Online music: the different offers

Music

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For listening to music anywhere, there's nothing like a Thomson smartphone or a Thomson convertible notebook. On the move, you will appreciate the autonomy of the high-capacity battery of the Delight TH201 smartphone and the convertible notebooks and their large storage options that will allow you to take your whole music library with you.

 

In order to take full advantage of the qualities of these devices, don’t make a mistake when choosing your paid online music service. Here are the different offers available, their characteristics ... and especially the elements that differentiate them.

 

Important: Please note however that those price offers are of the sole responsibility of the music service providers and may change at any time. Please therefore refer to the music service providers websites in order to have their official confirmation of the valid terms & conditions.

Amazon Music Unlimited®

 

The offer starts at 9.99 € / month for individuals or 14.99 € / month for a family (up to 6 users) for a sound quality of 320 kbit / s (like for MP3).

The service is intended to use the Alexa® voice assistant and Echo® connected speakers when they are available in France.

PROS: Amazon Prime® subscribers receive two months Free of charge.

CONS: recommendations based on the purchase history.

 

Apple Music®

 

Regarding standard subscriptions (9,99 € / month for individuals or 14,99 € / month for a family), price identical to Amazon Music Unlimited ®. With its formula for students at € 4.99 / month and a trial period of 3 months, Apple is shaking up the established order. Unfortunately, the user interface is not practical and the sound quality (256 kbit / s) below the standards.

PROS: optimized for Siri and the Apple environment, a few previews.

CONS: user interface and audio quality below the standards.

 

Bandcamp®

 

If you are not too demanding in terms of user interface and like the independent labels, you should try Bandcamp without delay. Free of charge to listen, without advertising, it gets paid by selling music titles online. Usual MP3 quality for a catalog which is not really commercial. depending upon one’s own tastes, either a shortcoming or a rare quality.

PROS: free-of-charge without any ads, and previews offered.

CONS: user interface.

Deezer®

 

Recently introduced on Xbox, Deezer has a large catalog of music titles. Rates are usual, with an individual formula (Premium +) at 9.99 € / month and a family rate at 14.99 € / month, this time in 320 kbit / s MP3. An Elite formula offers for € 19.99 / month a quality of 1411 kbit / s (FLAC). In free-of-charge listening, you will be limited to 160 kbit / s with advertisements.

PROS: a large music catalog, of international but also French music and its availability on Xbox and Playstation gaming consoles.

CONS: no special fee for students.

 

Google Play Music®

 

If we had to retain only one characteristic of the offer of Google, it would undoubtedly be the possibility to add to the playlists the contents of its own music library.

As with Deezer, the free-of-charge option with advertising is limited to 160 kbit / s, and the paid option is limited to 320 kbit / s. Regarding the rates, same story with 9,99 € / month for individual (Premium) and 14,99 € / month for a family. The student formula is at 4.99 € / month.

PROS: the possibility to add one’s own music library and the student formula.

CONS: no functions which are socialmedia oriented.

 

SoundCloud®

 

With a catalog of 130 million ad-free titles, the pay-per-view offer of SoundCloud Go + at € 9.99 / month is tempting. Free-of-charge listening is also possible, with a smaller catalog, and with advertisements, but in both cases, with MP3 quality of 320 kbit / s. Particularity of Soundcloud: the musicians can post their pieces for free, which makes it possible to make beautiful discoveries. Many groups and labels thus get more broadly known by a larger audience.

PROS: the largest catalog, beautiful discoveries.

CONS: limited free-of-charge offer.

Spotify®

 

Premium rate at € 9.99 / month, family of 5 at € 14.99 / month and € 4.99 / month for students, all in 320 kbps MP3, you are here in a familiar territory. Like for Google Play®, you can add your own music files. The great strength of the service is to be usable on smartphones, tablets and computers, but also on Playstation and Xbox gaming consoles. On the catalog side, the choice is huge. A free-of-charge option (with advertising and a 160 kbit / s sound quality constraint) is proposed.

PROS: possibility to add one’s own music library, availability on almost all devices.

CONS: a little too wise editorial line.

 

Qobuz®

 

This French music service has chosen to differentiate itself, with exceptional CD quality in 16-bit FLAC at 44.1 kHz. To benefit from this Hi-Fi subscription, it will cost € 19.99 / month for audiophiles. Let's also mention the formula Sublime (219,99 € / month) which allows the download in Hi-Res 24-bit, of songs or albums for sale on the site at preferential prices. The formula Sublime + (349,99 € / month) passes the live listening in Hi-Res 24-bit. There is also a basic offer at 9.99 € / month (Premium), with unlimited access, but in 320 kbit / s standard MP3 quality.

PROS: an audiophile service of exception. Quality articles and reports.

CONS: the tariffs.

 

Tidal®

 

Hi-Fi subscription that allows access to FLAC quality songs (lossless) for $ 19.99 / month (individual), $ 29.99 / month (family, 5 people) and $ 9.99 / month (student). There are also videos in HD quality. For the rest, Premium at $ 9.99 / month, Family at $ 14.99 / month and Student at $ 4.99 / month, it's like its competitors, in 320 kbps quality.

PROS: the lossless quality of Hi-Fi mode.

CONS: the tariffs.