“For every taste”: streaming services for listening to music
Music streaming services are gaining popularity: in 2016, they generated 51% of the revenue of the entire US music industry. In 2016, the number of paid subscribers was 100 million. It is projected that there will be 500 million in 2020. In Russia, the streaming of music is also increasingly used - in 2016, the income from streaming music doubled , and the number of paid subscriptions exceeded one million.
The choice of streaming service depends on what needs are facing the user. In this article we will highlight 6 features, under each of which we will select a service.
Photo of Ludo Rouchy / CC BY-SA 2.0
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Disclaimer : We do not declare ourselves the ultimate truth - perhaps you think that some particular service has a better implementation of some streaming service, or are ready to offer additional options. In that case, welcome to the comments.
Share your opinion. Based on it, we will be able to continue in the format of a “custom” collection.
Another important point: the cost of a subscription to a particular service may change or differ from that indicated in the material due to various factors (updating the cost by the service itself, buying through an "intermediary" in the form of a particular online platform and tax component).
The web version of the music service can be used without restrictions - users can access the entire library for free (but with ads), which consists of more than 30 million songs with a bitrate of 192 kbps.
The restrictions of the free version touched "Yandex. Music" for mobile devices. In applications, you can only listen to collections compiled by developers. In order to make playlists yourself, listen to exactly the tracks you want and save the music to the device’s memory, you need to purchase a paid subscription. It also improves the quality of the tracks in the mobile application to 320 kbps.
Yandex.Music appeared in 2009 as a player in the search box. Initially, only 100,000 songs were available. In September 2010, Yandex.Music became available as a separate service, and in 2012, applications for mobile devices were released.
Along with Yandex.Music, Zvooq service is worth noting - it has almost the same features and limitations, but the music is broadcast as 128 kbps, and the media library consists of 25 million tracks. Dmitry Gorchakov, the author of Lifehacker, notes that this sevis is good with unique selections of tracks, as well as the opportunity to study other users' music libraries (although this functionality is available, of course, not only in Zvooq).
It can even be called "the biggest", but with a reservation. Most tracks - from SoundCloud, 125 million . But there you will find, mainly, the work of obscure artists and remixes of popular songs, while the originals of popular tracks are rather difficult to come across. Also, we should not forget about “VKontakte” and a separate music service of the social network called Boom - it’s impossible to count the number of tracks there.
Tidal has the largest “traditional” media library, which has 48.5 million songs. For comparison, in Google Play Music - 40 million tracks, in Apple Music - " about 40 million ." In Tidal you will find albums of both popular artists and lesser known ones. The service is positioned in part as a platform for beginning artists.
The description of the service says : “The curators are an important part of Tidal: we have a group of experts who are looking for and promoting novice performers so that a wide audience can learn about them. Tidal actively participates in the development of the next generation of artists and helps users discover new music for themselves. ”
Tidal is the first streaming service owned by artists. "In the Lobe" are Jay-Z, Rihanna, Beyonce, Chris Martin, Kanye West, Daft Punk and other popular artists. Due to this, it is easier for him to get exclusives, at least temporary. For example, Rihanna’s song "Bitch Better Have My Money" was only available for a while in Tidal.
Streaming music in high quality offer two services - Tidal and Qobuz. Both have a standard hi-fi quality of 16 bit / 44 kHz. Separate recordings are available in 24 bit / 96 kHz in Tidal and 24 bit / 192 kHz in Qobuz. The Qobuz library is smaller - as the developers claim, it consists of 40 million tracks . By the way, comparing these two services on the whathifi.com forum, recommend Quobuz to lovers of classical music (and it's not just about “classic rock” - you can listen to Maria Callas, Chopin and Mendelssohn by famous musicians and orchestras) at Quobuz.
The sound quality in Tidal, Qobuz, as well as on the CD, was compared by the user Zac Zikis on the GearSlutz website forum. He tested all three sources on different equipment: from a professional studio to cheap headphones in conjunction with the iPhone. Bottom line: according to him, both platforms are quite good and satisfy even a demanding listener - not to mention that the streaming service itself is much more convenient than the cumbersome CD collection (although collectors here can argue).
The author of Keddr.com, Andrei Moskalets, suggests using Tidal in conjunction with Bluetooth headphones with AptX technology to create a budget Hi-Fi system. The common problem of Tidal and Qobuz for Russians is their inaccessibility in Russia. We'll have to resort to VPN to "pretend" an American and use this or that service.
Some music services allow you to upload custom tracks to the cloud for later online listening. This functionality is suitable when you already have a formed media library on a computer that you want to access from all devices. In addition, this solution will be useful for users who listen to music that is not in the library of this or that service.
