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Alternative to Pandora One

Valveglow

Valveglow

Super Member
I have read a bit on this Forum and elsewhere about music streaming services, varying bit rates, size of catalogs, monthly fees, etc. If this has been discussed ad naseum, please forgive me and kindly direct me, as I have not found precisely what I was looking for.

Today I received a notice from Pandora (One) which is their "premium" service that they are going from $3 per month to $4.99, but will offer me $3.99 temporarily for my "faithfulness".

I am concerned of the following:

1. Low bit rate: 192 for Pandora One, and only 128 for free standard Pandora with ads.
2. Inability to select songs.
3. Service crashing often on mobile devices
4. Overall value compared to other services
5. Relatively limited catalog
6. Selected stations often playing music incompatible with selected genre


I would not mind spending $10 per month for a really good service that provides better sound, bigger selection, and greater flexibility.

How much extra do lossless services cost?

Any and all recommendations for an alternative would be very much appreciated!
 
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Tidal offers lossless steaming for $20/month. Well worth it in my opinion.
I spend more than that on a single lp every month.
 
rcspkramp said:
Tidal offers lossless steaming for $20/month. Well worth it in my opinion.
I spend more than that on a single lp every month.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Yes, I have been thinking about Tidal. I do want to hear some other comments about Spotify, etc., and whether $20 lossless steaming is a better value than $9.99 for 320kbps. Pandora One, which sounds "OK", streams at 192kbps. Most of my listening is done at home with CDs, losslessly copied CDs or LPs. On the Harley, between the pipes and the wind, I cannot discern bit rate differences!
 
Valveglow said:
Thank you. Yes, I have been thinking about Tidal. I do want to hear some other comments about Spotify, etc., and whether $20 lossless steaming is a better value than $9.99 for 320kbps. Pandora One, which sounds "OK", streams at 192kbps. Most of my listening is done at home with CDs, losslessly copied CDs or LPs. On the Harley, between the pipes and the wind, I cannot discern bit rate differences!
Click to expand...

I've been streaming for a few years now and love it.

I still have an acct with Pandora One but don't use it much, may let go of it.

I liked the improvement Spotify gave me. 320 sounded better but the "control" over streaming was what made it a winner for me.

I signed up for Deezer Elite thur the Sonos Beta program and now I have the "control" and resolution of 1411 kbps.

Each one of those came with a $ increase, I can't say if the $ jump will be worth it to you, it was for me...but I have a feeling it's what you will end up with.

I haven't compared Tidal to Deezer Elite, that would be apples to apples kbps wise, but with a good recording, DE is sounding pretty nice. You will have to make up your own mind on the $ vs worth though.
 
I didn't know Spotify had a "radio" feature (like Pandora) that you can build by selecting an artist and "liking" various songs......

....and you say it's better quality than Pandora?

Hum....I might have to try the .99 cent promo...
 
I have used Pandora, MOG, Spotify and lately Tidal.

Pandora works well and is very stable on PC and mobile devices but it has its limitations. Sound quality is below the others but acceptable through ear buds on a mobile device.

MOG was very good but it is no more.

Spotify is stable and has decent sound and large selection of music. The "radio" feature is nice but seems to become repetitive or goes in a different musical direction after about 15-20 songs.

Tidal is by far the best sounding and the most expensive, not only in monthly cost but the data it uses, beware mobile users. It is still new to me but I have not found a "radio" feature and become forced to download playlists or listen to entire albums. Tidal has a very good selection but it lags behind the others and the artist bios are inaccurate, the app can be unstable on mobile devices.

As much as I like the sound quality of Tidal, I am forced to choose between its limitations vs Spotify's superior selection, features and stability. Not sure what I'm going to keep, but one of them will be deleted soon. I am hoping Tidal's limitations will be resolved as the app gains popularity and matures.

Hope this information is helpful.

May we all have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year
 
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I use Spotify mainly I was using google all acess but it is iffy at times.I am always on the look out for a better Music streamer,I will watch this thread with interest.For now Spotify does it for me I have a large music Library but listen mostly to radio staions I create.
 
