Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Discuss anything related to audio or music production.
Tarekith
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Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by Tarekith » Wed Jun 08, 2016 7:19 pm

During the last few weeks I've been putting in serious hours testing out some new headphones, and as a result been listening to a LOT of music outside of my day job for the first time in awhile. After a brief look over the available options, I finally settled on Spotify as a way to get access to new music to make this process slightly more exciting. Still using the free version, but I can see the appeal of the paid options.

Even though living in Luxembourg all the Spotify commercials are in German and I can't understand them anyway.

Before I sign over and commit fully, just curious what other people are using, or if you're using just your normal personal digital collection instead? My own personal collection of music is ripped, tagged, organized, and artworked exactly as I want, so not looking to replace that at all. But for finding new music on multiple hardware devices, what are other people finding useful?
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Richie Witch
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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by Richie Witch » Wed Jun 08, 2016 8:22 pm

I'v'e been a fan of Digitally Imported for years and finally took the leap a few months ago as a premium member.

http://www.di.fm/

DI is strictly electronic music, of more genres than you can possibly imagine, so I rely on my own collection when listening to jazz or classical or rock, etc. I have a Spotify (free) account too, but just never really gelled with it.
"Watching the Sky" ~ A 4-track EP of piano, strings, and Native American flute

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by Tarekith » Thu Jun 09, 2016 1:47 am

Thanks, haven't heard of that one yet!
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jestermgee
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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by jestermgee » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:24 am

Currently I use a combination of free internet radio sites, spotify, pandora and I was test driving PulseLocker though that is more of a DJ pool library kind of service that allows streaming/downloading of almost anything you like for a monthly fee except the catch is it only works with supported DJ software (Serato for me).

I have so much music already I rarely use streaming services, i'm looking for a decent DJ pool at the moment that actually works in Australia and doesn't cost $50 a month :(

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by Tarekith » Thu Jun 09, 2016 7:53 am

I'm mostly just trying to find a way to discover new music without having to trawl the mess that is most online record stores like Beatport, etc.
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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by slatepipe » Thu Jun 09, 2016 9:28 am

i use bandcamp, for my own stuff and for loads of other people's stuff. and soundcloud a bit too i guess. i never been near spotify. i normally find new music through fb links which take me to youtube or bandcamp. if it's a spotify link i just go find it somewhere else or ignore it. i'm not really into the paid subscription thing, if i like something enough i like to buy the actual digital files or a physical copy like a record or a cassette

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by beats me » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:44 pm

I use Apple Music. Shocking, I know. I use it mostly like Pandora creating stations based on a track or artist, or to check out new releases or artists I’m not familiar with enough to buy. If you are into popular genres there’s also genre “best of the week” stations. Their curated stations are mostly predictable and based on popular music but they are getting better.

One unforgivable “feature” is they removed any links to buying tracks from iTunes and that’s both on iOS and the desktop version. If you want to actually buy a track you are listening to you have to manually go to the iTunes app in iOS or the iTunes Store in desktop iTunes and type in the track. Un-fucking-forgivable, and calculated because they did have links to buy tracks in Apple Music when it first launched. They removed them. My alternative method is to Shazam a track with my iPhone and buy it that way. Third party apps have direct links to iTunes but not Apple’s own Apple Music. Ridiculous. :x

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by Tarekith » Thu Jun 09, 2016 4:45 pm

Happily I've had the best luck with Spotify when I realized they have a "similar artists" feature to find stuff close to what you're listening to. Since my entire back catalog is already on Spotify, a lot of the suggestions they offer for music similar to mine is pretty spot on. No pun intended. Never expected to work like that, but hey!
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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by stega » Sat Jun 11, 2016 10:52 am

I have been using Deezer for the past 6 months or so. Trialled Apple Music, but I feel like I grow several more grey hairs every time I open iTunes, so that didn't last long.
Was a Spotify user for a while and it did the job nicely, probably better than Deezer. But when I trialled Apple Music, the cancelation procedure for Spotify was so convoluted and set out to confuse that i decided i would never go back to them!
So have settled on Deezer. Its not the most exciting app, but it does the job. The job in my case being - oh, nice song on 6music, lets listen to more of them on Deezer. If I like the band, I buy the CD.

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by garyd7 » Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:28 pm

Just signed up for Spotify premium recently. I'll own up and admit I went for it blindly without trialling anything else, but it's 99p a month for the first three months and the related artists and music you'd like features are great! Saving music to play offline is awkward if it's only a single song from an album you want but that's something I can deal with!

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by auto-lock » Mon Jul 04, 2016 1:44 am

I considered music streaming services but they didn't click with me. I'm good with soundcloud via VOX.

Richie, Thanks for reminding me of di.fm it was really good i remember.

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by L.roachy » Fri Jul 15, 2016 5:50 pm

Spotify premium all the way. Love the offline listening for my playlists. Usually I load up a bunch of new music in a playlist, then work my way through said list during the day.

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by smutek » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:47 am

Apple Music here as well. I mainly use it to stream my own personal collection via my phone when at work or in the car, the only other two places I ever seem to be. I don't do much looking for new stuff with Apple music. I think it's mostly a good value for the money.

For new stuff / online radio SomaFM is excellent.

https://somafm.com/

There's about 30 different channels, some standouts for me are Def Con, Beat Blender, cliqhop, Groove Salad, Secret Agent, fluid, drone zone, and SF 10-33.

It's commercial free, listener supported, so I'm always wondering when it's going to disappear, but I've been listening to it for years now.

The Hawaii_FM channel on laut.fm is also pretty good.

http://laut.fm/hawaii_fm

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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by Tarekith » Sat Jul 30, 2016 7:58 am

Groove Salad in SomaFM has been pretty much all lve used for years until recently.
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Re: Do you use a streaming music service? Which and why?

Post by beats me » Mon Aug 01, 2016 1:28 pm

I used to listen to Groove Salad all the time but haven’t in years so I don’t know if it’s changed much. I sometimes hear a track I think would fit perfectly on Groove Salad and then find out its at least 10 years old which makes me kind of sad to think that’s considered a dated sound that really isn’t being produced anymore.

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