Does Streaming Pandora Use A Lot Of Data

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Although the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is in sight, and we are spending more time again outside the home, many of us are still working remotely. You may require tunes to work -- or maybe you need music when you are out for a drive, clearing your head. Either way, while there are numerous music streaming services well worth paying for, there's also plenty of stuff you can access for free

Most of the paid services also offer free trials. We've listed services here with completely free tiers, though you can upgrade to a higher level of service to remove ads, increase the size of the music library, allow more skips, or improve stream quality in bitrate.

Streaming platforms

A streaming platform is a cloud-based service with a catalog of music typically sorted by genre or artist. These contain playlists of albums or other thematic ways of sorting (such as by decades, style, or mood) so that the music can be randomly accessed. They either have apps or websites and can be integrated with a smart speaker device (Amazon Echo, Google Home, Sonos), but some (such as YouTube or Deezer) require paying for the premium tiers.

Amazon Music Prime

Free for Prime customers

Quality: N/A
Files: N/A
Library size: 50 million+ (2 Million in the free library for Prime users)
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, desktop app, web player, connected speaker support, cars

The free tier for Prime users features more than two million songs and more than 2,000 playlists and stations -- all ad-free, with unlimited skips and available for offline playback. The full tier comes at an incremental cost to Prime Customers for an additional $7.99 a month. Non-Prime customers pay $9.99 a month. Amazon also provides a lossless quality streaming service, Amazon Music HD, for $12.99 for Prime members.

Spotify Free

The world's most popular streaming service, in a free version

Quality: 160kbps, 96Kbps for mobile device users
Fi les: MP3, M4P, MP4
Library size: 45 million+
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, desktop app, web player, smart TV apps, connected speaker support, and cars

Some folks, like my Jason Squared podcast colleague Jason Cipriani, find the native application interface confusing. Following an artist is not the same as adding the artist to your library. However, the service doesn't require a native interface, as the free version can be easily integrated into streaming devices such as Sonos, which uses its own native UX. But there's a lot of content here to enjoy and focused genres for rock, pop, indie, moods, new releases, throwbacks, and charts. The free tier is ad-supported, but I do not find it overly intrusive. In addition to their existing paid service tier, the company announced that they would be offering a lossless, high-fidelity version at the end of 2021.

YouTube Music

Google your tunes

Quality: 128kbps
Files: AAC
Platforms: iOS and Android apps

The search giant has a wide variety of music, with good mobile apps, but it's heavily ad-supported. It has excellent search features too, with lots of live music recordings.

Pandora

One of the oldest is still one of the best

Quality: 64kbps
Files: N/A
Library size: 30 million+
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, Web UX, smart device integration

Pandora has been owned by satellite radio provider SiriusXM since 2019. With Pandora, music is created "thematically." You chose a bunch of artists, and it figures out what tastes you have, and it gives you music based on that music style. Ads are frequent.

Slacker Radio / LiveXLive

It's live!

Quality: 128kbps, 16-bit
Files: N/A
Library size: 13 million
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, Web UX, smart device integration, connected cars

This is a live music platform for concerts and festivals, audio stations, original shows, and podcasts. In the free version, you can skip 6 songs per hour, with ads presented every 5 to 7 songs.

Deezer

Vive le France!

Quality: 128kbps, 16-bit
Files: MP3, FLAC
Library size: 56 million
Platforms: OS and Android apps, Web UX

This is a Paris-based company that has been in business for over a decade with an extensive music library. There are periodic audio ads between songs, only 128 kbps MP3 audio quality, and five-song skips per hour.

Streaming radio networks

Streaming radio networks can be differentiated from streaming platforms. They're primarily composed of live broadcasting radio stations that have queued music combined with programming. Many are actual radio broadcast stations that have created a "feed" of what is happening on their networks live.

While some are internet-exclusive stations, most radio stations are local properties. They have DJs with regular programs and play locally popular music and artists (such as ska and reggae in parts of the Caribbean and the UK). The live content includes local commercials that cannot be skipped over. Some radio networks have channels with a thematic nature with similar categorization as the streaming services, like by decades, genres, and moods.

Sonos Radio

Embrace the weird

Quality:128kbps, 16-bit
Platforms: iOS, Android, and desktop apps, smart integration with Sonos devices

With Sonos Radio, there are no skips, and the base version has a128k bitrate. But there is a lot of interesting stuff and channels. It requires the Sonos app for iOS/Android/desktop to play on Sonos hardware only. The streaming radio network is free with every Sonos system and was recently re-launched with a lot of new content, including many types of genres and featured local radio. Band network streams (Disney, ESPN, BBC, etc.) and several specialty stations ("Sound System" and "In the Absence Thereof" curated by none other than Radiohead's Thom Yorke, as well as stations run by Brittany Howard, Ludwig Garansson, Third Man Records, and Pride and Black themed stations) are also included. The company also announced a lossless version, Sonos Radio HD, for $7.99 a month.

iHeartRadio

Radio blended with themed music selections

Quality:128kbps, 16-bit
Files: MP3, FLAC
Library size: 20 million
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, smart device integration, Web UX

iHeartRadio is something of a hybrid between a streaming platform and a radio service, as it has over 20 million songs in its inventory that are classified and searchable by artists. It has over 1,500 browsable radio stations. Stations/Channels can be chosen based on the performing artist (i.e., The Rolling Stones). Music is determined based on that artist's music style -- not necessarily the artist itself, similar to Pandora.

TuneIn

Tune out from the pandemic in high-quality sound

Quality: 320kbps, 32-bit
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, smart device integration, Web UX

Although TuneIn seems to be very similar to iHeartRadio, there are some key differences. TuneIn has only radio stations (over 100,000 to choose from) and podcasts (5.7 million), and it distinguishes itself by having up to a 320Kbps bitrate, which delivers outstanding sound quality.

Accuradio

Genres galore

Quality:128kbps, 16-bit
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, smart device integration, Web UX

This is similar to Pandora, with personalized playlists. The streaming stations are structured by many types of themes and genres. AccuRadio is an independent, multichannel internet radio property founded in 2000, and it's based in Chicago.

MixCloud

If you like DJs who mix it up

Quality:128kbps, 16-bit
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, smart device integration, Web UX

Mixcloud has thousands of stations with online DJs who make their own mashups and mixtapes, all of which are online radio stations playing specialized international music of many types.

Global Player

Anarchy in the UK

Quality:128kbps, 16-bit
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, smart device integration, Web UX

Global (also known as Global Media and Entertainment) is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe. Global owns and operates seven core radio brands, all employing a national network strategy. The service features are completely free but ad-supported content. You get dozens of local British radio stations, many channels, and themes (decades, chill, relax, etc.) via curated playlists.

Hit Network

Rockin' Matilda

Quality:128kbps, 16-bit
Platforms: iOS and Android apps, smart device integration, Web UX

This is like Global Player, but all the content is from Australia! You get dozens of contemporary hit radio stations run by Southern Cross Austereo in Australia using local DJ talent, plus comedy programming.