Inside Pandora’s Fight with Spotify and Apple Music

I'm willing to try whatever on-demand service they come up with for the sole fact that they acquired Rdio. In my opinion that was the best streaming service, and it wasn't even close. After they shut down I tried Spotify, Google Play Music and Apple Music. All of them are flawed in their own ways and none of them come even close to Rdio's usability, album-centric focus, social features and overall design. Spotify is way too playlist-focused, its social features are garbage, it's extremely slow starting up on desktop and it suffers from a number of usability issues. I actually really liked Google Play Music but it doesn't have any social features, and I really like knowing what my friends are listening to. Apple Music seems like it's still in beta given the usability problems I have encountered, and the sheer fact that it runs in iTunes is enough to make me not use it. That is the most bloated and convoluted piece of software I've ever used and I can't believe they haven't broken it apart into separate pieces. Make Apple Music it's own desktop app or run it as a Web app and I may reconsider. I reluctantly settled on Spotify for the time being but I would quickly try another service, especially one that has some of Rdio's developers and technology stack behind it.

TLDR I'm cautiously excited for this.

 

I actually came into this thread to pose the question...has anyone tried out the different services and if so, how would you say they compare?

Looks like you covered that, thanks!

 

Jason- Have you tried Roon at all? More so for managing a personal library of music. It's pricey, but I did the trial and was hooked

 

No problem! Of course, it's all personal preference and depends on your listening habits and what you expect out of a streaming service. For example, people who already use iTunes a lot likely won't have as many complaints about Apple Music as I do. I was an Rdio advocate since its inception, and I've tried all the major services and have a lot of opinions on this topic. I don't wanna clog this thread up more than I already have but I'd be happy to answer any other specific questions about my experiences with the services.

 

I'm going to be searching Next Big Sound for days.

 

I'm still hoping Spotify or Apple Music take some cues from the good things Rdio was doing and integrate similar features into their platforms.

 

I def appreciate the advice! Right now I'm using Amazon Music, since I have prime. I find it super easy to navigate and love that I can just download songs straight to the offline library to listen whenever I like. I'm an album guy, and my only complaint is that they don't get many new albums on a week to week basis, and the library definitely lacks.

 

I miss Rdio. I only used them for a year before they shut down but it was so easy to use, so pleasing to the eye, and generally just a great service.

I've been using Spotify since December and I still struggle to find my way around the app sometimes. Especially when they change their layout during the time I'm in class like they did yesterday...

 

I switched from Spotify to Apple Music when it first came out...I liked Spotify, but am not a big Social Media fan, and have greatly enjoyed Apple Music. There are some little things that are a pain, like deleting songs from a playlist 1X1 but overall I prefer it. I do still use the free version of Spotify for my PC though, but wish Apple Music had something similar...

 

I'd love to see Pandora utilize the social component that Rdio had, especially after acquiring them. The new music being recommended to me was based off of the friends and artists I followed, not what I have been listening to lately. While it seems to make the most sense to base it off the latter, when I see that friend X and friend Y have been listening to something I've never heard of I'm more prone to branch out.

 

I know Pandora is really big for businesses. Restaurants usually have music playing in the background and a lot of the time it's simply pandora. Maybe charge a premium for commercial use if they don't already. Instead of changing platform, i'd recommend targeting a certain market instead.

PS. I'm on the GooglePlay Music family plan. $14.99 for 4 people is awesome. Plus new music is always there. Blinks bored to death was there the day it leaked I believe.

 

Since Rdio shut down, I've been running on free trials from Deezer, Apple Music, Spotify and Google Play. I agree 100%, Rdio was by far the best. Everything else feels like a huge compromise. I'll probably end up with Google Play, mainly because they don't have arbitrary limits on a music collection (looking at you Spotify) and they offer a decent family plan.