Music makes life better, no matter if you’re looking to power through the workday or an intense workout. These top, tested picks deliver the tunes you need to stay entertained all day long.
On the surface, the streaming music field is packed with services that let you perform basic, similar functions. You fire up an app, press play, and then enjoy tunes. Simple, right? However, a deep dive reveals that many top streaming music apps offer standout features that make selecting a service a bit more challenging than you would think. This guide will help you select a service from among the many competitors. Streaming Music Quality and Other Features Most streaming music services have some base-level commonality, such as letting you create customizable channels, but a handful stand out from the very crowded pack due to their unique feature sets. For example, Amazon Music Unlimited, Primephonic, Qobuz, and Tidal pride themselves on sound quality, delivering premium Hi-Res Audio tunes that feature uncompressed audio that surpasses your typical music stream. Considering that most online music services’ streams are in the compressed,128Kbps to 320Kbps range, this trend is impressive. You’ll need audiophile-quality headphones or top-notch speakers to truly appreciate the musical richness. Some services, such as LiveXLive Powered by Slacker and Spotify, have free options that let you try before you subscribe, while others, such as Apple Music, are strictly premium experiences (typically starting at the $10-per-month mark). Many services have lyrics, too, so you can sing along, word-for-word, with your favorite song. In addition, family plans, a relatively recent industry feature, let six household members sign up for a shared premium account for $14.99 per month. There are many differences between the free and paid streaming music tiers in most services. Free accounts typically limit your ability to skip songs to just six per hour, and they feed you ads in either audio or video form. The free tiers are for more casual listeners or people who don’t find it worth spending a dime on music.
