Filed under: Savings Experiment
If you like to listen to your favorite songs online, you've probably noticed all the music-streaming services competing for your attention. But with so many choices out there, do you stick with the free services or are the premium ones really worth the extra cost?
Let's look at your options, beginning with the free services. If you want to stream live radio, iHeartRadio will give you unlimited access to more than 1,500 different radio stations across the country. It also has the largest catalog of all the radio apps.
You'll be able to stream over 15 million songs, cost-free and ad-free. Keep in mind, this service works like an actual radio station, so while you can steer it in a musical direction, the program selects the songs you hear.
Now, let's talk about Spotify. This popular streamer offers more options than any other free service and is best for people who want total control over which songs, albums, and playlists they want to hear. However, the free version does have quite a few ads. If you don't want any interruptions, you can always upgrade to the premium version, but for a cost.
This brings us to our next category: paid music streaming. The three main benefits you'll get with paid services are unlimited downloads, no ads and offline listening. The good news is that the cost is usually the same across the board, about $10 per month.
Rhapsody has the largest selection of songs of them all, with over 32 million -- that's 10 million more than anyone else. Meanwhile, Google Play's "All Access" subscription will get you on-demand streaming of millions of songs, and you'll be able to add up to 20,000 of your own songs to play on any device.
So, when it comes to music streaming, paying extra will get you some perks, but depending on what you're into, it's not always necessary. Think about what your music needs are before you spend for songs.
