Hiro11

I use Google Play Music:
1. Tight integration with Google Search and Google Now, especially on Android. Voice search works really well and makes playing something in the car a lot easier.
2. Nice user interface, the "Listen Now" screen in particular is smartly organized
3. The curated playlists are extremely specific and very well done. I actually use this feature more than any other, whoever picks these generally knows what they're doing
4. Works perfectly with a Chromecast (I'm sure others do as well). I typically use my Chromecast several times a day
5. Good caching options and foolproof UI design
6. I have a Nexus phone and the first party apps are usually the most stable whenever a new OS version is pushed to my phone. I got sick of Rdio not working every time I installed a system update. Not sure if this is still the case.

Dan

this is what the "For You" tab shows me right now in Apple Music.

Since half of the bubbles are off-screen, this is... useless?
This may be because my wife configured "for you" on her iPhone, but... it shouldn't be like this.

edit: I closed iTunes and reopened it. Now it has real recommendations. cool.

edit2: for what it's worth, so far, my wife is impressed with the app on her phone. I have a feeling it's much more efficient over there. She really likes that new daily playlists come up. Spotify does this too, I think, but she thinks AM is nicer.

edit3: fucking shit. I keep trying to "Add to My Music" a specific playlist (the Fragile instrumentals), but it doesn't show up in My Music, and it sure as shit doesn't show up in Playlists. Wait... now it shows up in Playlists. It just took... awhile.

edit4: well... all of Steven Wilson's albums are on Apple Music, but still not Spotify. Given his very negative opinion of streaming services as a whole...

That's kind of bullshit, but

Geofferson

I switch back and forth between Spotify and Pandora. Of the ones that are synced up with Sonos, they're the two I like most.

wendersfan

Yeah, this is me, pretty much. I use Pandora as a replacement for radio, but I don't use it very often even for that.

BearFan

Same.

Dan

Microsoft is renaming Xbox Music (which was a terrible name) to Groove Music.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/groove-music

They're boasting 40 million tracks, which outnumbers all competition, although the fine print says it varies by country. No Prince, I imagine.

NEW POLL!!
I'll still use it for my non-Spotify tracks, but I won't be subscribing.

davidh777

I don't use a lot of streaming. I've listened to Pandora channels, and some Prime playlists, which are OK but I prefer their complete albums.

Groove Music is still a terrible name. I thought the idea was to consolidate their services under the Xbox brand. I actually have a lot of Xbox Music, but it's all from those free albums and supercheap boxed sets they offered over the holidays.

Dan

Right. It should be Grüv.

Supermallet

I am Grüv!

Supermallet

Well, here's an interesting wrinkle:

Apple has a program called Mastered for iTunes. It sounds like marketing crap, but it's actually a best practices for mastering and mixing with the end goal of providing files that sound as close to the original 24 bit masters within the confines of Apple's standard 256 kbps AAC files. A lot of these files have gotten very good responses, many with dynamic range greater than the redbook CD and with different EQ balance than other versions.

It seems as if Apple may be using these MFi files for Apple Music, which means a lot of the music on AM will actually sound different (potentially better) than they do on other services.

Food for thought.

Rex Fenestrarum

I never liked Pandora. I guess they either hadn't sequenced a lot of the synthpop bands I like, or don't have licensing deals for the music, because any band I put in to Pandora results in them playing the same twelve early Depeche Mode songs I'm sick and tired of, and the same eight Erasure tracks I never liked in the first place.

I'm about two months in to my free trial of Spotify Premium, and I'll probably keep it when it expires. For one thing, it's the only streaming music app that works on my PC, phone, tablet, WDTV Live and smart TV. And it's still kind of magical to take my tablet and a portable speaker to one of the many area breweries on a Sunday afternoon, and just pass the tablet around letting my friends choose tracks.

FWIW, Ars Technica posted this lukewarm view of Apple Music's software. Kind of surprising that it'd be so rough around the edges, given how many other services there are out there that Apple could have learned from.

DJLinus

For listening on my laptop, I love Spotify. The social media integration is great. I did the $1 three month trial of Premium earlier this year and really liked it, but I didn't reup when it expired due to me needing to eliminate unnecessary expenses.

