Spotify, Grooveshark, Slacker and Pandora

Spotify

Spotify has been around for a while and I have been using it since it first came out. It has gone through some changes throughout the time, but it remains the same. You have option of downloading it or using the web player which is always a plus, I hate downloading something unless I absolutely have to. Spotify gives you the ability to create playlists, share them, discover new artists and songs through your friends or through facebook. You can also check out what is popular in your area, and to my much welcomed surprised I was greeted by this.

Bowie. That is all.

 Spotify premium also gives you more bang for your buck, allowing you to listen to music while offline. It works great with mobile too. But let's be honest...you don't really expect me to pay for music, do you? Because that's not happening...EVER. There are ways around this whole RIAA issue and I hope people use PeerBlock more over this. It's not a safeguard but it's better than nothing.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark

Grooveshark is another good choice, it works wonders and doesn't seem as slow and clunky as Spotify can be at times. The interface is nice and I have stumbled across quite a few good radio stations out there. Spotify can also skip a bit due to my constant multitasking but Grooveshark has no trouble there at all. The quality is amazing as well. Best part about Grooveshark is I'm rarely home and it works fine with my phone.

Slacker

Gotta love some Tom Petty

Slacker also excels when it comes to radio. The stations are great and the genres match up very well. Sometimes I have issues with other streaming services, browsing by genre and finding a station only to realize the genre was way off. I haven't encountered that yet with slacker, but I'm sure it happens. I find myself using slacker for radio just to listen to random stations when I don't feel like making a new playlist or wanting to discover something new or forgotten.

Pandora

I feel like I'm back to my 56k days.

I don't like this at all, never have, never will. The audio quality is pure garbage compared to the others. On my pc I use a 7.1 headset while listening to music, I'm an audio whore when it comes to music and sound and damnit, I love high quality sound. I want to hear those instruments you don't always hear when listening to crappy speakers or in your car. So what happens when I turn on Pandora? I feel like I'm back to my dial up days listening through real player. It works fine for a few songs, then it happens. That horrible sound, a slight buzz, and the poor quality hits. Both on my phone and also on my pc it's issue after issue. 

Queen and Bowie? Yes please

With that being said, when it works, it does the job good. It has a very simplistic look, not very clunky or slow and also very fast. I have no problems with the buffering on my phone. I realize a lot of people use Pandora, it's probably the most popular when it comes to mobile phones, but I just can't seem to do it, not with all of the issues I have listed.

Grooveshark wins my heart and ears. I have no problems with it, it works damn good and the quality is great. I'm not locked out behind a paywall and I can use it to my heart's content. A big thank you to the people behind Grooveshark.