Which streaming service for the whole family?

darthed1981

RandallFlagg said:

I have around 3,500 albums, EPs and singles in iTunes stored as 320kbps MP3 or 256kbps AAC files. I have never really considered streaming as a replacement for this but would consider it if I could be sure everything I have is available on say Spotify.

I have some vinyl rips of music never released on CD with B-sides etc. I don't suppose I'm going to find these on Spotify will I?

What about things like music box sets, such as The Jam's 45s singles box set etc?

It varies massively from artist to artist and depends entirely on their deal with their record labels, some artists have literally everything on there, some still missing for weird reasons. 

From my own "old" collection for example, the Bluetones second album was weirdly absent until a few weeks ago when it appeared.  JJ72's albums (they made it very briefly back in the early 2000s) are still AWOL.  Both were likely weird rights issues. 

The holdouts (Neil Young, TayTay etc.) were really more trying to get good deals than actively objecting to streaming per se.

A lot of artists hold off on putting box sets on there, because they want you to buy them.

I've found personally still a desire to keep my MP3 collection, an amount of CDs and a small vinyl collection.

Streaming isn't necessarily the be all and end all of everything (you might not want to pay for new music every month when you get into your 80s and just want nostalgia, but you would still have to) but as a source for everyday listening for a tenner a month, streaming is one of the biggest bargains out there.

Grumpyrocker

All my CDs are ripped as FLAC. Not because I need them at this quality level for listening, but because that's the best starting point for conversion. So for my car I'll put lower bitrate conversions on an SD card because with all the other sounds it doesn't matter. But on my Shanling M0 audio player I go for a higher bitrate because I use it often in quiet surroundings and it's a very clear player.

I also have lots of music bought in the MP3 format. But I haven't bought an album in that format for a few years now that FLAC downloads are much more available. 

RandallFlagg

Grumpyrocker said:

All my CDs are ripped as FLAC. Not because I need them at this quality level for listening, but because that's the best starting point for conversion. So for my car I'll put lower bitrate conversions on an SD card because with all the other sounds it doesn't matter. But on my Shanling M0 audio player I go for a higher bitrate because I use it often in quiet surroundings and it's a very clear player.

I also have lots of music bought in the MP3 format. But I haven't bought an album in that format for a few years now that FLAC downloads are much more available. 

Yes I get a lot of stuff in FLAC but iTunes doesn't play that format so I decided many years ago to convert to highest MP3 rate and use that. It's good enough for me. As I use a Mac I decided to use iTunes as default storage and player and despite many people hating it I find it easy and reliable to use. I'm OCD so everything has covers and are named and ID tagged meticulously. I even use images of vinyl sleeves for any vinyl rips, for example I have a high quality vinyl rip of The Who's - Live At Leeds which has the weird reverse section in Magic Bus that was edited out on the CD version.

Also, Joy Division's Still is missing the live version of 24 Hours on CD but it's on the vinyl version.

I'm sticking with my MP3s!

crunchman

Grumpyrocker said:

We have a Google Music family subscription.

I've been using GMusic since the beta. It's not perfect. But the ability to add my own music that is missing from the catalogue puts it above some other services.

What's that like?

I was going to get the Spotify family, but the family members have to be over 13 for that, likewise the Amazon family one.  My daughter is 11 and I am not going to lie about her age.

From what I can see, Google is the only major one that allows family members under 13 on their family subscription.  Do they have the same range of music as Spotify and Amazon?

darthed1981

I've got a full Google Play music upload library I dip into sometimes but mostly it's a backup 

Grumpyrocker

crunchman said:

Grumpyrocker said:

We have a Google Music family subscription.

I've been using GMusic since the beta. It's not perfect. But the ability to add my own music that is missing from the catalogue puts it above some other services.

What's that like?

I was going to get the Spotify family, but the family members have to be over 13 for that, likewise the Amazon family one.  My daughter is 11 and I am not going to lie about her age.

From what I can see, Google is the only major one that allows family members under 13 on their family subscription.  Do they have the same range of music as Spotify and Amazon?

Yes the library is pretty much the same, plus you can add your own music.

Because we use the Google Family Link app on the kids devices it let them have their own Google Accounts, which I then added to the GMusic family plan.

I've been on GMusic since before the UK launch (got on the USA beta) and can't fault it really. 

