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Mobile Music – how do you do it?
We all love music so how do you listen on the go? mp3, streaming, internet radio, free, paid for, we look at the options
Music is everywhere and it’s often a topic of conversation with friends, new and old alike. The power and connectivity of the modern smartphone means that many of us now have the ability to access our favourite tunes at a moments notice, without a separate device. Apple and the iPod / iTunes combination may have turned the music industry on its head years ago showing how a legal and profitable digital delivery system was viable but since then the market has diversified and grown much further.
As I type this a colleague’s Android phone is streaming Internet radio through a free app over our WiFi connection and plugged into a speaker system for the office to listen to. Simple technology these days but just one example of how easy it is to get hold of some tunes. The same app works over a data connection too although that eats up his monthly allowance.
The classic mp3 is obviously still in play and every new device will have a built in music player that can handle a variety of formats so your downloads and ripped CDs (I still buy CDs…) will play natively. Plenty of third party music apps are available too just in case you don’t like the interface on the one included with your phone. One downside to this though is storage space – many devices don’t have a large amount of internal storage making them inferior when compared to a separate music player. Internal storage is on the rise though and the option to add storage with a microSD card is there on a lot of handsets.
Free internet radio apps, as mentioned earlier are available in abundance and get you listening to tunes quickly and easily, although of course you generally have to listen to whatever the radio wants to play. Some of the better radios stations let you listen by genre.
Big money is also changing hands in the world of streaming too. Spotify weren’t the first to provide such a service but have positioned themselves as one of the biggest names with access to millions of tracks and a tiered service with free and paid options. Initially costs for streaming services may appear high but when put next to the cost of actually buying tracks or albums either physically or digitally the benefits stack up. Making playlists, offline access, quick sharing with friends and other users makes the music scene more social than ever before. Streaming services appear to be the way forward but the space is getting crowded very quickly and choosing one paid service over another is already a task when artists and labels decide to make content exclusive on one or another.
So what’s your solution? Tell us in the comments how you go about getting your music fix with your phone
Clove Technology’s Blog – for the latest news, reviews and advice on smartphones, tablets and accessories.
2012-11-16 18:00:41
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