Spotify, Slacker, or Pandora: Which Streaming Music Service Is Right For You?

PCWorld - There are numerous venues by which entertainment seekers can listen to free music online that won’t incur the wrath of the RIAA. Spotify, Slacker, Pandora and a sea of other streaming music services serve up a mix of quality audio that lets you tune into your favorite bands. With the sheer number of options available, selecting a streaming music service can prove quite a difficult task.

We’ve taken it upon ourselves to help guide you toward the streaming music site that bests suits you. On the surface these streaming music sites simply deliver audio through the internet, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll discover that the various services each have their own unique traits that appeal to the different segments of the listening population.

If you’re curious about which streaming music service bests fits your needs, check out our guide which will point you in the right direction. We highlight which streaming music services are best for music downloaders, station tweakers, passive listeners, social networkers, and our core audience—nerds.

From Spotify to Jango, we’ve got you covered. All of these stations play music, but depending on the selected station, you can fire up comedy if you’re in the mood for stand up, and news channels if you want to stay on top of global happenings. Those with more eclectic tastes can even dive into anime and video game soundtracks . Feel free to chime in with streaming music station suggestions of your own in the comment section below.

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Is Spotify the iTunes killer?

Spotify Music Service Finally Live in U.S.

The much anticipated Spotify online music service has finally landed on U.S. shores Thursday. Spotify has previously only been available in Europe but now joins a crowded U.S. market of competing music services that include Amazon Cloud Player, Google Music, iTunes, MOG, Pandora, Rhapsody, Rdio, and Slacker.

As of this writing the Spotify website wasn't allowing people to sign-up for the free version of service service - rather only soliciting invitation requests. But you can sign up for the paid Spotify Premium ($10/month) or Unlimited ($5/month) versions of Spotify.

Better than Pandora?
Spotify's got a few perks that users are looking forward to: for one thing, it's free. And another thing--it lets you play tracks on demand, instead of listening to a customized radio station ala Pandora. (See Related: Pandora Unveils Redesigned Site ) Spotify also allows users to create playlists, share tracks and playlists with friends, and import tracks from iTunes.

Spotify, Facebook in talks on music service

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has teased the 
public about the launch of something "awesome." Is it a 
new music service?

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

 

CNET - Spotify may have found an American friend in Facebook.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg yesterday set off a wave of speculation by telling reporters that the social network has plans to "launch something awesome" next week.

Some have speculated whether Zuckerberg might roll out the kind of music service GigaOm outlined in a story on June 19. The blog reported that Facebook was working on some kind of music feature that incorporated multiple music services, including Spotify, Europe's top streaming-music service.

Facebook and Spotify have indeed held discussions recently about integrating the music service into Facebook in a significant way once Spotify launches in the United States, multiple sources in the music industry told CNET. One source said that it appears the parties have reached an agreement but that could not be confirmed.

Angela Watts, a Spotify spokeswoman, told CNET: "We don't have any further comment on this since the last round of rumors." What Spotify said at the time GigaOm's story appeared was that the company doesn't comment on rumor and speculation but did include this bit: "we have a good relationship with Facebook in that we have an integration on Facebook Platform [in Europe] that has been valuable in terms of driving engagement with the Spotify service."
Spotify has stormed the European market and now wants a try at the U.S. The company will likely launch here within the next two weeks, according to numerous published reports and music industry sources.    More