[GTO]

Where do you stream music online?

I have two favourites - Spotify & di.fm. Heavy user of both.

Spotify gets a 10/10 rating from me, be it for their music library, playlists, features, speed & smartphone app. Simply put, if you love music, get Spotify Premium ($10 a month).


Want outstanding electronic music? Head to di.fm. It's one of the rare online radios where I love nearly every song they play! The choice of tracks is mind-blowing. Digitally Imported also gets a full 10 / 10 rating from me.



I head to gaana.com whenever I'm in the mood for new Hindi stuff. From time to time, in the hall, I open up YouTube on the TV, pick a genre and let it play music videos automatically.

I got rid of my Apple Music subscription. Shockingly mediocre service from the brand that revolutionised legal music retailing in the digital age. Apple Music's playlists & features are too ordinary - Spotify blows it out of the water. It's launched in India at a throwaway price of merely Rs. 120 / month (190 / month for the family pack). The same in the USA costs $10 & $15 respectively.

Tip: Don't let Apple Music mess around with your iTunes collection. Uncheck the 'cloud music library' in your settings.


We have an old thread on this subject, but it was outdated. Too many new & dominating players today. The game has moved on. Now, you can stream not only on your computer, but even in your car (thanks to Smartphones & 3G / 4G). All the big players have apps for Android & iOS.

[SunnyBoi]

TuneIn Radio on my android phone works very well. Never had to look for any other app!

[libranof1987]

I was a big fan of Pandora whilst in the US; a good service to use while travelling or when at home (on the TV app). I do hope they start playing in India. Pandora has a much cleaner look than Spotify so moved there.

Thanks for recommending di.fm!

[invincible7]

I have used Spotify for some time in India using VPN :-) and I loved it, the listing is great and one can choose from a huge library of songs/albums. Still need to give a shot at Apple Music, may be in next few weeks.

[Rajeevraj]

I had started going to Gaana for most of my music needs. ~120 per month, unlimited downloads. More recently I switched to Wynk Music from Airtel. ~INR 99 per month. Found that they had a much better regional collection.

[Zappo]

Use Apple as wifey's iPhone has that subscription. On my phone I have TuneIn radio. It used to be excellent though off late I face some challenge or the other with the streaming!

[jeevadeepan]

I have been using gaana (paid subscription) for the past one year and here is my experience.
What I like:
1) Unlimited (legal) downloads. One touch to favourite/download any track.
2) Decent collection of (new) songs and High definition audio quality (320 kbps).
3) Excellent Android app that keeps getting better every day.
4) At Rs.120 per month, it is Value for Money. To me, it's a steal deal - Got 1 year subscription for Rs.720(50% offer) during some promotional offer.

What I don't like:
1) Not so good web application (www.gaana.com). Streaming is seriously slow at times, even with a super fast broadband connection
2) Very few collection of old songs. Especially, albums dating backwards of the 80s.
3) Managing tracks in the app requires some effort. It's easy to get lost in between the huge number of downloaded tracks.

[shankar.balan]

TuneIn Radio is super. No ads and irritants (at least in the channels I listen to).
I usually stream Tune In Radio on my daily commute and enjoy some nice music.
Apple Radio is pretty good too.

I like Sirius XM - which unfortunately is not available here in India very easily. I have yet to figure how one can access it here.

WorldSpace was great but they went bust.

I really dislike Indigo, Red, RadioOne and all these FM Channels these days because they seem to have given themselves almost entirely over to ads and the horrible "faux bonhomie" of those RJ"s.

The only RJ worth his salt (in my opinion) is "Pandit Prithvi" - he has a strange humour in his voice and I quite enjoy his general ribbing of the folks on his show!

[execve]

I have been using Saavn Pro (Rs. 99 p.m.) allowing downloading of songs. The streaming part of it still doesnt work well for me -- but that is not the issue of this provider; but a general situation of the network quality in Bangalore. 3G availability is patchy and there are many holes in my daily commute where there is almost zero data.

So primarily, I use it in offline mode to play the downloaded albums or new playlists. I have tried Gaana earlier (when it had just launched) and found the app quite heavy in comparision - so had come back to Saavn.

I too tuned off Bangalore FM radios due to the heavy advert content - and all channels have the advert timings mostly aligned

[rjstyles69]

Look no further, di.fm it is. I have been hooked to this streaming service for almost 2 years now. Their Genre's and the quality of music is among the best I have heard.

[GTO]

Wow, lots of recommendations for TuneIn. Downloading right away. BTW, di.fm is also available on TuneIn.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I had started going to Gaana for most of my music needs. ~120 per month, unlimited downloads.

Originally Posted by jeevadeepan

1) Unlimited (legal) downloads. One touch to favourite/download any track.

Sounds like a deal. Are the files locked, as in you can play them only on the Gaana app?

I get 99% of my purchased music from the iTunes store itself.

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I was a big fan of Pandora whilst in the US; a good service to use while travelling or when at home (on the TV app). I do hope they start playing in India. Pandora has a much cleaner look than Spotify so moved there.

Thanks for recommending di.fm!

I use Pandora at home and in the car, via a private DNS service (somewhat like a VPN but does not cut down on connection speed). See my related thread on Android TV

[pratyush6]

Spotify it is for me. I have a paid VPN running over the top. I have tried Pandora, Live 365, IHeart, but Spotify literally blasts them out!

Will check out di.fm

[jeevadeepan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sounds like a deal. Are the files locked, as in you can play them only on the Gaana app?

That is right. Tracks are stored within the app (as app data, I think) and can be accessed within Gaana app, only with a valid subscription.

There is an option to go offline. But, one cannot stay offline for more than 30 days and the app forces you to go online. And that is how they make sure the user has a valid subscription.

[Hatari]

I use Spotify, not originally meant for India but sharing a friend's overseas account.
Very good, the best i've come across.