Apple Music gives the most space for downloading songs - up to 100,000 tracks can be added there. The same opportunity offers Google Play Music, but in this service there is only room for 50,000 tracks .
The price range of streaming services officially available in Russia is small. The cheapest - Boom - costs 149 rubles a month, while the most expensive - Yandex.Music - 229 rubles a month, this is the price when paying a subscription through the Apple App Store. If you pay via Google Play, it is already 199 rubles, and directly through Yandex - 169 rubles. The company explains this commission shops.
Apple Music and Google Play Music cost 169 and 159 rubles per month, respectively, but you can use them cheaper. If you are a student, you can subscribe to Apple Music for 75 rubles per month.
Users of Google Play Music can use the “family” rate. It is more expensive than the individual - 239 rubles per month - but you can use it together with the six. If you find five more like-minded people, then each monthly subscription will cost 40 rubles. The same feature is implemented for Apple Music users. "Apple" family subscription also applies to six people, and costs 249 rubles per month.
For lovers of jogging to the music, Spotify implemented the Running mode, which selects songs according to the tempo. Using the accelerometer, the application translates the pace of running into the number of beats per minute, after which it selects suitable songs to maintain it.
Spotify Running does not adjust to the tempo change during a run, but this figure can be adjusted manually. Moreover, the service loses only those parts of the tracks in which the desired tempo is observed.
Spotify is the second most popular streaming service in the United States, but in Russia it is not officially available. In 2014, the company opened an office in Moscow, but in 2015 it closed . Therefore, as is the case with Tidal and Qobuz, you need to use a VPN to access Spotify.
The sphere of music streaming is developing, so in the future, services will have other, new functions. For example, users may be invited to “attend” a performer’s concert with the help of virtual reality glasses. Such an experience was already with the group Coldplay - on August 17, 2017, she streamed a concert on the Samsung Gear VR.
Perhaps, streaming will be integrated into other services not originally related to music. The Telegram developers followed this path. In the last update, they added a music player function to the messenger. To demonstrate her work, they launched the @cctracks channel with songs distributed under the Creative Commons license. Also, users can send songs from a computer to their private messages in order to use Telegram to stream music to a smartphone in the future.
Other materials from the World Hi-Fi:
The choice of streaming service depends on what needs are facing the user. In this article we will highlight 6 features, under each of which we will select a service.
Photo of Ludo Rouchy / CC BY-SA 2.0
')
Disclaimer : We do not declare ourselves the ultimate truth - perhaps you think that some particular service has a better implementation of some streaming service, or are ready to offer additional options. In that case, welcome to the comments.
Share your opinion. Based on it, we will be able to continue in the format of a “custom” collection.
Another important point: the cost of a subscription to a particular service may change or differ from that indicated in the material due to various factors (updating the cost by the service itself, buying through an "intermediary" in the form of a particular online platform and tax component).
The possibility of free listening - Yandex.Music
The web version of the music service can be used without restrictions - users can access the entire library for free (but with ads), which consists of more than 30 million songs with a bitrate of 192 kbps.
The restrictions of the free version touched "Yandex. Music" for mobile devices. In applications, you can only listen to collections compiled by developers. In order to make playlists yourself, listen to exactly the tracks you want and save the music to the device’s memory, you need to purchase a paid subscription. It also improves the quality of the tracks in the mobile application to 320 kbps.
Yandex.Music appeared in 2009 as a player in the search box. Initially, only 100,000 songs were available. In September 2010, Yandex.Music became available as a separate service, and in 2012, applications for mobile devices were released.
Along with Yandex.Music, Zvooq service is worth noting - it has almost the same features and limitations, but the music is broadcast as 128 kbps, and the media library consists of 25 million tracks. Dmitry Gorchakov, the author of Lifehacker, notes that this sevis is good with unique selections of tracks, as well as the opportunity to study other users' music libraries (although this functionality is available, of course, not only in Zvooq).
Extensive Media Library - Tidal
It can even be called "the biggest", but with a reservation. Most tracks - from SoundCloud, 125 million . But there you will find, mainly, the work of obscure artists and remixes of popular songs, while the originals of popular tracks are rather difficult to come across. Also, we should not forget about “VKontakte” and a separate music service of the social network called Boom - it’s impossible to count the number of tracks there.
Tidal has the largest “traditional” media library, which has 48.5 million songs. For comparison, in Google Play Music - 40 million tracks, in Apple Music - " about 40 million ." In Tidal you will find albums of both popular artists and lesser known ones. The service is positioned in part as a platform for beginning artists.
