Subscription Music Service or Purchase Music

[coffee_sipper]

I'm just curious as to what everyone here does. I know Pandora exists, along with a ton of other radio style stations, but I am just curious. Do you pay for a subscription music service when you want new music, or do you buy the MP3s?

Personally, I have been subscribing to a music subscription service for a while, but am contemplating saving the extra money since I only listen to a few new songs here and there. Additionally, I'm almost always at home so radio station style music might work just as well for me along with purchasing a few MP3s a month.

[seattlecyclone]

I never pay for music anymore. I listen to Pandora. Also, the iTunes store and Google Play store both give away a few free tracks every week. Many of them are quite good.

[Lans Holman]

I use the free spotify, and if tells me I've listened to one album too many times in a month, that tells me it's time to buy that album.  I also check out cds from the library.

[NinetyFour]

I haven't bought new music in over a year.  I listen to the CDs that I have downloaded into iTunes or to iTunes Radio (especially if I am in the mood for Chopin).  I actually don't listen to music much these days--mostly I stream the BBC World Service, or listen to the Diane Rehm show or Harry Shearer's Le Show on the web.  All free, of course.

[madmax]

Mostly listen to free Radio at work and Spotify free at work as well. Use Pandora, also free in the Gym sometimes.

[AlexK]

I pay for Pandora and feel it is a great value. It is only $3/month and no commercials plus better sound quality than the non-paid account and it plays for hours before asking "still listening?". Also I have one account and it plays on both tablets and both smartphones, even simultaneously so my wife and I both use it often.

[sol]

Free Pandora plus Adblcok for no ads.  Spotify once in a while.  Youtube for specific tracks that I need on a moment's notice.  And then a vast collection of music from my youth that I ripped from CDs I used to own.

I briefly had a paid (free to me though university) Napster account in grad school, which I loved.  Great suggestions on new stuff, incredibly detailed play lists targeted to your tastes.  I would consider paying for that level of service if I ever got tired of the free alternatives, and if I could actually OWN the tracks I wanted, unlike iTunes or Napster which revoke ownership if your membership or lifespan elapses.

I haven't paid for new music since approximately 1996.

[theSchmett]

I am a subscription fan.

I have never been one to spend money on owning music, although I love listening. I got my first CD player in like, 1992 or something so I didn't grow up on Napster/Limewire, although those were some interesting times with a lot of new discovery.

I listen to Spotify, for which I have the top tier account - no ads, and listen on mobiles and devices.

The caveat being I have a long train commute everyday, and subscribing was part of the deal in giving up cable, as in save a ton in giving up cable, but have access to Netflix, Hulu+, and Spotify.

I am currently trying out different methods of replicating the Sonos in house streaming (remote controlled device streaming spotify to speakers)  but always running up against some hurdle.

Also - and I know I can conquer this with more mundane methods, but I love having mobile music for when my 3yo and I have time to kill.

I also really like Google Music but it was a little flaky for me when it first rolled out.

At $10/month I even think its worth it to have mobile (again, long commute) because I would spend at least that much on new music at the used CD shop every month and not have all the test driving opportunity.

[sol]

am currently trying out different methods of replicating the Sonos in house streaming (remote controlled device streaming spotify to speakers)  but always running up against some hurdle.

If you run spotify on a computer connected to your stereo, then the $4 android app called Unified Remote will conveniently give you full control of spotify from your phone.  It's how I control Pandora in my house, too.  Free version will do spotify if you open the app, paid version will give you customizable home screen widget remotes, which I find more convenient.

[Petari]

I'm in Canada, so Spotify and Pandora are not (officially...) available, I pay $5/month to subscribe to Rdio, which I find works quite well as I like the wide variety and instant access to new music. I used to pay $10/month for the higher tier subscription with smartphone access, but these days I'm usually listening at home or at work, and I have a small MP3 collection of purchased music for when I'm traveling.

[ender]

Music was a weakness of mine.

I've found since paying $10/month for Spotify I spend a considerable amount less on music than I used to - for $120/year for something I love I don't find this overly expensive at all.

[swick]

A couple of years ago hubby and I splurged on a lifetime download membership for Magnatunes. They release new music all the time, offer a huge variety (we do listen to a lot of instrumental and independent artists and a variety of genres so this is awesome) and allows you to both stream and download what you like.

We stream all the time and have downloaded over 100 full albums, Lifetime membership was I think about $240.

