Does anyone still buy CDs? Of course they do. And records, too! But when it comes to convenience (if not technological necessity), streaming music is here to stay.
For starters, streaming music can go anywhere you go– at work, in your car, on your phone, you name it. You can also have access to a virtually unlimited number of artists, songs, and musical styles — all for about the cost of one CD per month. Interested? Here are a few popular options that might work for you:
Find New Music with Pandora
Pandora is a great way to find new music, but it has some side effects: first, you can only listen to a song from a particular band — not the particular song that you want to hear. If you’re in the mood to find music similar to your favorites, Pandora will hit the spot. You can also upgrade to Pandora for Business, or just take it along with you in your car or on your tablet or phone.
Listen to All Your Favorites with Spotify
Spotify has a free platform which requires you to listen to ads in between your favorite songs, or you can upgrade for about $14.99 per month to an ad-free version that can go on your tablet or mobile. Unlike Pandora, you can listen to full albums from any artist on Spotify — a very handy feature if you want to find new artists and listen to songs before you purchase a CD.
Get a “Radio Vibe” with Slacker Radio
Slacker Radio is a Pandora-type radio station that plays customized playlists. You can upgrade to get ad-free for $3.99USD, or upgrade to be able to listen to specific songs or artists, like Spotify, for $9.99USD. It’s best feature is probably it’s users playlists, with titles like “Facebook’s Most Embarassing Songs” and “Twitter Top 50.”
Be Surprised by Netflix
Before you roll your eyes, because yes, some of us “listen” to Futurama nonstop all day, Netflix is a great source for musicals and live music specials. You can search for your favorite artist by name, or, if you know the title of a recent performance, you can search for that. At just under $8USD per month, it’s the best deal of them all.
Streaming has a number of benefits over traditional music sources like tapes, CDs, and records. However, it can also be pricey because most services require a monthly subscription cost that doesn’t have an end date.
Do you have a music source online, or are you sticking with traditional CDs?
I’ve been trying iTunes radio recently – it’s slowly getting better, but Pandora and Spotify still have the service beat in my opinion.
Good to know, Kali! I hadn’t heard of iTunes radio before!
We love our rdio subscription. We were spending about $20 a month on music downloads. Instead, we got a streaming subscription and no longer need to download a thing! For $18, my husband and I both have our own accounts that we can listen to anywhere. I sound like a sales pitch, but we love it!
If it works for you, it’s hard not to shout it from the roof tops! Thank you for sharing!
I LOVE Pandora. If I need to hear a song now, I just youtube it. Otherwise, I play my Pandora stations that are amazing. Pandora is better if you do like/dislike songs that play on your created station, but after you do like/dislike a bit, your stations are PERFECT. I have perfectly curated Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Electric Light Orchestra, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Scissor Sisters stations that I listen to on rotation now. I also pay the $36/year for Pandora to get the commercial-free as it is totally worth it in my book!
Such a good point — YouTube for the win! Thank you for sharing!
I use free pandora at work.. I know it has limits, but if you use the incognito mode on your browser it can’t remember you! Great tip about using Netflix! BTW, what are CDs? 😉
Lol — CDs, right? Great tip for work peeps!
I’m a huge fan of Spotify. It’s like I have the huge library of music I am used to having without actually having to maintain or pay for any of it. I use Spotify so much I did upgrade to premium and I think it is well worth it.
Awesome! The only thing I dont like is that it slows down my internet sometimes. But that’s totally worth it to me!