Spotify vs. Amazon Music vs. Google Music vs. Tidal

Blitz

Blitz

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Looking for any feedback/recommendations in regards to other FoH bros' experience with these music services. Figured I'd finally come out of the dark and get a music service.

I used Spotify this weekend on the ladies phone and the app/interface just seemed kinda shitty? Also does anyone have any experience with Tidal's Hi-Fi tier? Apparently you can get it for $9.99 with a student discount (gonna have to dig up those old email addresses and see if any are still active).
 
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Alkorin

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Any particular reason that you're completely ignoring Apple Music? Just curious.
 
galgor

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I've been a member of all of them.

Tidal was too expensive for what you got. Amazon's interface was awkward to use when I had it. Google was my choice because I use it for my entire ecosystem at work, but Spotify was as good if not better.
 
Noodleface

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I've used Spotify for years now.

Also if you download the apk you can get the premium version, you just can't download songs
 
Jysin

Jysin

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I pay for the premium service and I love it. You can set higher quality streaming too. I use the download playlist option quite a bit before going out on camping trips and whatnot.
 
Blitz

Blitz

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Alkorin said:
Any particular reason that you're completely ignoring Apple Music? Just curious.
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Nah, no particular reason. Just escaped my mind.

May end up trying Spotify. Definitely want the download option. How restrictive is the "download" option. Will I be able to move it to other places aside from my phone etc?
 
Jysin

Jysin

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Blitz said:
Nah, no particular reason. Just escaped my mind.

May end up trying Spotify. Definitely want the download option. How restrictive is the "download" option. Will I be able to move it to other places aside from my phone etc?
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Never really moved the files anyplace else to be honest. Damn near everything is Bluetooth connected these days, so I use my phone to BT connect to my portable Bose speaker, my truck, my home theater, etc.
 
Denamian

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I'm using the Google family plan, which is $15/month for 6 accounts. No real complaints about it.
 
Ameraves

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Denamian said:
I'm using the Google family plan, which is $15/month for 6 accounts. No real complaints about it.
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This is what I use as well. Since I use pretty much everything Google, it just made sense to get Google Music as well. I have had literally 0 complaints about it.
 
Araxen

Araxen

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I use Spotify and there student discount is $5/month. It's pretty hard to beat. I love that the app can control other devices that their software is installed on too.
 
Noodleface

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Yeah Spotify is on several phones, ps4, couple pcs including work. I have considered giving Google a shot
 
Chanur

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My buddy bought a Spotify family account or something? So now me and his brother get Spotify premium for free.
 
Vorph

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Blitz said:
How restrictive is the "download" option. Will I be able to move it to other places aside from my phone etc?
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You can download to 3 devices.

Spotify kicked the shit out of other services for selection when I first signed up. Not sure if that's still the case or not, and YMMV depending on what genres you like. I listen to death/black metal, industrial, various electronic genres, and Rush. Only two things bug me about Spotify: editing playlists is a bitch on anything but the PC client, to the point where you can't even reorder the tracks on the Android app; and there's an issue with my phone and LG Tone+ headset where the volume is just way too low. Strangely the same headset paired to my Kindle has no issues (nor do other music players on the phone), but I'm not going to lug a tablet around while mowing the lawn so it doesn't really help me.
 
Jysin

Jysin

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Vorph said:
... there's an issue with my phone and LG Tone+ headset where the volume is just way too low. Strangely the same headset paired to my Kindle has no issues (nor do other music players on the phone), but I'm not going to lug a tablet around while mowing the lawn so it doesn't really help me.
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Some devices have volume limiting built-in. You can disable it in your phone.
 
Vorph

Vorph

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That's already off, Amazon Music, Pandora, and the plain old MP3 player don't have any volume problems (nor did Spotify until about 6 months ago, for that matter). Tried changing all the effect settings in Spotify as well, but no luck. There's a bunch of reports of it on the Spotify forum going back at least two or three years too, so it's not just me. They've even claimed to fix it more than once, but you still see posts like this pop up on reddit: Volume too low on mobile? • r/spotify and the official help forums: Why is the max volume so quiet? - The Spotify Community (both from about a month ago).
 
Jysin

Jysin

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Really weird. I use my headphones on my phone with Spotify at the gym on my last Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7 phones and never had this issue.
 
Ladro

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I've been a paid Spotify user since it launched in the US. but also use Itunes Music. Out of the two, Spotify is just better for me and the family simply due to the playlists you can subscribe to. I haven't found anything really similar elsewhere, but I haven't looked that hard either. Amazon Music is okay, wish their Alexa plan was not limited to a single device since I have 4 in the house. Bitrate wise, not much difference honestly to me, but I do download everything at max bitrate (320) to my phone so it sounds amazing. Family plan is pretty great too.
 
slippery

slippery

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I pay for Spotify as well, and I'm generally happy with it. I do most of the hard work on the computer, and I will say the computer program is 100x better than the phone app, but the phone app gets the job done. I mostly just use the phone with bluetooth in my car to either play whatever playlist or listen to their "radio" for whatever I'm feeling.
 
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