[rocklebock]

I'm a pretty big music nerd - I probably spent $100-$200 a month buying music, back when that was a thing I did. Spotify suits most of my needs now.

[Russ]

I try not to pay for things that won't belong to me... therefore no subscription services and no iTunes. I mostly use Pandora's free option, but have used some others and they all worked just as well. I like the variety, but there's always youtube for single songs. Unfortunately there's a lot of stuff I like that you can't find through those options, and that's where physical media comes in. Most of it gets borrowed from the library if I only need it temporarily, which is like 80% of the time (and it's very cool to me that the library fills the need of music I can't find on the internet. That was very surprising). Occasionally I'll buy CDs or cassettes if I like something enough to justify it, want to support a band I'm seeing, or can't find the music anywhere else legally.

[StarryC]

Check out your local library.  My library has a service called "Freegal" which allows you to download 3 songs a week for free.  I think it is a Sony music service, so the selection is not "complete" and obviously it would take you a while to build up a library if you currently had NO music.  But, if there is an album you like with 12 songs, you can have the whole thing in a month.

[gooki]

I use the Pandora free service. No ads in NZ at the moment. I like it so much I want to sell/bin my CD collection.

[Rural]

Radio. If I get an urge to hear a specific some, I pull it up on YouTube. In our house (limited radio reception in an earth-sheltered house, I sometimes use the iheartradio app over wifi.

[theSchmett]

Sol thanks for the advice. Can I ask, since its not clear from the play store, will it let me select tracks and browse graphically or is it more like remote buttons? I really want a screen less system, with units all over the house that handle the playback, and phones as remotes.

Like Chrome cast except with an audio out not just HDMI.

[kh]

Pandora for radio, Grooveshark if you want specific stuff  or make your own playlists, Songza for curated playlists. All free, all awesome.

[ace1224]

free pandora and free britney spears radio.  (and i am not ashamed lol)

[Nothlit]

I have a Pandora account. I've never hit the 40 hours/month of mobile listening limit where you have to pay.

I do pay $9.99/annum for an Audible.com account, which is well worth it.

Hopefully this is not too much of a sidetrack, but can I ask how you get that rate with Audible? The only options I see are $14.95 per month or $149.50 per year...

[StarryC]

I'm not sure if it is still there, but the $9.99 a year with Audible used to give you the "membership discount" on audio books but no "credits." 

I found it not worth it.  You can add or cancel membership at any time.  So, when I want a book that costs 1 credit/ more than $15 at nonmember price I join, buy the book with the credit, and then cancel.  But, I don't usually want 1 full price audiobook a month. With the daily deals, library audio books, and other free podcasts, I usually only need to buy a "full price" audio book 3 times a year.

[catccc]

another spotify fan here, but I only listen at work and on my computer at home, I don't pay for ad free or mobile service.  When I discovered it (used to use pandora) I was smitten.  It was so good I felt like it must be illegal.

[jrhampt]

Neither.  I listen to the radio, which is free.

[sol]

Sol thanks for the advice. Can I ask, since its not clear from the play store, will it let me select tracks and browse graphically or is it more like remote buttons?

I use it to control Pandora, not Spotify, but looking at the options I have here it looks like the free version Spotify remote only does forward and back and play and stop and volume.  The paid version has an "Advanced Spotify Remote" that has those same buttons, plus the album art, position within the song, shuffle and repeat buttons, and then alternate tabs for Playlists and Search.  I don't have any Spotify playlists so mine is blank, but I image it would give you access to whatever you've created in Spotify.  The Search tab looks pretty good, you can search by artist or album or tracks.  It found the few things I searched for easily.

From perusing their website I get the feeling that Spotify was one of the original reasons for creating Unified Remote, so I suspect it's integrated pretty well.  For $4, I'd say give it a whirl.  Remember that you have 15 minutes to evaluate and return any paid Play Store purchase for a full refund, so just make sure you have the desktop portion already installed and Spotify running, then buy the app and connect to your computer and see if it does what you want.  If not, you only have to go back to the Play Store page to return it.

[Spork]

I mostly have CDs.  (I gave all my vinyl away years ago).  I don't purchase a lot during a year -- maybe 4-5 or so... but I've been around long enough that between doing that and getting some as gifts, I have a reasonable stack of them.   I'll occasionally buy singles on MP3s (but I want them on MP3, not digitally attached to iTunes or some other service).

