Недавно в России произошел запуск популярного в Америке сервиса потоковой музыки – Spotify. They offered very interesting conditions and prices for Russia., but does it mean, what it is worth to run and try a new service? And yes, and no. All this will be discussed., and also I will try to compare in more detail the most popular and not very services, pointing out their pros and cons.
What for, where and how?
And So, First of all, several factors will affect the choice of a music service., with which you need to decide immediately.
- Platform (Windows / Linux / Mac or Android / iOS or network players)
- Audio Quality
- Budget (how much are you willing to spend on such a service)
- Кто будет пользоваться – вы или несколько человек (optional relatives)
Let's move on to a detailed description of the services., and at the end we will make a comparison table, in which we summarize everything, what was said here.
Music as a Service?
Our world is changing, first had to buy records and cassettes, then the audio went through digitization and came to people's homes on CDs, а дальше – хуже, all on the same disks began to sell us mp3 files, but whole 100 song on disc! And you could easily copy these files to a portable mp3 player, flash memory which had an average 256 megabyte (against 1024 GIGabytes in the modern world on a flash drive the size of a nail. Это целых миллион мегабайт – представьте, 256 and 1 000 000 – какая огромная разница!). Today portable players are almost dead, and release them only for the layer of audiophiles, who listen to rips from vinyl records and audio discs.
Portable players have been replaced by streaming music playback services, where the flash memory of your device no longer matters, and even buying a cheap smartphone can have access to tens of millions of tracks, including freshly baked news, and all this for a certain amount per month.
Apple Music
You might think, what if you have an iPhone or Mac, then definitely you should use only this service, but, this is not true. Пользоваться сервисом можно и на Windows и на Android.
Quality
Service from Apple Corporation offers us streaming music in AAC format, which, unlike MP3, has the advantage of better quality with a smaller file size. I.e, if the track weighs 6 megabytes MP3, then in AAC format with the same quality it will weigh less, due to lower bitrate and other encoding algorithm. By the way, this codec is popular in almost everything, what is streaming, eg, Youtube использует этот кодек для кодирования аудио в своих видеофайлах.
Prices
Apple Music asks for everything 169 rubles per month for access to more than 60 millions of tracks for you one, or 269 rubles for family subscription (to 6 human). Also worth paying attention to, что для студентов действует более адекватная цена – всего 75 rubles per month (will need to be confirmed, what are you student).
You can try for free as many 3 of the month, but you have to enter the data of a valid credit card. Set yourself a reminder through 3 of the month, to disconnect a subscription, because otherwise Apple will deduct the amount for the 4th month from the account. Do not unsubscribe immediately, as soon as issued. She will cancel immediately, and you lose free 3 of the month (other services do not).
A family/Friends
Family subscription is part of the Apple ecosystem. This option is great, if everyone in your family uses Apple devices. Should be emphasized, what exactly in the family, а вот для “друзей” этот вариант не очень подойдет, because Apple, along with family access, asks for one common payment method (credit card), where family members can buy applications and other content. You can also set restrictions for specific family members, либо они могут сами выставляться по возрасту – например доступ к ненормативному контенту (audio and video, marked as Explicit). Also, all members of the family group must have an account, which belongs to one country. Indication of address is not required.
Platforms
- IOS app already built into smartphone firmware
- Приложение для Android – Google Play (is free)
- Windows / Mac should use iTunes (download for windows). Mac already comes with iTunes
- On Linux and others, you can use web player
Results, pros and cons
Perfect solution, if you have an ecosystem from Apple. Better yet, if your whole family has it, then you can save on a music subscription. Very good price, advantageous offer for students. AAC format will save space on the device when downloading offline as well as traffic, especially mobile. Integration in iTunes, no need to download a separate music application. Also a plus is the fact, if you used iPods, iPhones and so on, periodically synchronizing everything with the iTunes library, and now Apple Music can give you very precise recommendations for new music based on the songs you've listened to before.. It’s also almost the only solution for Apple Car Play..
However, a number of minuses include poor support for everything, что не имеет при себе логотип яблока и невозможность загружать свои треки в “облако” для последующего воспроизведения. Also a drawback is the lack of built-in scrobling in Last.fm.
YouTube Music / Youtube Premium / Google Play Music
Successor to Google Play Music, which will be disconnected at the end 2020 year. The same case, when everything has changed, but nothing has changed for the worse.
This service offers very cool features.:
- The lack of advertising on Youtube (in the video) (в том числе и для всей “семьи”)
- Access your entire music library (same, как и в Google Play Music)
- Great tool to migrate from Google Play Music (even your manually downloaded files are transferred)
- You can download your audio files and listen to them from any device
- Ability to minimize Youtube video and listen to audio in the background
- The ability to download videos from Youtube offline for viewing without the Internet
- You can have different accounts for video and audio., so as not to mix recommendations
- The ability to listen only to the audio track from a video on Youtube through the music app
- The ability to cache only an audio track and listen to it without the Internet
- Supported in Android Auto
Audio quality
For music, the maximum acceptable MP3 quality is 320kbps 44100kHz. В случае с прослушиванием аудио дорожки из видео – AAC 256kbps 44100kHz. Naturally, You can choose different quality options for streaming over a cellular network and WiFi and for downloading files.