Call me a cheapo

I purchased an inexpensive HP laptop ($500), added some more memory to it (8GB-$75), and run it through a DAC to stream jazz from stations all over the country. Yes, not the same as Pandora or Spotify, but it works very well.
Aside from the initial investment, it costs me nothing per month and I like the variety available on the internet. :thmbsp:
 
I do not subscribe to any internet radio. There are some that have less advertisements than others, so I can live with that. :music:
 
Just got Tidal it use flac decoding,I have a 7 day free trail.I will try it if I like it Spotify will have to go lots to evaluate,cant afford both since Tidal is $20 a month.
 
If you really want to discover new music, this http://www.live365.com/web/components/content/directory/browse.live
has been the best for me. I was bored with Pandora after a few weeks.
live365.com has over 5000 stations, and you have to do a little digging to find the best ones, but it's well worth it.
It has been a while since I visited. Not sure what it costs, but you can listen for free if you can stand the ads.
Under genres, click "show all" to help decide.
 
4Play said:
I do not subscribe to any internet radio. There are some that have less advertisements than others, so I can live with that. :music:
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I have to agree on that! :yes:

I got myself a Grace internet and FM tuner to replace my old Sansui tuner. I just connect to any of the different stations out there and set it up with the stations I like on the presets. Like you said, there are some that have little to no commercials and others that have some. Is free so I can deal with it, if I don't like it I just connect to another station.
 
Had Pandora, meh. Have Spotify premium which is much better sound quality and the library is huge. I'm going to give Tidal a try but until the library expands I doubt I'll switch.

Guy who have tried Tidal and Spotify premium is the jump from 320kbps very dramatic? I notice a huge difference from Pandora's 192kbps to Spotify.
 
HVHiFI said:
Guy who have tried Tidal and Spotify premium is the jump from 320kbps very dramatic? I notice a huge difference from Pandora's 192kbps to Spotify.
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't for me. Tidal was a big let down for me. I was really anticipating the service and gave them more than a fair shake but couldn't justify paying twice as much as Spotify....and getting less.

Good recordings are good recordings. Doing a direct comparison of dozens of songs between the two and the difference in sq was so minimal....if any.

Spotify has much more music....and is faster.

Rdio is a pretty good service, too. I've been having reliability issues with them though. Not horrible but not as dependable as Spotify. (Windows)

Haven't had the opportunity to try Deezer yet.

IMO...they're all better than Pandora....but you gotta pay a little more.
 
I actually just got rid of my Pandora one. Have had it so long but really wasn't using it much lately. I have tried most of the premium services out and what I've found is that it's really a personal preference. Right now I have Spotify and Amazon Prime Music. Spotify works for me for my uses. I like the radio feature as well as the ability to play the web app on the pc and control it with my phone or tablet. The ability to easily find others playlists to listen to new music. The apps just work without crashing. Plus I get a nice discount from Sprint. I don't think there is anything wrong with most of the services. Like I tell everyone, most have a free trial period. Take advantage of it. My second preference would be, Google All Access. You can upload all your CD's. You can even do this without being a PAID member and play them back for free on Android or IOS apps. I mostly use it to do just that plus it's a nice way to back up your collection to the cloud. All Access members now also get You Tube Music Key, for free. You can stream music videos or playlists without commercials. I tried Tidal service and I must say that the quality was there. You can turn the quality down just as you can with all the other providers if you are worried about data usage. The library is very good. I kept getting a lot of errors and the app would freeze. Probably growing pains plus the size of the files. But I still keep on coming back to Spotify and the library is pretty hard to beat.
 
HVHiFI said:
Had Pandora, meh. Have Spotify premium which is much better sound quality and the library is huge. I'm going to give Tidal a try but until the library expands I doubt I'll switch.

Guy who have tried Tidal and Spotify premium is the jump from 320kbps very dramatic? I notice a huge difference from Pandora's 192kbps to Spotify.
Click to expand...

I thought I could hear differences but then again my ears are kinda worn, to many concerts :D. I'm pretty darn happy with Spotify. Maybe if I had a top of the line system I would hear more of a difference. After using Tidal for almost a month, the library is good. But for me it wasn't there. I really couldn't hear a big difference. I may give it another try in the future tho.
 
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