Music download or stream

[Default.mp3]

[s0nspark]

I honestly can't remember the last time I streamed music but when I did it was Pandora. I converted all my CDs to MP3s and they're all in my phone.

When I'm at work I actually listen to the radio.

This... Except I never listen to the radio.

My tastes in music have yet to hit the streaming world though so that factors in.

Still, I am old school. I prefer albums to tracks or playlists and I want to own what I like.

[Cypher]

This... Except I never listen to the radio.

There is a listener supported Christian radio station in Colorado Springs that plays nothing but instrumental easy listening from 7 p.m. till 5 a.m. every night. It makes for excellent background music at work. No announcers, no commercials, nothing but a station identification every hour.

Still, I am old school. I prefer albums to tracks or playlists and I want to own what I like.

This.

Downloads and playlist can be lost but I still have CDs that I bought in the 90s and if (when) my phone goes tits up I can load them right back onto it.

[s0nspark]

There is a listener supported Christian radio station in Colorado Springs that plays nothing but instrumental easy listening from 7 p.m. till 5 a.m. every night. It makes for excellent background music at work. No announcers, no commercials, nothing but a station identification every hour.

Sounds good. Commercials are something I can no longer tolerate. Same for DJ chatter ;-)

I love to work to any kind of music that drowns out the distractions but does not require me to really listen - I keep a lot of instrumental styles handy to choose from depending on my mood and the work at hand

Downloads and playlist can be lost but I still have CDs that I bought in the 90s and if (when) my phone goes tits up I can load them right back onto it.

About five years ago, I converted my entire CD collection to lossless... and then transcoded the flacs to mp3s for listening on various devices. Now all I buy are lossless digital releases... unless, of course, CDs are the only format available. I've only bought maybe 3 discs in the past year or two, though.

I keep my lossless collection backed up twice over. I have a lot of things I simply could not get again if they were lost.

[RoyGBiv]

My tastes in music have yet to hit the streaming world though so that factors in.

If Amazon has the artist, you can "stream" a "radio station" that focuses on the artist and other artists in the same genre.

I've discovered a lot of new music that way, and rediscovered a lot of great oldies.

The "Earth, Wind and Fire" station has been the poolside go-to this summer.

[blues]

If Amazon has the artist, you can "stream" a "radio station" that focuses on the artist and other artists in the same genre.

I've discovered a lot of new music that way, and rediscovered a lot of great oldies.

The "Earth, Wind and Fire" station has been the poolside go-to this summer.

My experience, (last time within the past year), was that Amazon's algorithms were weak in this regard and didn't have nearly the depth of the Spotify (catalog) "radio" stations when you put in a particular artist. Theirs were more "canned" by comparison. Where Spotify would really pull up some interesting and relatively exotic / esoteric artists, Amazon came up with pablum.

(I don't doubt that the algorithm will get better over time but for me it sent me rushing back to Spotify. I've tried Amazon Unlimited at length a couple times but in my experience it just doesn't compare. Obviously, mileage may vary here.)

[Darth_Uno]

If Amazon has the artist, you can "stream" a "radio station" that focuses on the artist and other artists in the same genre.

I've discovered a lot of new music that way, and rediscovered a lot of great oldies.

The "Earth, Wind and Fire" station has been the poolside go-to this summer.

Apple’s got the same thing. Like you, I’ve found new artists in several genres I wouldn’t have ever heard of otherwise.

[RoyGBiv]

My experience, (last time within the past year), was that Amazon's algorithms were weak in this regard and didn't have nearly the depth of the Spotify (catalog) "radio" stations when you put in a particular artist. Theirs were more "canned" by comparison. Where Spotify would really pull up some interesting and relatively exotic / esoteric artists, Amazon came up with pablum.

(I don't doubt that the algorithm will get better over time but for me it sent me rushing back to Spotify. I've tried Amazon Unlimited at length a couple times but in my experience it just doesn't compare. Obviously, mileage may vary here.)

My oldest would agree with you that Spotify is much better at this... but... if you're into some esoteric stuff, I wonder whether it could be easier to find on Amazon.... (?).

Separately, I have my phone/car set up so that when I start the car, the Amazon app starts playing where it left off. I don't know whether you can do this with Spotify/Pandora but commercial radio and Sirius drive me crazy. And, if I'm playing downloaded playlists I don't use data. My plan discounts me $10/month if I use less than 2GB, which nearly pays for the family music subscription. Last month I used >1GB (I'm on wifi all day) and my Spotify-using-kid used >56GB

[blues]

My oldest would agree with you that Spotify is much better at this... but... if you're into some esoteric stuff, I wonder whether it could be easier to find on Amazon.... (?).

Separately, I have my phone/car set up so that when I start the car, the Amazon app starts playing where it left off. I don't know whether you can do this with Spotify/Pandora but commercial radio and Sirius drive me crazy. And, if I'm playing downloaded playlists I don't use data. My plan discounts me $10/month if I use less than 2GB, which nearly pays for the family music subscription. Last month I used >1GB (I'm on wifi all day) and my Spotify-using-kid used >56GB

I don't have a family plan, just the Spotify Premium which comes out to about $10.60 including tax monthly. With it I also get Hulu (with ads) included.

If I have bluetooth enabled on my phone, Spotify links up immediately with my vehicle and starts playing my playlist, album, station, whatever. Downloaded selections use no data. I only get 3 gigs of data per month on my phone plan but that's enough for 2 hours a day for a month if I decide to stream in the vehicle. (Roughly 50 megs per hour)

I won't say my tastes are esoteric so much as deep in some areas of music...this is where Spotify shined for me. An artist that Spotify brought up on its own via algorithm, for example, wasn't even an option to elect on Amazon's "Music Unlimited". I found this issue a few times in various genres.

Anyway, they're both excellent, Spotify is just more excellent for my purposes. I don't mean to imply it's always the best option for everyone.

[orionz06]

Spotify has the best catalog, especially for some oddball stuff. The family plan is what I've got. I'll also download playlists to my phone for when I'm not on wifi and don't wanna use data. This is pretty easy to manage.