Music Streaming services

Blazzok

New member
I started using Play Music (Google's music streaming service) since September 2016 (mostly because I could get a 3month free trial). I have never really paid for music before (apart from, I think, 4 CD's I bought in the past), so paying R60pm now for something I use A LOT doesn't seem that bad.

I can download music and then listen to it "offline", and there is no limit to the amount I can download which is great. Just as a test, I yesterday searched for random small bands and I found them on Play Music. They also seem to have Afrikaans music of all sorts (if that is your thing), so I don't think you'd be disappointed by the selection.
I sometimes still get a bit bowled by exactly when it will store my music offline, as it doesn't always seem to download what I want it to (although I added it to my library), but I have found ways around that.

I have tried other services before like Spotify, Pandora, Grooveshark, etc. but none of them really worked for me for some reason.
One of the things I find lacking is app support for Play Music. There is no Xbox app for it; there also isn't an app for it on my Samsung TV, while both of those have a Spotify app. Hopefully it is something that will change with time.

What do you guys use to stream/listen to music (if at all)?
 
Dewd, I wanted to start just such a thread. I also subbed to Google Music the other day, but my wife also wants it now. You need the family plan, but thats only available in certain regions, except SA of course.

A buddy of mine is using Deezer, so I had look at it, its got the Family plan for R90 and 6 premium profiles, basically 6 other family members you can add.

I am thinking of cancelling Google Music and signing up for the Deezer Family plan. Both Google Music and Deezer has about 35 million songs.

deezer.JPG
 
I'm also subscribed to Google Music. Signed up as soon as they became available in South Africa. Before then I used Simfy. I got Simfy as part of Afrihost Plus but it really lacked when it came to my kind of music. Before that I used Grooveshark. Man I loved Grooveshark and it was so sad when it was shut down.

I also scrobble the music that I listen to. This way I keep track of my libary, likes and so forth.

My LastFm page: http://www.last.fm/user/TowerOfSolitude

Last year's scrobble statistics: http://www.last.fm/user/TowerOfSolitude/listening-report/year
 
I use Simfy as it's part of the Afrihost+ package. There's a decent selection of music particularly in the sections I enjoy most (Gospel, Electronic, Alternative).

The app wasn't the greatest but they have improved it lately. You can download tracks to play offline although it seems to work better streaming (although songs do get cached so you could flick through an album to caches it while on Wi-fi)

The weekly featured playlists are quite cool and introduce you to some tunes you wouldn't normally know about.
 
Been using Google Music for a while now and absolutely love it. It has all the songs I've ever searched for, and I love the stations themed around a specific time of day, giving you some amazing songs at just the right time. I've also used the stations to discover some new artists and songs as well.

Since the episode of Funhaus making fun of scrobbles I cannot take lastfm seriously. I checked it out, but so far nothing has come close to Google Music.

I guess it also depends on the genres of music you like, because I see the different platforms seems to be more specialized in certain genres, and lacking in others.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
I started out looking for a decent streaming service, and settled on Rdio for quite a while, but Google Play is just so far ahead of all the others its ridiculous... I signed up when they had an offer that was R12 bucks for 4 months or something, and havent looked back...

If anyone is interested, I was looking for a PodCast player, and in my searches I discovered that the best one is a paid for app that only costs like R40, and second to that was Google Play... So i got quite excited, jumped on the app, and couldnt find PodCasts anywhere... Yes you guessed it, not available in SA yet... So i googled a bit and found a work around, If you download an app called Tunnel Bear, its a VPN that makes it look like your device is in the states, open up Google Play, go to settings hit refresh, and BAM! PodCasts! It goes away every now and then, like when the app updates etc, but just do the tunnel bear thing again and it sorts it out in like 10 seconds...
 
One of the things I find lacking is app support for Play Music. There is no Xbox app for it; there also isn't an app for it on my Samsung TV, while both of those have a Spotify app. Hopefully it is something that will change with time.

if your phone has DLNA support you can stream your music to your console via something like BubbleUPnP. Unfortunately it limits you to music on your device. I couldn't get it to stream music.

Alternatively get a Chromecast
 
if your phone has DLNA support you can stream your music to your console via something like BubbleUPnP. Unfortunately it limits you to music on your device. I couldn't get it to stream music.

Alternatively get a Chromecast

I was thinking of maybe getting a Chromecast, but since I recently bought a 4k TV I thought I should then probably go for the Chromecast Ultra, but it just so damn expensive.
 
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