Favorite Music Streaming App?

[esmith818]

I finally have hardware working the way I like it at home (stereo inputs), at the office and gym (bluetooth headphones), and in the car (aux input or bluetooth to head unit). Now I'm ready to pay for an ad free music streaming app. The problem is deciding which one to get.

I've messed around with the free versions of Pandora, Slacker and TuneWiki as well as FlyCast for streaming FM stations. I'm not crazy about the latter two as I prefer to create a customized "station" that plays exactly the music I'm in the mood for. I've also used Grooveshark on the computer, but I have no idea how good the Android app is without a Lite version to test.

Pandora, Slacker and Grooveshark charge roughly $3/month for ad-free music. I'm curious to know what others think about the various services, or one I have not mentioned. I don't mind paying for a good app, but I can't justify paying for all of them when one should suffice.

So what's your preference? A reason besides "It's the best" would be an added bonus.

 

[tcseacliff]

I have the same questions.I will hopefully be coming over to android soon from blackeberry. these apps are all buggy on my BOLD. but when they work aregood. the one thing about slacker is the caching, but without WI-FI slow as sin. but a plus for me with Pandora is the quick mix feature, I like that. but I want the one with less issues. right now on my BOLD with AT&T, both have problems ,especially with upgrades to your OS. so, whichever one has less problems with buffering and skipping will be the winner overall. How do these apps get along with Android? better than Blackberry ?

 

[chrlswltrs]

I subscribe to slacker plus. I love it, and here is what you get for the paid version:

1. No ads
2. Unlimited music request to make it even easier to make your custom stations
3. Unlimited song skipping
4. Music caching to your phone so you can listen with no signal (great for plane rides)

From what I have read if you pay for pandora all you get is no ads, the other 3 things you only get with slacker. Plus I prefer the music selection on slacker to what pandora offers.

When your music is cached on Slacker there is almost 0 buffering and no skipping at all. I have not had a problem with either one on 3G or wifi. I do recommend caching your stations on wifi before taking your phone with you.

I do keep my pandora on my phone because it works better with other apps, like AppAlarm (great app if you like to wake up to music BTW), but I only use the free version of pandora.

 

[Squiggy]

I use Pandora, and could care less about the ads. Are people really looking at their phones while music is playing, saying "Oh, if it weren't for these ads, the music would sound so good..."?