Spotify has been the undisputed market leader in the field of music streaming for years. However, there are plenty of other providers available. What are the main differences and which online music service are you best off with?
Maikel Dijkhuizen
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Lossless audio: the original |
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According to the first quarter figure of 2024, Spotify has no less than 615 million users worldwide. Of these, 239 million people pay for a subscription. This means that the Swedish streaming giant leaves the competition far behind. Moreover, these figures have been on the rise since its founding in 2006. Despite the impressive growth, Spotify’s thousands of employees cannot rest on their laurels
rest. Alternatives such as Deezer, Apple Music, TIDAL, YouTube Music and Idagio are knocking on the door. In short, enough reason for a test!
Music catalogue
Where world stars such as Neil Young, Adele and Taylor Swift struggled for a while, they have now also agreed. The income from music streaming is too important for well-known artists. Especially because physical sales of CDs and vinyl have plummeted compared to a few decades ago, earnings from music streaming are an attractive alternative. You can watch it on any global streaming service
find almost all popular music. For this reason, there are hardly any substantive differences in the field of music offering. Some services therefore try to distinguish themselves with radio stations, audio books and podcasts. There are also some specialized streaming services. For example, Idagio only contains classical music, while the new initiative Qisum focuses solely on music from
Dutch soil.
Internet radioA good online music service has its price. If you don’t want that, you can still stream music via internet radio. Just visit www.nederland.fm and click on a Dutch station to open the stream. There are also special internet radios that allow you to listen to stations without a computer. These devices use a web portal in the background with access to thousands of (inter)national stations. Handy, but at the same time this is also the Achilles heel of many internet radios. As soon as a web portal unexpectedly stops, there is a chance that the device will no longer work. Therefore, it is best to buy a product that guarantees proper functioning for a long time through updates. |
SUBSCRIPTION FORMS
Although there is plenty of free music available on the internet, audio fanatics cannot avoid a paid subscription. This means you are not bothered by advertisements and you can also use all kinds of useful functions. This includes saving songs offline and creating playlists. Furthermore, various music services make the songs available to paying members in lossless audio quality. Although the original audio file is still compressed, no audible details are lost. By the way, lossless audio is only useful if you use good sound equipment. If you mainly listen via Bluetooth headphones, you will notice little difference between highly compressed and lossless audio streams. Finally, pay attention to which amplifiers, wireless speakers, game consoles and smart TVs the intended music service supports. There are major differences in this area.
TESTED MUSIC STREAMERS
– APPLE MUSIC
– DEEZER
– IDAGIO
– SPOTIFY
– TIDAL
– YOUTUBE MUSIC