Prices
Price for Youtube Premium starts from 199 rubles per month. For the money you forget about advertising on Youtube videos, and also get a bunch of benefits, such as minimizing the application without stopping playback and downloading videos offline. And as a bonus, you also get access to music, which is implemented in a separate application. For students, the price 125 rubles per month. The list of benefits is the same., but costs a little more, than Apple and Spotify.
A family / Friends
Family subscription will cost in 299 tractor drivers per month. It's on the whole 6 human, including you. But everyone must be older 13 years (or lie with a date of birth in the profile). Again again, like Apple, family is part of the google ecosystem. You will have to specify one payment method for all 6 human, where they can buy applications and other content. But purchased apps and content will be available to the whole family. (eg, if you bought a movie, then all family members can see it, or if you bought the application, then all family members can download it for free). For friends, this method is also suitable., and everyone should be in one country, no need to confirm your address. The family can also share a place on Google One. (Google Drive). If you bought 100 gigabytes on disk, then the whole family can use it.
Platforms
- IOS app available at App Store
- Для Android – Play Market
- Для Windows/Linux/Mac – web version
Results, pros and cons
Best solution for those, who prefers Android, uses Google Chrome and watches a lot of Youtube. Prices, of course, a little higher, than competitors, but for good reason. Great for family, if all Android devices. You can turn off YouTube ads for the whole family, as well as share a place in the cloud and purchased applications. Also a plus is, that you can upload your files to the cloud to listen to them through a browser or application on any device (but here’s how to download them in Play Music from there it will not work).
By cons, I attribute the lack of separate applications for platforms, except smartphones, with the ability to download tracks offline on desktops and laptops. The price is also different from competitors., albeit a couple of dozen wooden. There is no scrobling in lastfm either.
Spotify
The culprit of all the triumph, not new to the rest of the world, but a curiosity for Russia.
Audio quality
MP3 или AAC, I can’t find out for sure, since they are stored in some kind of encrypted format. If you can get decoded files, complement. Likely, this is mp3, с максимально возможными 320кбит/сек и 44100кгц.
Prices
The variety of rates here is a little better.. Only 169 rubles you get access to the entire library (except for those tracks, which are not available in Russia), as well as the ability to download audio to the cache (even on windows / mac). But for students, the subscription will cost 85 rubles per month. For those, who lives with a couple / the neighbor, or two brothers and so on, there is a subscription for 219 rubles per month. Family subscription will cost in 269 rubles per month for 6 human.
A family / Friends
Yes I Am, this time you can really use one subscription to 6 human, however, the service will require you to confirm the address. All group members must provide the same address. (of course, there is no thorough verification of this, you just enter the same address in all accounts). You can attach existing user accounts to your subscription., but everyone must have an account in the same country.
Platforms
- iOS
- Android
- Windows 10 App
- Windows (classic application)
- PS4 / XBOX (should change the region of the account to the USA in the PS account, to download, then change back to Russia) – возможно скоро появится официально.
- Wireless speakers with Spotify connect support (phone control, column playback) The difference from Bluetooth is, that the column is connected to the home network (to the router), and you can turn on your phone music even on the other side of the earth (in theory, if you connect to a VPN). In addition, there is no loss of sound quality in this configuration., как это случается для Bluetooth.
- Integrated in Discord (the status will indicate, what music are you listening to at the moment)
- In GTA Online, if you like a song, playing there on the radio, you can post it to your page. On the Social Club social network, a Spotify player will appear on your page and you can add a track to your account for spotify and not waste time searching by name, etc..
Results, pros and cons
This service does not need advertising. Its popularity is recognized worldwide., supported by multiple platforms and more. Service exists for a long time, very popular in America and among gamers (integration with Discord, PS4, XBOX). В качестве киллер фичи – поддержка Spotify Connect – технология, in which music is played directly by the speaker itself from the Internet. For Example, if you went to make kebabs and brought with you such a column, you can connect it via WiFi to yourself (setting the phone as a modem) and play music on the column. Wi-Fi range is much greater, and stability and speed too, therefore there will be no loss in sound quality, no interference, if you are not far away with a telephone.
By minus, I will only attribute, that there is no HiFi quality like in Tidal (audio CD quality, lossless compressed). But this minus is relevant only if you are in any way related to audiophiles. To listen to the same MP3 (especially with wireless headphones) it is a good service for very good money.
Tidal
@everything
Deezer
@everything
Vk Music / Boom
@everything
Yandex.Music / Yandex.Music
@everything
Final comparison
@everything: comparison table
Epilogue
Streaming music like never before makes access to millions of tracks easy and profitable for us., thanks to huge competition and cheap gigabytes in the cloud.
B 2008 year you would have to spend about 15-20 thousand rubles (which is approximately equal 40 to thousands nowadays), to buy a good player with lots of memory. And buy or digitize audio, copy everything to the player and so on. Today it’s possible with a budget of 10 thousand rubles to collect a very good path for music, using streaming services. For instance, buy smartphone alcatel 5033d (it supports LDAC), Fiio BTR3 Wireless Receiver or Wireless Headphones with LDAC Codec Support, install the Tidal app on your smartphone and get a pretty good device for music and not only.
I also recommend watching a video comparing two similar services Tidal and Spotify:
