Music Streaming Services: Head-to-Head

Music Streaming Services: Head-to-Head

On-demand music streaming services are fantastic, offering an almost limitless library of music. Replacing the need to download and store albums and individual songs on your phone or computer, millions of listeners now turn to the likes of Apple Music and Spotify to keep up with their favourite bands.

But with so many different music streaming services available, it can be difficult to know which one is right for you. Whether you're unsatisfied with your current streaming service or you're about to subscribe to your first one, we've got all the details below to help you make an informed decision.

Apple Music

Price: £9.99 per month
Offers available: Family pass providing access for six users for £14.99 per month, with student discount for £4.99 per month.

If you've been a dedicated iTunes user, or you love all things Apple, then Apple Music is likely to be the perfect music streaming service for you. Available on both the App Store and Google, users can quickly search for songs and playlists with Siri if on an iPhone, store up to 100,000 songs in their library for use offline and enjoy the fantastic live radio offering.

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Unique to Apple Music is the popular Beats 1 Radio, which is live 24 hours a day. Famous DJs and celebrities feature constantly, and song premieres are often aired here or exclusively on Apple's streaming service. You can also use Apple Music with the HomePod speaker.

When it comes to cost, you'll notice most music streaming services are priced at £9.99 per month. Existing Apple Music users however can make a saving by switching to the annual plan which offers 12 months for £99.99.

Spotify

Price: Free or £9.99 per month
Offers available: Family pass for five members for £14.99, or £4.99 per month for students.

Spotify is perhaps the most famous music streaming service out there, launching in 2008. Users can choose to use the free version of Spotify, which occasionally features ads and places a restriction on the number of songs that can be skipped when using Spotify on mobile, or sign up for Spotify Premium. Spotify Premium users can listen to songs offline whenever they please, skip whenever and stream ad free. Whether you subscribe or not is completely up to you, but you can trial Spotify Premium free for 30 days if you're struggling to decide.

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There are millions of songs on Spotify, alongside a massive selection of pre-made playlists, playlists that are created based on your listening habits and popular podcasts. Spotify is iOS and Android friendly as well, and compatible with smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

If you're open to discovering new artists too, Spotify has a brilliant 'Browse' section. Pick a mood or listen to playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar or New Music Friday.

Google Play Music

Price: £9.99 per month
Offers: Google Play Music family plan with support for up to ten devices for £14.99 per month.

Google Play Music appeared in 2011, but only recently has it seen a major increase in users. With a catalogue of over 40 million songs available (one of the biggest out there), room to store up to 50,000 tunes using cloud storage for no extra cost and access to YouTube Red (an ad-free version of YouTube with added exclusive content), there are certainly many perks on offer.

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You'll find plenty of playlists, artist radios and podcasts on Google Play Music too. You can also access the service on a wide range of devices, including any computer or mobile device, a Chromecast or products like Android TV and Android Wear.

Amazon Music

Price: £7.99 per month for Amazon Prime Music, or £9.99 for Amazon Music Unlimited
Offers: Single device plan (for Fire TV and Amazon Echo devices) for £3.99 per month, Family Plan for up to six members for £14.99 per month or 3 months free for students.

Amazon has two main streaming services available: Amazon Prime Music which is included with a standard Amazon Prime membership, or a separate service known as Amazon Music Unlimited.

For £7.99 a month, Amazon Prime customers can access a library of two million songs, which are always available ad-free. Easy to listen to on the web, on your smartphone or via an Amazon Echo device, you'll never be without your favourite music again. Of course, as this is a regular Amazon Prime membership, the monthly fee also includes unlimited next-day delivery on products ordered from Amazon and access to a library of TV shows and movies too.

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However, if you're a real music junkie you'll prefer Amazon Music Unlimited. Whatever song you can think of, it's likely to be featured on this service - the library currently contains over 50 million songs, with new releases constantly added. You'll also be able to stream offline and ad free.

If you're an existing Prime customer, additional discounts are also available. For example, Prime members can sign up to the Amazon Music Unlimited Family Plan for £149 a year, rather than £14.99 per month.

Deezer

Price: Free or £9.99 per month
Offers: £14.99 per month for a 6-person family plan, £4.99 per month student plan, £99.90 annual plan.

Deezer's been around since 2007, and today it's available in more than 180 countries. Just like Spotify, users can listen to over 53 million songs for free as long as they don't mind a limited number of skips per hour and ads during streaming. Those who prefer to go ad free can simply choose one of Deezer's subscription plans.

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The service has over 100 million playlists to explore too, perfect if you feel like listening to your favourite genre and discovering new bands at the same time. You can use **Deezer on just about any device you can think of too, from smartphones, laptops and tablets to wearable technology like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, and through voice assistants such as the Amazon Echo.

YouTube Music

Price: Free or £9.99 per month
Offers: £14.99 for a family subscription

If you're looking for an alternative free music service to Spotify or Deezer, why not try YouTube Music? While this streaming service has been around for some time in America, it's new to the UK for 2018.

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YouTube Music is much more video focused than its competitors, which you might expect given the nature of the existing platform. You'll find millions of songs and playlists, alongside a special selection of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos exclusive to YouTube.

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