 🙂

iTunes radio. Many many free stations.

Soundcloud. Free streaming service but a bit more work imho as you really need playlists to get the best out of it. Fortunately I have mates who create playlists and I just use theirs.

I probably spend £30-50 on buying music per year sompaid streaming services don’t make sense for me

I probably spend £30-50 on buying music per year sompaid streaming services don’t make sense for me

Mostly why I just use the free ones, spotify only does ads every 30 mins and the quality is good enough for my ears.

Soundcloud is very good for new music. Links to internet radio programs also get posted, so you can then find which internet radio you link. Sound quality isn’t very good though.
Podcasts of shops and labels you like are also a good source for discovering new music. Sound quality usually a lot better.

After my initial rebuttals of Apple Music, I joined. It’s been ace so far and more than happy to eat my verboten words of distain posted last month.. 😕

So BB, what were you using before and why do you think AM is ‘the one’?

I wasn’t using a free radio stream (didn’t want to sign to Spotify) but use Soundcloud heavily.. Reason for joining Apple was the recommendations for music initially, since found some great Country stations that I never knew existed.. £9.99pm though and even I bulk at that on occasion 😆

Might have to reconsider Spotify after reading this thread.
The app isn’t that great & often just freezes or says there is no internet connection when every other app can is sending/receiving data.
Plus, every playlist seems to have to include Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding & Justin Bieber……….ooooh, “thrash death metal classics – sounds like a good playlist”…….2 mins later…..”blah blah….lego house…..dum de dum…..GGGAAAHHHHHH”

I’m on Three mobile so presumably can try the 6 months Deezer offer.

Might investigate Google Music too….

bahhhh. three contract but already with deezer, so cant take advantage of the offer 🙁

Deezer Elite through Sonos speakers here, streams 16bit (same quality as CDs) flac files. £15 a month.