Apple Music is a service with access to tens of millions of songs. It has been designed to combine music you have bought with everything from the Apple Music library. The app has five tabs/features comprising For You, New, Radio, Connect, and My Music.
The For You tab serves up a mix of handpicked albums and playlists based on the music you like, while the New tab presents the week's newest tracks, videos and playlists that have been selected by Apple Music editors. The Radio tab is where you'll find Beats 1, which is a 24-hour live global station led by DJs such as Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden, and Julie Adenoma, as well as other expertly-created stations created by radio DJs.
The Connect tab is about allowing users to follow their favourite artists, get an inside look into their world and share it with friends. This area allows unsigned artists connect with fans and upload whatever they want. Lastly, My Music allows you to add tracks from the Apple Music library to yours. It's also where you search and browse for new music to listen to and where you can create and view your playlists.
Apple Music costs £9.99 a month per user. Apple has also made it possible for an entire family of six to have one account subscription for £14.99 a month. You can also get the first three months free via a trial. Those without a membership but an Apple ID will be able to view and follow artists feeds on Connect, listen to the Beats 1 radio station and love, comment, and play Connect content or radio songs. Everything else requires an Apple Music membership.
Spotify
Spotify is the big guy in the music streaming world. It launched in 2008 and has more than 20 million users and content deals with companies including Sony, EMI, Warner and Universal. Spotify comes in paid-for and ad-supported versions - both of which are available in app form.
You'll be able to add your purchased music into Spotify using your computer, making it similar to Apple Music in that it offers access to streaming and local files, but if you use iTunes, Apple Music does the latter automatically, while Spotify requires you to do it manually. You will be able to listen to tracks offline if you pay for the Premium version however, meaning you can listen to your favourite playlist on the plane or underground.
Spotify gives you access to millions and millions of tracks, as well as ready-made playlists and Spotify radio. Like Apple Music, it will learn as you listen and through associations, will make recommendations based on your tastes. There is also a band merchandise store front that will give you easy access to your favourite band's T-shirt, for example. Spotify also offers Facebook integration so you can follow your friends to see what they're listening to.
Price:
Spotify is available for free on mobile, tablet and computer but comes with adverts. Premium subscribers are charged £9.99 a month but this doesn't just enable you to use Spotify anywhere, it is ad-free and offers unlimited skips and the ability to play any track. Students get 50% off Premium with Unidays or NUS Extra and PlayStation Music users get Premium for free for two months.Spotify Family allows one account holder to sign up a further four family members in order for all five to have full Spotify Premium access and their own profiles. It costs £5 per additional family member so for you and four others, you're looking at £29.99, which is double the price of Apple Music for one less person.
Deezer:
Like Spotify and Apple Music, Deezer will also recommend tracks to suit your tastes. There is a feature called Flow that knows your library and selects the songs you want to hear. You can tell Flow what you do and don't like and it will react accordingly. The more you listen, the more Flow learns your tastes and therefore the better the recommendations.
As you would expect, you can create playlists, as well as import your favourite MP3s, as you can with competing services. It's also possible to sync those playlists and tracks in order to listen offline, but you'll need the Deezer Premium+ account for both the importing and listening offline. This subscription plan also gives you high-quality sound over standard.
Price:
Deezer offers a free unlimited ad-supported service and Premium+, which is ad-free. There is a free 30-day trial with the latter if you want to try out what it has to offer before you commit, although you can cancel the subscription at any time. Deezer Premium+ costs £9.99 a month for unlimited listening but there are deals for Orange and EE customers.The Deezer Elite service that gives access to 16-bit/44.1kHz CD-quality audio tracks costs: £14.99 per month for 12 months, £9.99 per month for 1 year (£120 paid upfront), £9.99 per month for 2 years (£240 paid upfront). It is a free upgrade for Sonos users with a Deezer Premium+ account. It's also free for six month to Three customers.
Napster:
There are curated playlists and this streaming service also offers interviews with artists and a feature called TrackMatch that will allow you to match a track that you are listening to. A little like Shazam but within the Napster app. You can listen online and offline, share music with your friends through social media and save your favourite tracks by clicking the heart button.
There are also a range of radio stations and Napster also offers a 'New & Good' playlist for new releases so you'll be able to find them easily. Another good feature is the ability to import your previously built playlists into Napster for those that are looking to switch streaming services. Like Spotify and other, Napster offers a bit rate that tops out at 320kbit/s.
Price:
Napster can be trialled for a free 30 days like many of its competitors. After that point you can opt for the online only Napster Unlimited for £5 a month or the app-compatible Napster Unlimited plus mobile for £9.99 a month.
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