Music streaming services explode in popularity

Downloading music is, so, like, 2010. These days, many music fans prefer to stream music from online services that offer a buffet-style approach. ¶ While there are some shortcomings – streaming music requires an Internet connection, you don’t own the music and generally speaking, audio quality can be poorer than downloads and physical media – consumers seem to love the convenience and value proposition. ¶ Nielsen SoundScan says on-demand streaming services jumped an incredible 42 percent in the first half of this year compared with a year ago, soaring to 70.3 million streams. Sales of digital downloads, meanwhile, dropped 13 percent to $593.6 million during the first six months of 2014, from $682.2 million the year before. ¶ In case you haven’t yet tuned in, here’s a brief look at some big players: how much they cost, what devices you can stream to and one or two features that make each unique.

Songza

(songza.com; free for basic service; $3.99/month for Club Songza)

Available on multiple platforms – including the Web, smartphones and tablets – Songza is a streaming music service with thousands of curated playlists. Along with genre or decade, Songza’s expert playlists are based on day of the week, time of day, your mood, location, and more — whether you prefer “Songs for a Romantic Dinner” or “Music for a Weekday Dance Party.” Recently acquired by Google, Songza is free to use but along with ads you can only skip forward a few times per hour if you don’t like the tunes; the premium membership ($3.99/month) removes ads and commercials, and gives you twice as many skips.

Music Unlimited

(sonyentertainmentnetwork.com; $4.99 to $9.99/month)

Sony’s Music Unlimited offers instant access to more than 25 million commercial-free songs on demand – not unlike what Video Unlimited does for video and TV shows.

Along with streaming high-quality music (better than most other services), you can sync your personal music library to the cloud and enjoy it on PCs, mobile devices and PlayStation 3, 4 and Vita, or listen offline (with premium service). What’s more, PlayStation 4 owners can listen to Music Unlimited while playing video games. The service suggests songs based on your tastes. You can “Like” or “Dislike” each track to further personalize your music – not unlike Pandora’s “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” feature.

Rdio

(rdio.com; free for basic version, $9.99 a month for Unlimited plan)

Pronounced “ar-dee-o,” Rdio lets you listen to more than 25 million tracks on multiple devices. The no-cost Rdio Free option includes streaming stations on the web, desktop apps (PC, Mac) and mobile devices (iOS, Android). There are short in-stream messages and ads as you listen. A $9.99/month Rdio Unlimited plan removes the advertisements and adds custom playlists, support for more devices (such as Sonos, Roku or Chromecast), and you can share your Rdio playlists with friends. Subscribers can also log into Rdio with their Facebook account and add songs to their timeline as they listen and help friends discover new music. There are discounts for families and web-only listeners.

Xbox Music

(xbox.com/music; free for basic service, Xbox Music Pass costs $9.99/month for unlimited access to millions of ad-free songs)

At 30 million tracks, Xbox Music has the largest collection of songs. The app is bundled in Windows 8 phones, tablets and PCs, Xbox 360 and Xbox One – plus there are downloadable apps for iOS and Android phones and tablets. Xbox Music allows you to stream on-demand music to suit your mood or create and save playlists to listen to later.

You can also listen to profiled artists and tracks curated by musicologists; see what’s trending with various charts; or select “Smart DJ,” which firsts asks you to select artists you like so it can create a custom radio station on the fly. The $9.99/month Xbox Music Pass gives you ad-free music on all your devices, offline listening on a PC, tablet or phone, a “cloud sync” feature that matches your existing music collection and access to nearly 100,000 music videos on your Xbox. Be forewarned: playback on Xbox 360 or Xbox One also requires the $59.99/year Xbox Live Gold account.

Spotify

(spotify.com; free, plus $9.99/month Premium version)

There’s a lot to like about Spotify: Access to more than 20 million new and classic tracks; support for computers, smartphones and tablets; choose music by song, artist, album or playlist (with shuffle mode, if desired); social media integration to share or discover music with your friends on Facebook and Twitter; and high-quality music streams (320 Kilobit per second audio compared to Xbox Music and Pandora’s 192 Kbps quality). The optional Premium service takes away the advertisement interruptions and adds features like offline playback and support for more devices (even Smart TVs). A student option lets you “graduate” to Spotify Premium for $4.99/month instead of $9.99/month.

Pandora

(Pandora.com; free for basic version, $4.99 for Pandora One service)

Streaming powerhouse Pandora delivers curated music to your smartphone, tablet, computer or home appliance like Xbox, Sonos and Roku. Though it has just over one million songs in its catalog – a much lower number than the other services in this round-up – Pandora works quickly and reliably and lets you give tracks a “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” so it can deliver a custom listening experience based on your individual tastes. You can also create up to 100 personalized radio stations with your free account. Now hiked up $1 to $4.99/month, Pandora One gives you an ad-free experience, plus web features also include high-quality audio, an optional desktop application and custom skins to tweak the look of your player.

iHeartRadio

(iheartradio.com; free)

Completely free to use, iHeartRadio offers ad-free streaming of more than 15 million songs between its many live radio stations (search by genre, country and/or state). You can create a custom radio station, select a playlist based on mood or activity, or tune into exclusive iHeartRadio programming including concerts, album release parties and more. Sign up for a free account and you can save stations to your Favorites for quick access. iHeartRadio works with a large number of devices: iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Kindle, Windows and the web, along with many home devices including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Sonos, Xbox video game consoles, and more.

SiriusXM Internet Radio with MySXM

(siriusxm.com; from $14.99/month for satellite service, plus $4/month for Internet Radio)

Along with SiriusXM’s satellite radio service, there’s also the slick SiriusXM Internet Radio for web browsers (on a PC or Mac) and iOS/Android apps for phones and tablets. Access a ton of on-demand and exclusive content, such as Howard Stern or Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure, along with streaming music from multiple genres with DVR-like functionality to pause, rewind and fast-forward through audio streams (some talk shows can be downloaded to listen to offline, too). A “Start Now” feature lets you scrub back up to five hours of programming on many channels. The “Tune Start” option plays songs from the beginning of the track when you land on a new station – instead of catching it in the middle or near the end. Another feature called MySXM lets you use your mouse or finger on slider buttons to tweak the kind of music you want to hear on some channels, such as more rock or more hip-hop in your pop music.

Google Play music

(music.google.com; free for Standard account, or $9.99/month for All Access)

One of the newest music streaming services, Google Play Music lets you discover, play and share ad-free music on multiple devices – including smartphones and tablets and the web. The free Standard account lets you access millions of songs on Google Play (roughly 20 million tracks). You can upload up to 20,000 of your own songs and access them across all devices (and even save your favorites for offline playback). The All Access service offers unlimited access to songs with no skip limits per hour, customized playlists and smart recommendations based on your tastes. An exclusive feature allows you to share a free full play of the songs you purchase from Google Play with your friends on Google+.

TuneIn Radio

(tunein.com; free for basic service or $3.99 for “Pro” version)

Available for multiple mobile devices, computers and Smart TVs, the free TuneIn Radio gives you access to more than 100,000 radio stations from around the world, as well as online-only stations and more than four million podcasts. Whether you want to tune into a jazz station from New Orleans or an Internet-based classical music site, you can listen as much as you like. Search for music by country or genre. And there are thousands of stations featuring news, talk, comedy, sports and old time radio dramas. A $3.99 “Pro” version for iOS and Android lets you record audio to listen to later, and there’s a timer you can set like DVR.

Other popular music streaming services include Last.fm, Slacker, Rhapsody, Beats Music and Grooveshark.