The CDs are all ripped and sit quietly on a jukebox and have for a long long time.  My car stereo is an inexpensive name brand that has a USB stick interface.  I've got a 16GB stick in it that won't hold my whole library... but it holds plenty. 

Streaming (other than my own in-house streaming from my jukebox) isn't an option for me.  My bandwidth at home sucks and I don't have a data plan on my cell phone.

[meyer]

I am using Audials products. It can enable users to capture and save music streaming on PC or smartphone in original quality from all streaming websites as Spotify,Rdio,Napster.......

http://audials.com/en/how_to_record_internet_radios/start.html

[Scandium]

I am using Audials products. It can enable users to capture and save music streaming on PC or smartphone in original quality from all streaming websites as Spotify,Rdio,Napster.......

http://audials.com/en/how_to_record_internet_radios/start.html

I'm willing to bet that's illegal. Might as well torrent the music at that point..

[warfreak2]

Nobody mentioned Bandcamp yet? There is so much on there for free/pay-what-you-want, and most of the for-pay albums can be streamed for free in a browser. It has been my main source of new music for the past 5 years. (I also make music myself, some of which is on there.)

[dragoncar]

I love music, but I doubt I'll ever pay outright for music again.  Between radio streaming, pandora, Apple Radio, etc. I have plenty of options.  Plus, I'm getting to the age where I can just rely on past music purchases if I want to build a playlist of favorites.

If I want to hear a specific song, it's probably on youtube.  I suppose if I absolutely must own a song, I'll use amazon or itunes to purchase the one track.  It's a great time for frugal music lovers.

One caveat: obscure stuff.  If I see a live band that doesn't have any exposure, maybe I'll pick up their CD for a few bucks.

[Cwadda]

Spotify is a good option for free listening.

[genselecus]

I think someone mentioned Songza already, but I would definitely second it. They have tons of playlists that you can select and they have a concierge that you can use if you don't feel like thinking about what music you want to listen to. Right now my concierge says:

It's Thursday afternoon. Play music for: 1. Boosting your energy; 2. Brand new music; 3. Driving; 4. Getting fired up; 5. Working in an office (SFW); 6. Keeping Calm and Mellow.
When I clicked on working in an office it gave me the following choices: 1. Too much fun in the 90's; 2. Falling in love in the 80's; 3. Easy sounds of the 70's; 4. Greatest hits of pop/rock; 5. Smooth Neo-soul and R&B; 6. Too much fun in the 80's.
When I clicked on Easy sounds of the 70's it gave me three final choices: 1. 1970s anger management; 2. '70s slow dance; 3. Yacht rock

I'm now listening to the Doobie Brothers.

[Fireman]

Started with tapes and graduated to CDs.  In high school, ripping CDs (mine and other's) and Napster were my sources.  Through the years, i've used BearShare, LimeWire, FrostWire, and iTunes as well.  Recently, I started torrenting and I still use iTunes for songs I can't torrent.  I also listen to the free version of Pandora and songs on YouTube.

One note on iTunes, they haven't put Digital Rights Management restrictions on their music since 2009.  Source.

[N]

I use spotify for 10/month. I keep waffling on whether to go back to free version or not. I really enjoy my downloaded playlists while driving. I hate listening to radio (so many commericals, crappy music) and I dont like talk radio/podcasts either. having exactly what I want is awesome. plus I dont have unlimited data. I cant stream without wifi.

[Scandium]

I just canceled my Google music subscription ($8/month), as a mustachian effort. If I buy an album every 2 months I still come out ahead, even more so since I'll then own the music, instead of renting.. This always bugged me about these services; you subscribe for 10 years and then cancel: you have nothing to show for it! Even if you spend the same on buying music every month at least you have a collection. For me I think free spotify should be enough, and I'll buy albums I listen to over and over.

Pandora is really limited, due to their small collection. I think they say ~1 million songs, compared to 20 million for the streaming services. And it's really bugging me how it's always the same. I put on a metal station and every 3 songs is metallica or AC/DC (which are both fine, but I'd like some variety)

[MustachianAccountant]

I am using Audials products. It can enable users to capture and save music streaming on PC or smartphone in original quality from all streaming websites as Spotify,Rdio,Napster.......

http://audials.com/en/how_to_record_internet_radios/start.html

I'm willing to bet that's illegal. Might as well torrent the music at that point..

That's an interesting question... back when cassette tape decks were a thing, we had a discussion as to whether it was legal to record songs off the radio to cassette tape. Seems like the same thing to me. And what about recording OTA TV shows to your hard drive? Is that illegal? The courts say no. Why should music be any different?

