Music streaming services are becoming more popular each year as people succumb to the appeal of having a jukebox of tunes at their fingertips — allowing everyone in the household to set and save their own playlists, listen to music "curated" for a host of different occasions and discover new bands and singers based on your old favorites. Podcasts are a growing segment of these audio streaming platforms with everything from investing tips to health and wellness shows driving listening.
Music streaming services
While the barrier for entry is low — all of these platforms offer a free trial or a free option (with ads) — if you're serious about music and audio streaming, often the best features come with the premium plan.
Moving to a different music subscription platform can seem like hard work, having to start over with your playlists and artist favorites but, depending on the features you're looking for, you could be better off when it comes to price.
Most music subscription sites often run deals and offers throughout the year, especially during Black Friday sales and, for Amazon Music during its Prime Day events. We'll always cover good deals when they pop up so keep an eye out for our coverage.
Spotify
Spotify Spotify Free, $11.99 Individual / $16.99 Duo / $19.99 Family / $5.99 Student, all monthly
Spotify is a music favorite with its easy-to-use app, music discovery and its playlist-building and sharing features. Spotify’s "suggested" feature is popular with users, letting the algorithm do the heavy lifting and serving as a sort of DJ in the palm of your hand. Its price has historically also been part of its appeal. For a long time it was a cheaper option compared to other music streaming options like Apple Music and Tidal. Spotify has raised its prices in recent months though, so it's now the most expensive of the main competitors.
Spotify Free has some of the perks of Spotify Premium, but you can't listen offline, limited to six "skips" an hour and it comes with a side helping of ads.
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Amazon Music Unlimited
Amazon Music Unlimited $10.99 / $16.99 Family / $5.99 single device / $5.99 Student, monthly
Amazon Music Unlimited comes with a great range of music, and you can listen with lossless, high-res, and spatial Audio. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can bag Amazon Music Unlimited for $9.99 per month, saving you $1 per month and $12 over a year. Newer to the service is the addition of Audible, the popular audiobook app. A subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited includes one Audible credit each month you can use on best sellers, new releases or enjoy classics.
Amazon has a free music streaming option that comes with ads, but its free music library is limited.
Apple Music
Apple Music $10.99 Individual / $16.99 Family / $5.99 Student, all monthly
Apple Music has a vast music library, similar to Spotify’s — but it focuses more on trending charts (instead of personal playlists), covering cities from across the globe. Apple Music also acts as a radio player, offering stations from local and national broadcasters as well as a suite of original "Apple Radio" channels. If you have an iPhone or any other iOS product, such as Apple TV, the Apple Music app is pre-installed and simple to use. The streaming giant is known for its great audio quality as it uses Dolby Atmos music.
Apple Music has a free one-month trial for all new customers.
Tidal
Tidal $10.99 Individual / $16.99 Family / $5.49 Student, all monthly
As Tidal was one of the first music streamers to offer high-resolution audio, it is a go-to platform for audiophiles and the music creator community. Its appeal for subscribers is high-quality lossless audio formats (HiRes FLAC and Dolby Atmos) and integration with audio hardware.
In keeping with its focus on audio fans and artists — whether pros, semi-pros or hobbyists — Tidal has an extra subscription package, the $9 a month "DJ Extension" that allows subscribers to remix songs, videos and audio tracks from its music library.
Tidal offers a free 30-day trial for all new customers.
The bottom line
Most music streaming services offer you a free trial to help you become acclimated to their platform. Not only is it a risk-free way to try out something new, you have the flexibility to find the right fit, with no money out of your pocket.
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