It’s not news anymore that music streaming is available on practically every device, and many people already subscribe. But tech is always moving forward and there are new streamers and new features coming out constantly.
Are you looking to sign up for a new service or check out the competition for a potential switch? If so, here is our summary of the most popular services for 2018.
Streaming Services & Cost
You’ll see the following streaming services mentioned in this article:
Amazon Prime Music – Free with Prime
Amazon Music Unlimited – $9.99
Apple Music – $9.99
Deezer – Free or $9.99
Google Music – $9.99
Spotify – Free or $9.99
Tidal – $9.99
Music Library
Pretty much all of these services offer over 25 million songs, which should cover just about anything you want to listen to. But there are some niches and exceptions to consider.
Firstly, Amazon Prime Music only has a library of 2 million songs. That’s paltry compared to their Music Unlimited service, which offers a library similarly sized to Spotify, Apple Music and Google.
Secondly, if you are a big fan of Jay-Z and his circle of friends (Beyonce, Rihanna, Madonna, Alicia Keyes, Usher and more), then you may want to consider Tidal for its exclusive content.
If you are a big Taylor Swift fan, then Apple Music is the only streaming service offering her bestselling 1989 album.
Device Compatibility
This isn’t really an issue in 2018. Android, iOS and any modern web browser will be able to access and stream any of these services.
It may be worth noting that Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot speakers will allow you to play and control Amazon Music Unlimited. And if you are okay with only using that service from a single Echo speaker, you can subscribe for a reduced rate of $3.99 per month. That’s a steal if you’re willing to sacrifice the multi-room feature.
Music Discovery
What’s the point of having access to 30 million songs if the app doesn’t help you find new music that fits your tastes?
Overall, we think Spotify is the most helpful to find new music. However, Deezer has a very cool “Hear This” feature that works better than Spotify’s “Discover.” Apple Music takes a while to learn what you like, but their “For You” section can grow to be quite decent.
Amazon Prime relies on your purchase history and reviews on Amazon, so you’d have to be pretty deep in that world to get any good recommendations. Amazon Unlimited does a slightly better job with recommendations.
Tidal takes a different route and showcases a curated list of unknown and upcoming artists from around the world.
Radio
All of these services offer a streaming radio service. The free versions of any of these services offer only a limited number of skips when listening to the radio.
Overall, Spotify and Deezer are very similar, offering channels based on artists you like as well as genre stations. Apple Music offers custom radio as well as an actual radio station: Beats 1.
Amazon offers streaming radio with a thumbs up/thumbs down feature to help train it. Tidal and Google Play also offer stations based on artists you like.
Overall, the radio features of these services are quite similar. Apple Music’s Beat 1 is pretty much the only standout feature.
Offline Listening
Sometimes you can’t stream because of data caps or location. Pretty much all of these services have you covered: you can download a number of songs and listen offline. Obviously, the free versions of Deezer and Spotify are the exception here.
Spotify is a bit more restricting than the rest, allowing 3,333 tracks for 30 days of offline listening. Tidal doesn’t offer offline mode for Mac and PC. But otherwise, the services pretty much let you download to your heart’s content (or your device’s storage capacity).
Other Features
There are a few other features worth mentioning that each service offers over one another, with some overlap.
Facebook integration in Spotify and Deezer allow you to see what your friends are listening to. Tidal has a simpler integration that allows you to share with your friends directly on Facebook.
Apple offers Connect, which is a space for artists to share exclusive videos, photos and more.
If you are an audiophile, note that Tidal offers high-fidelity lossless tracks. Note for the layman: you’ll need a good sound system to tell the difference. If you are a Sonos user, Deezer offers a lossless version called Deezer Elite. Apple offers a max of 256k AAC.
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