Juke, the new music service from Talpa and MediaMarkt, is now officially available after a beta version was launched last year. But can the service compete with established organizations such as Spotify and Apple Music?
Juke: Dutch competitor for Spotify
Juke is a streaming service, comparable to Apple Music and Spotify, but from Dutch soil. The app is the result of a collaboration between Talpa and MediaMarkt and is specifically aimed at Dutch music lovers.
In addition to access to around fifty million issues, Juke has an assortment of editors. These are mostly bn’ers such as Ilse DeLange and Armin van Buuren, who not only offer their own music, but also create playlists for you. So you no longer have to look for music yourself, but you can always contact the Juke editors if you are looking for something new.
One of the advantages that Juke has over the competition is that you can also listen to Dutch radio stations. These are the channels owned by Talpa, including the public broadcaster. You will not find regional channels in Juke. In addition, you can go to physical MediaMarkt stores if you need help with your account.
Our own tests show that Juke’s offerings more or less match that of other streaming services. Relatively unknown (foreign) artists can also be found on Juke. You can also listen to your own playlists offline, by transferring them to your iPhone via WiFi.
Juke’s offer is substantial
Juke’s interface is relatively simple. The side menu gives you access to all major functions of the app at a glance, such as radio, charts and playlists. Juke makes good use of the available screen space, although the app feels a bit outdated in terms of design.
The sound quality is also okay. During our test of the app, Juke sounded just as good as Spotify, where you can choose how much bandwidth the streams use in the app settings. Of course, true audiophiles will always prefer their own files, but in terms of audio quality, Juke is up to the competition.
Support for Chromecast
It is nice that Juke has support for Google’s Chromecast. So you don’t have to stream music via your smartphone, but you can just use your television or speakers. You will also find a button on the playback screen to go directly to AirPlay, so that you can also stream to your Apple TV or HomePod.
Juke is a bit more expensive than Apple Music and Spotify. With the latter service you pay less if you take out a Family package. You can also use a student discount with both services if you are studying at a university or college. At the time of writing, Juke is not offering comparable discounts yet.
Download Juke for iOS
You can download Juke from the App Store for free via the link below. You can try out the service completely for one cent for 30 days, after which you pay 9.99 euros per month to keep listening. With a free account you can only fragment songs and listen to the radio.