You may have heard a lot about a company called “Spotify” recently. The world’s number one music streaming service announced last week that they will add videos, podcasts and running tools for users.
There are a multitude of options out there when it comes to listening to music digitally. While you can still go out and purchase physical CDs and vinyl records, iTunes has - in the last decade - revolutionized the way we buy, listen and store music. More recently, Spotify has changed the way we consume music, via “streaming."
Nowadays, you may have heard a lot about “streaming” and “Internet radio.” If you’re wondering what the difference between these types of services are, don’t worry, we've got you covered. We’ll take a look at each type of music service and review the most popular services of each.
Digital Downloads (Pay-Per-Song)
This is the most straightforward type of service in that it’s very similar to how we bought music "back in the day." Albums, EPs and singles can be purchased for a set price. Once downloaded, you own the file for personal use. Typical pricing is $.99 per song, $3.99 per EP and $9.99 per album - though it can vary by service, artist, album length, etc.
iTunes, the most popular digital music store
The most popular service is iTunes. It’s available for both Mac, PC, and iOS devices. iTunes is the easiest way to buy music and quickly sync it to your Apple devices. Amazon Music and Google Play are the only other two major competitors in digital downloads.
Internet Radio
Internet radio is almost always free and operates much like a standard radio station. However, rather than turning the dial and letting a DJ pick your tunes, internet radio allows you to select a song, artist, or genre and play other songs that sound similar. You can even skip a song if you don’t like it (usually a limited number of times per hour).
Most Internet radio is free and ad-supported (though “Premium” accounts will remove ads for a small fee per month).
Pandora Internet Radio
The most popular Internet radio service is Pandora, but iTunes Radio, Rhapsody and Jango are other alternatives. Spotify (a streaming service) also offers a radio service as a part of its product lineup.
Streaming![]()
Streaming allows you to play virtually any song whenever you want, for a monthly fee. Unlike digital downloads, the songs are not permanently saved to your devices, meaning you won’t have to save gigabytes of storage space just to get new songs. You can create playlists, discover new artists and even save songs for offline listening - much like you would by digitally downloading music.
Spotify music streaming
The popularity of streaming services has risen significantly in the last few years. Spotify is by far the most popular service, but the market is very new. Tidal, Deezer and Youtube all offer streaming services as well, and Apple has been rumored to launch one (most likely a revamp of Beats audio) in the coming months.
Spotify is currently available for almost any platform. Premium plans are just $9.99/month, with a discount program for students and families. Be on the lookout for a full review of the new Spotify iPhone app from CityMac, highlighting new tempo-matched songs for running, videos, podcasts and more - as soon as it is released!
Download Spotify in the App Store
Which music service(s) do you use? Have you had a good experience with Spotify? Let us know in the comments below.