They usually have a free trial if you want to explore the library.

crunchman

Grumpyrocker said:

Because we use the Google Family Link app on the kids devices it let them have their own Google Accounts, which I then added to the GMusic family plan.

That's what I was thinking.  We got her a phone for her 11th birthday because she is starting secondary school, so we have the family link app.

My big worry was what was in the library.

If you can add your own stuff that's good.  I've got some Neal Morse stuff that I know isn't on Spotify, and I don't think it's on Amazon Music either.

Grumpyrocker

There is a "Block explicit songs in radio" option in the GMusic app settings. Though I don't see the point - GMusic has so many songs labelled explicit that aren't. Quite a few of my favourite albums have this label and there's nothing remotely explicit.

While we do stop the kids watching TV/movies that are too mature for them we decided this was less of an issue with music. And I've never heard my nine year old ask for anything that was of concern. 

fields5069

I don't really believe that hearing swears will make a child swear, unless it's a 2-year-old and they are repeating what they hear, parrot-fashion. I am concerned by misogyny etc. but you could argue that's everywhere in music, in one form or another.

fields5069

I have found that there are no streaming services with any Gone To Earth on them, but I don't think any physical copies are currently produced anyway. I'll have to buy a fiddle and have a go myself.

Grumpyrocker

fields5069 said:

I don't really believe that hearing swears will make a child swear, unless it's a 2-year-old and they are repeating what they hear, parrot-fashion. I am concerned by misogyny etc. but you could argue that's everywhere in music, in one form or another.

I think my sweary wife has actively put off our kids from swearing, they see it as an uncool thing mummy does. 

TimmyO

fields5069 said:

As per the title, really.

My daughter has the free Spotify, seems to like it, but I'll be buggered if I can find out what sort of music is on Spotify. It's easy for the casual researcher to do this on Amazon. Picture the scene - I hear something good on YouTube (KEXP or NPR Tiny Desk), go to Amazon and quickly discover that it's there on Music Unlimited.

So for me I'm pretty sure Amazon would be fine. I'm not sure why it's touted as a middle-of-the-road service if I can get the obscure stuff on there. The majority of people don't listen to Ukranian folky stuff one minute, Jordi Savall the next, and yet it's all there on Amazon.

I'm pretty sure my wife would be happy with Amazon as well. In fact she usually just listens to LBC these days.

So my daughter is the one I need to investigate for I guess, as I hear Spotify is best for younger listeners. She's 14 but seems to listen to any misogynistic grimy shit she can find. Obviously the solution is to ask I guess, since she would probably be happiest listening to friends' playlists etc. so she would prefer the Spotify thing.

So what do you subscribe to, and why? Or is there another way?

that surprises me - I've been on Spotify (paid) for some time but have moved off and done short periods on Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Google Play Music.

Overall I found Spotify to be by far the most useable in terms of casual music finding, playlist making, but also in its automated playlists that it creates base on your listening.

Not only the 'new release radar' it puts together for you but the Daily Mix playlists - it creates multiple lists depending on how diverse your recent listening has been - I've come across some great stuff just by firing those up. 

My 10yo has been making his own playlists since he was 6 on Spotify - easy peasy. 

By contract I found Apple Music the worst of all - just a pain to use (a shame as I use an iPhone and a Mac and it integrates best with the whole Apple ecosystem) and Amazon Unlimited ok, but lacked the dynamic playlist magic that I've come to love in Spotify. 

The family each have their own login so we don't mess each others listening up. 

robwright

I subscribe to Spotify Family but am trying out Tidal - The quality is superb but it’s twice the price of Spotify for the Hifi version. 

RobDavies

robwright said:

I subscribe to Spotify Family but am trying out Tidal - The quality is superb but it’s twice the price of Spotify for the Hifi version. 

I couldn't tell the difference between Spotify Extreme and Tidal HiFi - and that's using fairly decent kit... Arcam DAC, Marantz Amp and Monitor Audio speakers.

Your ears are clearly better than mine.

crunchman

Signed up to the Google Play family last night.

Found some music on it that's not on Spotify.

Significantly better audio quality than the freebie version of Spotify as well, although probably not that different than the premium Spotify.

fields5069

Grrr. Anyway we're subscribed to Spotify now, that'll have to do for the time being. To be fair the only stuff I can't find, from my youth, are Bogshed and Gone To Earth.

fields5069

Just listening to some vintage James, before they became a bit shit. "An earwig crawled into my ear, made a meal of the wax and hairs...".