[Spork]

I am using Audials products. It can enable users to capture and save music streaming on PC or smartphone in original quality from all streaming websites as Spotify,Rdio,Napster.......

http://audials.com/en/how_to_record_internet_radios/start.html

I'm willing to bet that's illegal. Might as well torrent the music at that point..

That's an interesting question... back when cassette tape decks were a thing, we had a discussion as to whether it was legal to record songs off the radio to cassette tape. Seems like the same thing to me. And what about recording OTA TV shows to your hard drive? Is that illegal? The courts say no. Why should music be any different?

I'm no legal expert... but my recollection of the Betamax case is that recording shows for the purpose of time shifting was deemed legal.  In other words: record, playback later, throw away/record over.

Also legal was backup:  recording of albums to tapes (in the old days) or ripping CDs/DVDs was considered fair use for backup purposes.

I don't think recording with the intent to archive it forever falls under that legal umbrella -- but I can't say I really know that for sure.

[theSchmett]

Recording Spotify = violating your license.

Its an assumption, but a good one. Spotify determines your license based on what you pay and when.

[jjquantz]

If any of you all end cursed with oddball tastes in music like I have then you might not find any of these streaming services quite so useful/interesting.

I can list at least 20 styles that I listen to regularly that are essentially hopeless on any of the streaming services. Here are just a few:
1) Baroque opera,
2) Yodeling cowboy music,
3) German popular music from the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's,
4) French harpsichord music,
5) American a capella mens groups from the 1930's - 1950's.

I currently have less than half of my collection loaded into iTunes, and I hear all of these styles and more come up regularly.  Let me know if you can find a streaming site that provides a rich and deep playlist in any of these genres. 

For me the only answer is purchasing music. 

[pac_NW]

I listen to iTunes Radio, which is free. And I borrow CDs from the library and rip them for future use. This is also free. I rarely buy music anymore, even eclectic items.

[davisgang90]

I have all my old CDs on Amazon Cloud and buy any new music (rare) from Amazon.  I also use the free version of Pandora.

[LibrarIan]

Call me old school, but I still use and purchase CDs. However, I only buy CDs of very specific musicians for my small collection (Zao, Kid Cudi, Denison Witmer, Noah Gundersen, a couple others). I'm the type of person who listens to albums on repeat for a few weeks and then swaps them out for another.

Other than the few CDs I actually purchase, I use the library. There are three ways I do this. I check out CDs from their physical collection, I use Freegal (a Sony service run through libraries in which you can download and keep forever 3 songs a week) and a newish service called Hoopla. Hoopla is very much like Netflix, but it also has audio books and full albums you can "borrow" for about a week and listen to over the Internet. They also have a mobile app. I find with these three methods I actually never have to pay for most music despite me buying one or two CDs a year and the taxes I'm already paying to the library.

Do yourself a favor and check out (no pun intended) your library's music options in all their various formats.

[LibrarIan]

And I borrow CDs from the library and rip them for future use. This is also free.

Just a note on this while I'm in the thread: While you will probably never be caught or have any punishments imposed on you, be aware that this activity is illegal, not to mention unethical. I know, lots of other people probably do it and you probably won't be caught, but I don't do this just because of the ethical implications. When I used to work in a library, a guy used to copy the library's CDs right on library computers. He was reported and was given a hefty fine since he had been doing it a while. If you choose to do this, don't do it at the library ;-).

[exranger06]

I still buy CDs. And I'm not some old fart who hasn't gotten with the times yet; I'm 25 years old.
-It's the easiest way to play music on my home stereo
-I can rip them to my computer, copy them to my iPod and USB stick, and burn copies 
-I always have a "back-up" disc
-the sound quality is vastly superior to streaming radio or FM radio
-I can listen to whichever song/album whenever I want, as many times as I want, something you can't do with streaming radio
-I like having a physical, tangible item in exchange for my music purchase, and I like looking at the album artwork

-I often buy used, but still perfect condition CDs on Amazon. They often cost about $5-6. I don't buy a CD just to hear 1 or 2 songs on it. If I like a band enough to buy an album, I always end up enjoying just about every one of their songs. Out of the 100+ albums I have, I can maybe count how many songs I don't like on one hand. So, spending about $5 for an album which typically has about 12 songs on it, means I pay about $0.42 per song.