# Streaming Media



## gmcunni (Apr 14, 2015)

Tidal vs. SPotify vs. Pandora

i feel old but i don't use any of them. Satellite radio when in the wife's car is good enough for me.  in my car i usually put on news radio, occasionally i'll put the iphone on shuffle.


news segment this morning was that "streaming is changing the way we listen to music because that is where the kids are"


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## Savemeasammy (Apr 14, 2015)

I don't want to listen to commercials or dj's talking about what they had for breakfast, so I listen to pandora when I can.  I use the free version, and the small number of commercials is tolerable.  


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## bvibert (Apr 14, 2015)

I use Pandora, because that's what I know.  I'm not hip enough to try any of the newer options.


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## deadheadskier (Apr 14, 2015)

Free version of Pandora here as well.


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## Savemeasammy (Apr 14, 2015)

bvibert said:


> I use Pandora, because that's what I know.  I'm not hip enough to try any of the newer options.



I've tried spotify and iheartradio.  Pandora seems to have the best music mixing for my taste.  

If there is some sort of requisite level of cool necessary for the other options, you can chalk me up as a fail.  


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## Puck it (Apr 14, 2015)

All of these eat data though!!!


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## HD333 (Apr 14, 2015)

Free Pandora over wifi so my data stay intact.  


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## Puck it (Apr 14, 2015)

HD333 said:


> Free Pandora over wifi so my data stay intact.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


  In the car.


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## bvibert (Apr 14, 2015)

Puck it said:


> All of these eat data though!!!



Yup, I'm paying for data, so I'm going to use it!

My commute is short, ~20 minutes, so it's not really much of a problem.  I typically use more data uploading pictures and junk to social network sites, than I do on music.


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## wa-loaf (Apr 14, 2015)

Try Songza sometime. It's kind of activity and mood based. They have an app too.


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## xwhaler (Apr 14, 2015)

I use Pandora free version but only at home when I can connect to wi-fi.
I don't use it in the car because my primary commuter car doesn't have an aux input or Bluetooth. Plus my commute is too long and would eat data.


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## Cannonball (Apr 14, 2015)

Increasingly going to YouTube for music at home (on WiFi). Tons of full concerts and ability to make playlists.  

In the car I rely on music podcasts.  Download them automatically overnight on WiFi so their ready to go when driving.  I switch it up a lot, but for music podcasts I've lately been downloading: Dublab, KEXP song of the day, Tiny Desk, All Songs Considered, Coverville, and Latin Roll.


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## Edd (Apr 15, 2015)

We use the paid version of Pandora and Songza for streaming. Also use Rhapsody for more on demand listening and building playlists.


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## ctenidae (Apr 16, 2015)

Music in the car on my commute is largely driven by a three year old. Fortunately, he's got good taste, if a bit repetitive. For a while it was Beethoven's 5th, now Beethoven's Third, both burned on the hard drive in my car (kind of an odd, but cool, accessory, that). In between it was Wagner and Tchaikovsky, via Bluetooth off my phone. Don't use Pandora when driving because I drive through pretty spotty reception, and don't want to fiddle around with it while driving. My drive home is pretty quick (15 minutes vs 45-60 for the morning school run), so I usually don't pay much attention and whatever was on at dropoff continues.

I do use Pandora through an old laptop in the workshop, though, and will put Youtube concerts on the TV when the kids want to watch.

Never used Spotify, or Amazon, or any others, to be honest, and don't have iTunes.  Ain't broke, don't fix it...


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## deadheadskier (Apr 16, 2015)

Cannonball said:


> Increasingly going to YouTube for music at home (on WiFi). Tons of full concerts and ability to make playlists.



Very much this and use Chromecast to play it through the home theater system.

I probably have around 150 concert DVDs.  Probably no surprise, but for example, every single Grateful Dead show that's ever been released.

Since buying Chromecast awhile back, I haven't purchased a single New concert DVD.   They're all on YouTube now for free.


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## AdironRider (Apr 16, 2015)

You guys have some small data plans. 

Streaming Pandora all day at work (not on wifi) and I use about a gig a month. 

Its about the only data I use outside of maybe 100mb for email over the course of a month, but even still, much below the average data allotment for almost all the major plans.

