Instead of depending on compact discs or radio stations, hundreds of millions of people worldwide now listen to music through digital streaming services, often for free. And the field is expanding. The two leading services, Pandora and Spotify, which offer millions of selections, are being joined by new entrants including Beats Electronics, the headphone company that was recently acquired by Apple for $3 billion, and Amazon, which launched a new service called Prime Music. There are important differences among the services, which can be accessed through computers, tablets, smartphones and, in some cases, on TVs and car radios.

How to choose the music-streaming services that suit you best…

IF YOU WANT TO SELECT SPECIFIC SONGS

These “on-demand” services let you listen to exactly the song and/or artist you choose, which is not possible with services such as Pandora. It’s like having access to a massive collection of millions of albums. (However, a few notable artists, including the Beatles and Bob Seger, currently are not available through these services.)

    • Spotify is the most popular of the on-demand services, making it more likely that you can share recommendations with friends or relatives who also use it. It has a catalog of more than 20 million songs to choose from, including the latest hits, and a variety of ways to discover new music, as well as plenty of preset playlists based on musical subgenres or artists when you don’t feel like selecting specific songs. But with the free ad-sponsored version, you can select specific songs only on a computer or tablet, not through the smartphone app, although that app allows you to “shuffle play” an assortment of songs from a specific artist or album. Ads tend to pop up every three to six songs and last 15 to 30 seconds or so, as with most free music-streaming services. Spotify.com

Upgrade option: Spotify Premium removes the ads, allows you to select specific songs even on the smartphone app, lets users download songs for off-line listening and increases streaming speed for slightly better sound quality. (Sound-quality problems with streaming services often stem from poor Wi-Fi or cellular connections or low-quality speakers, not the services.) $9.99 per month.

    • Beats Music has more than 20 million songs and tends to be particularly strong with new, hip music such as the latest hip-hop. Beats also offers an impressive range of curated playlists in specific subgenres, many of them put together by musicians rather than based on computer algorithms. The mobile app even has a feature that helps Beats choose appropriate music for the situation. You create a short sentence by clicking on one or more ­phrases—for example, “I’m in a car”…”I’m on a boat” and feel like “kicking back” or “celebrating,” and Beats does the rest. Beats does not offer a free version, but like most paid music-streaming services, it is ad-free. Audio quality is very good—on par with the paid version of Spotify. BeatsMusic.com, $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year after a 14-day free trial. Families who have AT&T cellular family plans can include up to five family members for a single fee of $14.99 per month.
    • Google Play Music All Access offers a catalog of 18 million songs and supplies an online music locker where you can store up to 20,000 digital songs that you have purchased through various services so that you can access them from anywhere. It could be a good choice if you want to bring all of your music options together in one place for convenience. It can be accessed through a web browser or by an Android or iOS device. There is no free version, but there is a one-month free trial. Play.Google.com/about/music/allaccess. $9.99 per month.
    • Amazon Prime Music recently launched with one million songs, a small number compared with what some competitors offer. You will find many big-name musical acts here but often not their full catalogs and nowhere near as many less well-known performers as other services offer. The service provides ad-free listening, allows downloads for off-line listening and is included at no additional cost for members of Amazon Prime, which costs $99 per year. It’s worth a try if you have Amazon Prime.

IF YOU WANT TO SELECT TYPES OF SONGS

These free services do not allow you to request specific songs. Instead they create “stations” for you featuring customized playlists based on the artists and/or songs you favor and the feedback you provide about the songs played. Not all of the on-demand services do this, and those that attempt to do it tend not to do it as well as the services listed below. There usually is a way to skip songs you don’t like, though this skipping typically has limits.

These services are a great way to discover songs and artists appropriate for your musical tastes and that you haven’t necessarily heard before…or rediscover songs and artists you have forgotten.

Which service is best for you depends largely on which does the best job coming up with songs you like. Enter the same song or artist into each of the following as a starting point, and see which best hits the mark.

    • Pandora employs musicologists to analyze songs in an effort to deliver ­music well-suited to user tastes. (­Competing services generally rely on computer algorithms to select songs.) It’s the most popular music-streaming service, with more than 77 million users, in part because those musicologists do an effective job matching songs and listeners. As with most streaming services, ads are sprinkled among the songs if you don’t pay for an upgrade.

Pandora listeners can skip up to six songs per hour per “station,” up to 24 total each day. But Pandora’s sound quality is lower than that of most major competitors, particularly with Pandora’s free version. And Pandora’s catalog is smaller than most—it claims “more than one million songs” and can be slow to add new music. Pandora offers tracks from comedy albums in addition to music. Some cars and aftermarket car radios now are specifically Pandora-enabled and can stream either the paid or ad-supported version of the service. Pandora.com

Upgrade option: Pandora One eliminates ads and improves sound quality somewhat. $4.99 per month.

    • iTunes Radio has an especially extensive music catalog. There are nearly 40 million songs in the iTunes music store—though Apple does not disclose precisely how many of these are available through iTunes Radio. This Apple service also gets exclusive access to lots of not-yet-released new music. Listeners can skip up to six songs per station per hour. As with most of these services, you can listen for free if you’re willing to put up with occasional ads. iTunes Radio comes built into iTunes on Apple computers, iOS devices and Apple TV. It’s not available for Android. Apple.com/itunes/itunes-radio

Upgrade option: Avoid ads by signing up for iTunes Match, $24.99 per year.

    • iHeartRadio is a free service that draws on a catalog of 18 million songs to deliver ad-free “radio stations” customized to individual listener tastes. It’s the best way to listen to digital music that’s both free and ad-free. The service also offers digital access to more than 1,500 AM and FM radio stations from around the US. iHeart.com

Upgrade option: None available.

More Streaming Options

Some music-streaming services offer unusual twists on the features provided by more prominent services. These services can be streamed through a web browser, and some offer apps for smartphones.

AccuRadio is a lot like Pandora, but listeners can skip as many songs as they like (free, AccuRadio.com). 8tracks offers playlists designed by fellow 8tracks users (free, 8tracks.com). Hype Machine offers music from more than 800 music blogs (free, HypeM.com). Rhapsody’s new UnRadio service is like Pandora One, Pandora’s paid ad-free service, except that you can skip an unlimited number of songs and listen on demand to songs previously played that you marked as favorites, even off-line ($4.99 per month, Rhapsody.com).

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