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Which Music Management/Managing Service is the best?

VhdbloodVhdblood
edited September 2011 in Everything Else
So, after a many re-formats and changed devices, I find myself starting over on my music collection. When you look at the market though and try to pick a service or idea for buying music, it's really overwhelming.

Right now choices include:
  • Rhapsody - $10/m DRM
  • Spotify - $10/m DRM
  • Zune - $15/m DRM
  • iTunes - $0.69-$0.99/song DRM
  • AmazonMP3 - $0.69-$0.99/song NO DRM
So, what's the best one to go with? Are there any more that I left out that are worth it? I'm in Google Music, but is anyone offering a solution with un-DRMed tracks so that I can even use it?

Also, maybe I should just stick with Pandora/Grooveshark/Free Spotify/something like that? I just want everything in one place.

Comments

  • SailSail
    edited September 2011
    AmazonMP3 if you care about having a hard drive copy of your music, then back it up to Google Music. Spotify if you don't mind having everything in the cloud. I have been hardcore loving my Spotify subscription.
    Post edited by Sail on
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    Spotify if you don't mind having everything in the cloud. I have been hardcore loving my Spotify subscription.
    I don't mind the cloud, but is it worth it over something like Grooveshark? Also, is there any real difference between Spotify and Rhapsody? Is the music collection better/bigger?
  • AprecheApreche
    Another option - http://www.rdio.com/
  • SailSail
    edited September 2011
    I don't mind the cloud, but is it worth it over something like Grooveshark?
    Legality, maybe. Properly tagged files of a consistent quality I'm guessing, too.
    Also, is there any real difference between Spotify and Rhapsody?
    I don't know a lot about Rhapsody, but does it plug in directly to Last.fm and offer the same social media-sharing options? Because that's what really drew me into Spotify.
    Post edited by Sail on
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    edited September 2011
    but does it plug in directly to Last.fm and offer the same social media-sharing options?
    I hadn't used Last.fm in the past, because of no functionality with what I was using, but this might be a good opportunity to hop on the train.
    Post edited by Vhdblood on
  • SailSail
    The playlist sharing is rad too, and actually becomes useful since Spotify has a free service and your friends don't have to pay anything just to listen to the mixtape you made them.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    Spotify is more-or-less the perfect music service. Syncs with Apple devices too, so you don't have to stream the music in order to listen to it. It's great.
  • ninjarabbininjarabbi
    I'd be all for the google music, and I do like the service but I wish it had a desktop client. I'm sure it will eventually but its just annoying to me. I'm really digging spotify, but I just don't like how its kind of a bitch to make your library of just streaming stuff. I might just be doing it wrong, but I don't like having to star a song to have it in my library. And then every once in a while everything disappears from it. I still like Spotify free, its just a tad annoying.
  • AprecheApreche
    I just had an idea that will probably be shit-talk.

    What if there was a mumu player or turntable fm that was private. You run it in a coffee shop, an office, or your house during a party. Like an uber jukebox. It runs on one computer with one audio output. Anyone can control it or add music to it from any source be it the jukebox itself, spotify, last.fm, amazon, google, iTunes, their smartphone, their tablet, their computer, etc. Any music that can be sent to the jukebox over the network can be played.

    Now take it a step further. That same software can also stream audio out over the Internet to anyone who connects to it and is not physically in the same place as the jukebox. Now you can just ignore all the limitations of mumu or turntable and have as many users as your hardware and bandwidth can handle with all the music you've got.
  • Josh BytesJosh Bytes
    Along with Rdio as Scott mentioned there is also a similar service called MOG. There is a decent article comparing Rdio, MOG and Spotify. Spotiy vs Mog vs Rdio
  • Hitman HartHitman Hart
    For actually buying music, Amazon is the king. They have the best sales by far. I also have a Zune Pass so that I can check out stuff I hear about. You also get 10 songs you can keep as mp3s every month with the Zune Pass, which puts it above something like Rhapsody for me, but you really need a Zune or Windows Mobile Phone to take best advantage of it.
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    edited September 2011
    Okay, so is there any way to make it so my "Loved it" Last.fm tracks and my starred Spotify tracks synch up? Or to make the libraries of both match? It seems weird to find new recommendations from Last.fm and then have to go manually input them on Spotify and vice-versa.
    Post edited by Vhdblood on
  • SailSail
    Last.fm is mainly for tracking what you listen to. Starring a track in Spotify adds it to your library. Listening to a track on Spotify adds the band to your "library" on Last.fm. Did you set it up by opening Spotify and going to Edit > Preferences and then entering your login info?
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    Last.fm is mainly for tracking what you listen to. Starring a track in Spotify adds it to your library. Listening to a track on Spotify adds the band to your "library" on Last.fm. Did you set it up by opening Spotify and going to Edit > Preferences and then entering your login info?
    Yeah, it's set up. I was just using Last.fm for recommendations, but I found a Greasemonkey Script that automatically puts a Spotify link next to the Last.fm songs/bands.
  • Josh BytesJosh Bytes
    edited September 2011
    Does Spotify give you the ability to randomly play suggested music to you like Last.fm and Pandora does? If it does I can't seem to figure out how to do it.
    Post edited by Josh Bytes on
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    edited September 2011
    Does Spotify give you the an ability to randomly play suggested music to you like Last.fm and Pandora does? If it does I can't seem to figure out how to do it.
    It doesn't, but the Greasemonkey thing works pretty well. Just find your songs/albums with Last.fm, and click the Spotify button.
    Post edited by Vhdblood on
  • Josh BytesJosh Bytes
    I'm on Chrome at the moment but I presume when you click on a song you like on last.fm that it will search and load it up on Spotify?
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    edited September 2011
    I'm on Chrome at the moment but I presume when you click on a song you like on last.fm that it will search and load it up on Spotify?
    The script adds a tiny green spotify symbol next to every song/album that you click and it opens it on Spotify. Greasemonkey Script
    Post edited by Vhdblood on
  • SailSail
    edited September 2011
    Does Spotify give you the an ability to randomly play suggested music to you like Last.fm and Pandora does? If it does I can't seem to figure out how to do it.
    It doesn't,
    It actually does! Though I don't really use it, so I don't know how good it is. Browse to an artist's page on Spotify, then click the tab that says "Artist Radio."

    Good find on that Greasemonkey script, btw.
    Post edited by Sail on
  • Josh BytesJosh Bytes
    Oh cool I didn't think the script would work for Chrome. Cheers
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    Browse to an artist's page on Spotify, then click the tab that says "Artist Radio."
    Snap!
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Music management, eh? Are we only including online solutions? If not, I'll just note that the Winamp Library is my music management system.
  • RuffasRuffas
    I was really impressed with how much of my weird European music Spotify had...then I remembered it's a European thing. They've got none of the Japanese musics though.
  • WindUpBirdWindUpBird
    I was really impressed with how much of my weird European music Spotify had...then I remembered it's a European thing. They've got none of the Japanese musics though.
    They're getting more and more Japanese musics.
  • Li_AkahiLi_Akahi
    I just use iTunes and bittorrents.
  • YuyukeYuyuke
    I just use iTunes and bittorrents.
  • PeguPegu
    I just use bittorrents.
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