I also prefer Pandora to the other options. Tidal just seems expensive and based on unicorn farts and rainbows. Spotify seems to crash a lot for me. Rdio is supposed to be cool but I haven't tried it.


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## Cannonball (Apr 16, 2015)

AdironRider said:


> You guys have some small data plans.
> 
> Streaming Pandora all day at work (not on wifi) and I use about a gig a month.
> 
> ...



This article has a good breakdown of streaming services and their data consumption.
http://gizmodo.com/how-much-data-does-your-streaming-music-app-eat-up-1649466894

Part of that is:
"Pandora is the only big mainstream service we could find that doesn't offer 320kbps streams. In fact, on mobile it maxes out at 64kbps.*Lower quality streams obviously use way less data.

So what does that mean in terms of your data plan? 320kbps rate translates to 2.40 MB per minute of audio or 115.2 MB per hour. So if you were to stream music for an entire eight hour work day, you'd burn through nearly 1 GB."


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## SkiFanE (Apr 16, 2015)

Out of laziness I use Apple radio - not much space on my phone for apps til I clear out photos.  Can get Get repetitive but I like the top 50 pop and alternative stations. Bluetooth in car, and between 4 of us we rarely go over 10gb/mo plan (last month instagram update on kids phone ate up 3 gigs overage on last 2 days of months (grrr). 

At work (bc guest wifi on phone sucks) I stream my fave radio station 92.5 on work PC or Apple radio on phone. Did have iheart radio on last phone, didn't load back on new phone. 

On way to work I like the cheesy radio skit "second date update" on 96.9. Has become a habit (on the 10s) - funny shit - thank god I'm not single. 

Will probably get get pandora once I free up space.


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## SkiFanE (Apr 16, 2015)

Cannonball said:


> This article has a good breakdown of streaming services and their data consumption.
> http://gizmodo.com/how-much-data-does-your-streaming-music-app-eat-up-1649466894
> 
> Part of that is:
> ...



wait, article says 64kbps max of Pandora- so your calculation is wrong.  And at work when I stream music it's not for 8 hours. So it seems possible to be.


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## Cannonball (Apr 16, 2015)

SkiFanE said:


> wait, article says 64kbps max of Pandora- so your calculation is wrong.  And at work when I stream music it's not for 8 hours. So it seems possible to be.



??? I didn't make a calculation. I posted a link to an article and a quote from that article.  The quote includes a calculation based on 320kbps streaming.  They also mention that Pandora streams at a lower quality than that (less data use).  Does your math say different?


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## bvibert (Apr 16, 2015)

AdironRider said:


> You guys have some small data plans.
> 
> Streaming Pandora all day at work (not on wifi) and I use about a gig a month.
> 
> ...


I typically use at least 3gig a month myself. According to the Verizon usage breakdown steaming music only makes up a small part of that.


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## SkiFanE (Apr 17, 2015)

Cannonball said:


> ??? I didn't make a calculation. I posted a link to an article and a quote from that article.  The quote includes a calculation based on 320kbps streaming.  They also mention that Pandora streams at a lower quality than that (less data use).  Does your math say different?



Sorry,  not YOUR calculation, just noticed it was in quotes.  The OP said he listens to Pandora streaming at work - so that would be 64kbps, not 320...so didn't seem like he'd use the 1gig/day like the article says.


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## Cannonball (Apr 17, 2015)

SkiFanE said:


> Sorry,  not YOUR calculation, just noticed it was in quotes.  The OP said he listens to Pandora streaming at work - so that would be 64kbps, not 320...so didn't seem like he'd use the 1gig/day like the article says.



Yes. The article says 1gig/day if using services that run at 320. They point out that Pandora runs at only 64.  So probably ~1 gig in 5 days for Pandora?


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## Glenn (Apr 17, 2015)

Pandora subscription. We listen to a lot of music. I pretty much turn it on when we get home and it plays until bed. For now, we're using a wifi radio. Looking into a Sonos. We'll use Pandora in the car as well back and forth to VT. Commercials get old. Since cutting cable and streaming, my tolerance for commercials is limited.


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## WoodCore (Apr 17, 2015)

http://www.jamstreams.net/


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## vermonter44 (Apr 17, 2015)

TMobile has free data for streaming on a couple of services like Pandora, Rasphody and a few others. Its actually quite nice.


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