Entries Tagged 'Streaming' ↓

There are quite a few music streaming services available; for an up to date list see here. Unfortunately, most music streaming services are not available outside of the USA or the UK. This obviously has to do with the digital rights, and the deals with the big record companies.

In The Netherlands, the following services are available.

Spotify

Spotify was launched in Sweden in 2008, and has since expanded to Norway, Finland, Spain, France, the UK and The Netherlands.

Spotify is an application you install on either a PC or a Mac. With the application you can browse through an extensive number of songs, and play these songs on your computer. The free version has (audio) advertisements after each couple of songs. The lowest entry subscription model removes the ads. Much more interesting is the premium subscription model. This allows you to store music locally (offline, so you can also play the music if you do not have internet connection). Additionally, the quality of the music (the bitrate) is higher. The best, however, is the fact that you can use an iPhone app to stream songs from Spotify on your iPhone, or download them to your iPhone for playback in offline mode.

Spotify has included some social network features, for instance by allowing to share playlists among Facebook friends. This has however been done in a very basic way. Especially if a lot of Facebook friends use Spotify, it becomes an extensive job to sift through everyone’s playlists. Let’s hope this improves in next versions.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark does not require you to download an application. Instead, you can play music from your browser. Similar to Spotify, you can search for music, create playlists, and do social things through Facebook. Most notable is Grooveshark Radio, which recommends (and plays) music according to the songs you have played before; comparable to iTunes Genius. The basic version of Grooveshark is free. There is also a paid version, which removes banners and provides (limited) additional functionality.

Contrary to Spotify, the music is not offered through the large record companies, but rather through users uploading music. This has already led to legal issues, but not to the extent that the service had to be removed.

Grooveshark also has a mobile app for the iPhone, but since it has not (yet) been approved by Apple, it can only be installed on jailbroken iPhones.

Deezer

Deezer is also a web browser basic music streamer. Its music collection is smaller than Spotify and Grooveshark, and since it is of French origin, a lot of music is French. Deezer has a free iPhone app.

ShareTheMusic

The idea behind ShareTheMusic is that users make their own (legally acquired) music collection available. This is done through an application that has to be installed (PC only). Listeners can search for music, and stream it directly from the one that made the music available. Because the music cannot be downloaded, and only one listeners can listen to a certain song at a time (i.e. it is no radio), ShareTheMusic claim that what they do is legal.

ShareTheMusic also has recommendation features. Because of the nature of the service, they claim they are the only (legal) streaming service that provide Beatles music.

To be able to listen to a certain song, the user ‘hosting’ the song obviously has to be online and started up the ShareTheMusic service; this determines to a great deal the success of the service.

I have been working with Squeezebox as a device to play my digital music, and I have always been very happy with it. How does it work?

Buy a Squeezebox

While I am still using my good old Squeezebox Classic, there are much fancier alternatives out there at this moment:

• Squeezebox Touch offers a touch screen through which you can search and select your music; you will need an amplifier and speakers to hear the music, though
• Squeezebox Boom has two speakers, looks like a good old boombox
• Squeezebox Radio has only one speaker, and it is mainly geared towards internet radio. It is the least expensive of the three

Install the server software

The server software for Squeezebox is called Squeezebox Server. This server, among other things, makes sure your Squeezebox device can pull music from your digital music source. This means that the hardware the Squeezebox Server is running on, has to be turned on if you want to listen to music. Squeezebox Server is available for PC, Mac, Linux and Netgear ReadyNAS. Since I want to be able to listen to my music whenever I want, and I do not want to leave my PC on all the time, I bought a Netgear ReadyNAS Pro, and installed Squeezebox Server on this machine.

Put your CD collection on digital storage

Read this post to learn more about storing music digitally. Obviously I store my music on the Netgear ReadyNAS Pro.

Configure Squeezebox Server

Basic configuration of Squeezebox Server is fairly easy. It is accessible through a web browser, and in its most basic configuration you only have to set a few parameters. One of them is obviously the location of the music source (in my case the NAS itself, in the /Music directory). You can have Squeezebox Server scan your music source, and it will create views by album and by artist.

Connect Squeezebox to an amplifier

Squeezebox Radio and Boom come with a speaker. Squeezebox Touch (and older models) need to be connected to an amplifier. This is straightforward, since the Squeezebox has all required output (analog and digital) at the back.

Configure Squeezebox

The Squeezebox has to be connected to the Squeezebox Server. This can be done using an internet cable, or wirelessly. As soon as you start up your Squeezebox, it will start looking for a Squeezebox Server. If it cannot find the Squeezebox Server, you will have to locate it manually by entering the IP address of the server the Squeezebox Server is running on.

Play music!

After the set up steps above have been completed, you are ready to play music. This can be done:

• Via the touch screen or the knobs and buttons on the Squeezebox.
• Through a remote control (which can be bought separately or together with the Squeezebox Duet)
• Through a web browser using Squeezebox Server
• Through an iPhone/iPad application, for instance the excellent iPeng

Useful links:

Squeezebox Service Wiki

Playback of digital music can be done on various devices:

1. On  a device specifically created to play digital music
2. On a computer
3. Via an amplifier or receiver

How to most effectively use the device depends on the location where your music is stored. Read this article for more on this subject.

On  a device specifically created to play digital music

MP3 players were created with the specific goal of playing digital music. In most cases the music has to be stored on the MP3 player.

The obvious disadvantage of an MP3 player is that you and only you can listen to the music. However, by plugging the MP3 player into a device that has an amplifier and loudspeakers, your friends and neighbours can also enjoy the music.

Alternatives are the products from Logitech (Squeezebox) and Sonos. These products have an amplifier and a loudspeaker, and allow you to connect it to an external music storage device via wired or wireless internet.

On a computer

If you are happy with the audio quality of your computer speakers, the computer is a very versatile device to play digital music. If you have your music collection stored on your computer, you can use programs like iTunes or Windows Media Player to organise and play music.

If your music collection is on a home server, this server needs to be running software that can stream music to your computer. An example is Firefly, a piece of software that is able to stream music to iTunes. This way you can use multiple computers to access your iTunes collection stored centrally.

The third alternative is having your music ‘somewhere’ on the internet. You would typically have to install a program on your computer that will retrieve the music from the internet and play it. An example is Spotify.

Via an amplifier or receiver

There are few amplifiers or receivers that can play digital music straight away – Denon has a couple of receivers that are able to do so. Most likely you will need a separate box that is located between your amplifier and your music collection.

Again, both Logitech (Squeezebox) and Sonos have products that are capable of doing so. A product will have audio jacks that connect it to your amplifier, and on the other hand an internet port that connects it to your music source.