Finding the Right Audio Streaming Platform for Your Needs
There are so many different streaming platforms for us to choose from when it comes to music. However, in order to find the right one for our own unique needs and desires, it can be much trickier than finding a streaming platform that is appropriate for watching TV and movies. The transparency of streaming services like TV and movie Netflix seem to inherently possess when it comes to music seems to be lacking on many of the music streaming platforms out there.
This is likely because the bigger streaming platforms are constantly fluctuating their content and announcing those changes publicly. Plus, you're much more likely to actually see a friend or family member using Hulu or Netflix, as it is often broadcast in front of you, than you are to see somebody actually using, say, Spotify or Tidal. People tend to this more privately. And, therefore, the only way, typically, to find out if one music streaming service is better for you is by either word of mouth or actually signing up for a trial membership to one of them and seeing for yourself.
However, obviously, if you can avoid signing up for a trial membership, all the better, right? I can?t even begin to tell you how many times I have created an account with a subscription service on a trial basis, telling myself, ?this time you will remember to cancel before the membership auto-renews.? Of course, I never remember to do that, though. As a result, I have been stuck with paying for at least a month of a service that I have no interest in continuing to use. That is exactly how they get you. And precisely why streaming services offer trial memberships. They know that 99% of people are going to forget to cancel in time.
But what if I told you that there was a way to find out in just a few minutes whether or not a service is good for you? Well, that's exactly what I'm here to do. Because let's face it, we don't have the time to test out all these different apps and streaming sites to see if they're worth our hard-earned money. So allow me to do it for you.
Now that you know a bit more about what to look for in an audio streaming site, it's time to decide which one is best for you. If you want tons of playlists curated by complex algorithms based on your listening habits, then perhaps Spotify is the right choice for you! If you want access to exclusive songs and live performances (as well as music videos), Tidal may be the right app for you. And if you care about convenience, Apple Music may be your best bet.
But what about those of us who miss listening to the radio? I mean, the good parts of not listening to the radio. The thrill of knowing what is going to play next. The excitement you feel when your favorite song comes on. The ability to discover new music without having to hunt it down yourself. Well, if that is what you want out of streaming music, then maybe you will be best off with Pandora.
The Oldest Music Streaming Platform on the Market
There is a good chance that you are already familiar with Pandora, as it is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) audio streaming platforms that still exists today. And prior to the advent of apps like Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Pandora was something of the go-to site for music lovers. It was truly one of the most novel approaches to music streaming when it first came out. And, frankly, most of the big music streaming companies that dominate the industry today wouldn't exist had it not been for Pandora paving the way.
Pandora was founded in 2000. However, the Pandora we know today is much different from the early prototypes. In fact, one could say that the very first iteration of Pandora was actually just a website for the Music Genome Project, which offered a visual journey through your favorite music. The site kind of looked like a family tree, with each song in its own bubble. Liking or disliking that song created new bubbles that grew out of the original one. From there, you could visually graph your listening experience, from artist zero onward. This is where the Pandora algorithm would eventually come from.
Today, the Pandora experience is a lot less visual. All you have to do on Pandora is choose an artist or a song and allow the site or the app to create a radio station based on it. All of the complicated work of how each song tonally and stylistically relates to the next is done behind the scenes. All you have to do, then, as the listener, is sit back and enjoy your personalized radio station. Liking or disliking a song, as was the case with the Music Genome Project, will alter the course of your radio station, and a station more accurate to your tastes will be created.
If you've used Pandora in the past, you may remember how annoying ads were. This was one of the main reasons we turned to traditional radio in the first place. However, Pandora now has two different ways for you to enjoy ad-free customized listening.
Freemium with Two Affordable Payment Plan Options
Pandora is a free service. You can always just grit your teeth and bear the ads which occur about every 2 to 3 songs. If you are willing to add on a new streaming service to your monthly bills, you can opt into upgrading either to Pandora Plus or Pandora Premium.
Pandora Plus is a great way to enjoy Pandora without any ads. You can also listen to podcasts, have unlimited skips, and stay connected offline. If you want the full Pandora experience with all of the features, then you can pay $9.99 a month.
A Relatively Small Library of Music
Pandora falls short of the other big audio streaming services in terms of its song count. Tidal boasts 60 million tracks, while Spotify claims to have half that at 30 million. Apple Music falls right in the middle with 45 million. However, Pandora only has 2 million songs.
This is disappointing for a number of reasons. However, mostly because the music on Pandora Radio is not as diverse or customizable as it could be, I worry about the potential problem of repetition. Plus, as far as I know, artists cannot upload their own music to Pandora the way that they can on Apple Music or Spotify - meaning that, of those 2 million songs, the majority of them are probably going to be comprised of more popular, well-known artists. So there won't be much in the way of discovering newer, more underground, or up and coming artists.
Pandora is probably the most intuitive and user-friendly music streaming service out there. This is mostly because most of the work is done for you. All you have to do is select an artist and let Pandora create your station from it. All you have to do is hit the thumbs up button when you like a song and the thumbs down button when you don?t. This results in a very minimalist app and site design that looks as good as it feels to use.
For $5 a month, Pandora Plus offers a fun and unique listening experience that doesn't require any of the work.
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