Top 5 Music Services For Android

The demand for streaming music services is growing at an incredible pace. Some of the streaming services are free and others have a monthly subscription service which is very affordable. The service you choose will be based solely on your own preference and usability. Essentially, they all will provide same thing, instant streaming of music to your Android device and mass storage of you music files online.

So, let’s get to the nitty-gritty and quickly review the top mobile music services for Android devices based on online user demand. They are as follows:

Spotify

Service started in 2008 and has been growing ever since. It started out in Europe and was a free service. Spotify officially was released in the US back in July as a subscription-based streaming service with a monthly fee of $10. The service is great because of the fact that not only can users upload their own music files and stream but they can also listen to millions of other music files on Spotify servers as well. Streaming speeds on Android devices is at 320 kbps which provides crystal clear sound.

Pandora

It’s like having your own on-demand radio station on the go. Radio stations can be set up via the artists name or song. For example, if you select the artist Beyoncé then you will listen to all Beyoncé’s songs and similar music by other artists categorized as pop. Pandora is a free service but the paid service which costs about $4 dollars a month will give you less disruptions and no constant running ads. Another thing to remember is that with the paid service you will get a higher bit rate and more a clearer sound.

MOG

This service was created back in 2009 and is growing rapidly. The service streams at 320 kbps for off-line playback which provides excellent sound quality. MOG has a free version and a paid subscription version. The free version, similar to most streaming services, has all kinds of ads which are displayed constantly and does not stream at its highest rate. The subscription service, which is $9.99 per month, does not have those annoying ads and streams at the highest quality for the best sound possible. One of the negatives about MOG is that its social media integration is very limited, so for those of you who love sharing music with your friends, this may not be the best option for you.

Rhapsody

A subscription base service only. You have the option of trying it out for Free with a 14 day trial. The monthly subscription fee is $9.99 a month which will get you a music library catalogue of over 13 million songs. The streaming quality of Rhapsody is at par with the others mentioned in the article. You will also get a Rhapsody integrated music player which is very good and allows for a much faster download.

Rdio

The service is just two years old and was launched by the founder of Skype. It was designed to offer powerful streaming service and full integration with Social Networking as well. Its catalogue offers over 11 million songs which are all very easily manageable with is user friendly interface.  The sound quality is not as good as the competition since it is not able to offer 320 Kpbs steaming at all times, only when it is available.  Rdio greatest strength is its Social Networking interactions where you are able to share your favorite artist, songs or playlists with your friends.

All of the services above will cater and satisfy the most serious audiophile. They all provide great features and good sound quality. Music streaming services are offering more features at even lower prices and the future look bright for mobile music apps. I personally love Spotify and listen to it on a daily basis. Most of the services listed here also offer free trials for anyone who wants to test drive the features and sound quality before subscription. You will also need high bandwidth, preferably 4g downloads to be able to take full advantage of steaming music. 3g will suffice but definitely not as good compared to 4g.