AARP Hearing Center
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Convenience of streaming • Ease of search • Similar offerings • Limitations on free • Free music services
Even if you own scores of music CDs, baby your cherished vinyl collection and have a favorite local FM radio station, you may want to add a music streaming service to your repertoire.
Think of it as the musical equivalent of a Max or Netflix video subscription. When you choose a song, you’re not downloading a digital purchase; you’re listening on demand. And the library that’s available is yours to explore for as long as you continue to subscribe.
“Quite simply, streaming music is the best thing to happen since the invention of the electric guitar,” says Eric Alper, who has worked for artists including Ringo Starr and Ray Charles during his 30-year career as a music publicist. “You’ve now got access to more than 100 million songs for one low price, without even leaving your home.”
Many offer a free tier with some trade-offs, such as advertisements and playback limitations.
Search for what you want easily
Not only do streaming services let you play songs and albums when you want, but you also can request live versions of songs, remakes, remixes and demo recordings. You can search music by year, decade and genre or choose a curated playlist, such as indie rock hits, live piano concertos or cult favorite Coastal Grandma.
Some services offer music videos, provide lyrics for you to sing along or show a simple video with still illustrations or images while a song is playing.
“Owning music on plastic feels extremely pricey and cumbersome now that we essentially live in a post-physical media world,” says Andy Greene, a senior writer for Rolling Stone. “Buying albums means paying $20 a pop or more if you're a vinyl enthusiast and having to load them into a [record] player whenever you want to hear them.”
Pairing a streaming service with a voice-activated digital assistant such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant lets you control your playlist, song skipping and volume, hands free.
Many streaming services, similar offerings
The big four music services — Spotify, Apple Music, Google’s YouTube Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited — each offer more than 100 million songs that can be played on multiple devices. Many leverage artificial intelligence-assisted features that monitor your song preferences and make recommendations based on that intel.
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