The description of the service says : “The curators are an important part of Tidal: we have a group of experts who are looking for and promoting novice performers so that a wide audience can learn about them. Tidal actively participates in the development of the next generation of artists and helps users discover new music for themselves. ”
Tidal is the first streaming service owned by artists. "In the Lobe" are Jay-Z, Rihanna, Beyonce, Chris Martin, Kanye West, Daft Punk and other popular artists. Due to this, it is easier for him to get exclusives, at least temporary. For example, Rihanna’s song "Bitch Better Have My Money" was only available for a while in Tidal.
Hi-Fi Streaming - Qobuz and Tidal
Streaming music in high quality offer two services - Tidal and Qobuz. Both have a standard hi-fi quality of 16 bit / 44 kHz. Separate recordings are available in 24 bit / 96 kHz in Tidal and 24 bit / 192 kHz in Qobuz. The Qobuz library is smaller - as the developers claim, it consists of 40 million tracks . By the way, comparing these two services on the whathifi.com forum, recommend Quobuz to lovers of classical music (and it's not just about “classic rock” - you can listen to Maria Callas, Chopin and Mendelssohn by famous musicians and orchestras) at Quobuz.
The sound quality in Tidal, Qobuz, as well as on the CD, was compared by the user Zac Zikis on the GearSlutz website forum. He tested all three sources on different equipment: from a professional studio to cheap headphones in conjunction with the iPhone. Bottom line: according to him, both platforms are quite good and satisfy even a demanding listener - not to mention that the streaming service itself is much more convenient than the cumbersome CD collection (although collectors here can argue).
The author of Keddr.com, Andrei Moskalets, suggests using Tidal in conjunction with Bluetooth headphones with AptX technology to create a budget Hi-Fi system. The common problem of Tidal and Qobuz for Russians is their inaccessibility in Russia. We'll have to resort to VPN to "pretend" an American and use this or that service.
Large space for your music - Apple Music
Some music services allow you to upload custom tracks to the cloud for later online listening. This functionality is suitable when you already have a formed media library on a computer that you want to access from all devices. In addition, this solution will be useful for users who listen to music that is not in the library of this or that service.
Apple Music gives the most space for downloading songs - up to 100,000 tracks can be added there. The same opportunity offers Google Play Music, but in this service there is only room for 50,000 tracks .
Cheap subscription without restrictions
The price range of streaming services officially available in Russia is small. The cheapest - Boom - costs 149 rubles a month, while the most expensive - Yandex.Music - 229 rubles a month, this is the price when paying a subscription through the Apple App Store. If you pay via Google Play, it is already 199 rubles, and directly through Yandex - 169 rubles. The company explains this commission shops.
Apple Music and Google Play Music cost 169 and 159 rubles per month, respectively, but you can use them cheaper. If you are a student, you can subscribe to Apple Music for 75 rubles per month.
Users of Google Play Music can use the “family” rate. It is more expensive than the individual - 239 rubles per month - but you can use it together with the six. If you find five more like-minded people, then each monthly subscription will cost 40 rubles. The same feature is implemented for Apple Music users. "Apple" family subscription also applies to six people, and costs 249 rubles per month.
Running Streaming - Spotify
For lovers of jogging to the music, Spotify implemented the Running mode, which selects songs according to the tempo. Using the accelerometer, the application translates the pace of running into the number of beats per minute, after which it selects suitable songs to maintain it.
Spotify Running does not adjust to the tempo change during a run, but this figure can be adjusted manually. Moreover, the service loses only those parts of the tracks in which the desired tempo is observed.
“I can insert headphones, select a playlist, wait a couple of seconds to determine my pace, and start running. With each new song I get a boost of energy, and just when the song is already annoying, Spotify moves on to the next. Almost always the music maintained my pace throughout the run, and I listened to songs, many of which I myself would never have found, ” writes Sara Mitroff in a Cnet service report.
Spotify is the second most popular streaming service in the United States, but in Russia it is not officially available. In 2014, the company opened an office in Moscow, but in 2015 it closed . Therefore, as is the case with Tidal and Qobuz, you need to use a VPN to access Spotify.
The sphere of music streaming is developing, so in the future, services will have other, new functions. For example, users may be invited to “attend” a performer’s concert with the help of virtual reality glasses. Such an experience was already with the group Coldplay - on August 17, 2017, she streamed a concert on the Samsung Gear VR.
Perhaps, streaming will be integrated into other services not originally related to music. The Telegram developers followed this path. In the last update, they added a music player function to the messenger. To demonstrate her work, they launched the @cctracks channel with songs distributed under the Creative Commons license. Also, users can send songs from a computer to their private messages in order to use Telegram to stream music to a smartphone in the future.
Other materials from the World Hi-Fi:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/370905/
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