I use the free version of the Spotify app when I want to hear the playlists I made on the desktop client. For a while I tried putting on some light classical, jazz, or ambient sounds to fall asleep to, but I'd be woken up when the ads came on. I'm dying to try the Running feature when its available for Android.

I've been using Google Play Music here and there for all of the free songs/albums they offer. Then a few weeks ago they opened up their radio service for the free tier and I've been listening to that A LOT. I like that the ads aren't audio, but banners and pop ups. That's great for when I'm drifting off to sleep. But I've also been using it a ton during my waking hours, too. I love the playlists curated by mood and genre. They've introduced me to a bunch of new artists and songs. I was on a beach vacation with my extended family this past week and Google Play Music was used heavily in the background while we cooked, put together jigsaw puzzles, etc. I think I convinced my uncle to switch to it from Pandora. (He doesn't like the ads in that service and really took to the playlists I put on.)

Over the years podcasts have overtaken music as to what I listen to most, but Google is bringing music back into the fold.

I'm curious about Apple Music, but won't be trying it until it pops up on Android. And even then I'll give it time for the bugs to be worked out before I give it a try.

I've used Amazon Prime when they first introduced cloud music storage. It was a real novelty back then, but that wore off after a while. I tried their streaming when they rolled that out, but found it cumbersome to "add" tracks to my account. Why not just make everything they have available without having to jump through (admittedly small) hoops? Maybe Amazon has changed it since I last used Prime Music.

I'll be back paying for a streaming service sometime in the near future. Probably Spotify, but Google Play Music has become a real contender in my eyes.

Matthew Chmiel

In iOS 9 Beta 3, there's settings in Apple Music to allow it to stream at full 256 kbps when over cellular.

Well, a step in the right direction...

Trevor

Amazon Prime is pretty much the only one I use now.

covenant

Spotify when I want to hear a specific band. Pandora or Slacker when I want a particular mix.

Eddie W

Pandora & Slacker are ok. But since I will only pay for one service, Spotify wins.

One thing I don't get about all these streaming services though is how difficult it is to simply stop playing music. I have to kill the app, hit pause, or turn the phone/tablet off. Why don't any of these services have a stop or exit command?

Rex Fenestrarum

On my phone, Spotify puts controls on the lock screen when playing. So I just have to press the power button to turn on the screen, then press pause. Is it not the same way for you? Like this?

bluetoast

Been a premium Spotify member for a while, and am very satisfied. And on another note, it responds to keyboard commands (for next song, etc) on the MacBook Pro instantly. With iTunes, there's a lag which is ridiculous considering the hardware and software were fucking designed to go hand in hand.

But I might try out Apple Music.

rbrown498

I had to choose "Other," because I'm all about the Rhapsody...and it looks like I'm the only one on the forum that IS all about the Rhapsody. I'm listening to the new Bird and the Bee album on Rhapsody as I'm typing this.

Supermallet

I believe Rhapsody comes free with T-Mobile's top tier unlimited data plan, but I don't know more about it than that.

Spp

I've been using Deezer for nearly two years and have no complaints.

Supermallet

Spotify has announced a new feature: A "Discover Weekly" playlist that examines what you've listened to and what users with similar profiles have listened to and gives you suggestions of music you might like. I checked it out this morning and I'd say it's about 65% music I already know well or own outright, and 35% music I haven't heard or haven't heard of.

davidh777

I've claimed the free Wilco album on Amazon, ITunes, and Google Play just in case I want to listen to it on any of those services.

Supermallet

I ended up going back to Spotify today. I was enjoying Apple Music, but ultimately decided I wanted to use iTunes Match, and while you can have both activated at the same time, everything I've read says that the two services working together create lots of problems more often than not, so I asked Apple to cancel my free trial.

I was debating between Tidal and Spotify but I did Tidal's hifi A/B test and only successfully chose the lossless file for two out of five tracks, meaning most of the time I think that 320 kbps compressed audio sounds as good as lossless. Also, finally, I can get a student discount at Spotify which makes it $5 a month, making it a no brainer.

Trevor

Don't forget to download it to your Dropbox for full cloud coverage.