Music Streaming Services

Rhapsody vs Spotify vs Tidal

Music is an essential tool that gets you through life, but there are so many music streaming services out there, it’s difficult to decide on which service provides the best experience. Spotify, Rhapsody, and Tidal are the biggest  names for streaming services and each of them have their own quirks.

But which one is the best for you?

Let’s start off with Rhapsody. Rhapsody became its own company in April of 2010 after leaving its parent company, RealNetworks. As of December of 2015 they have 3.5 million subscribers. Rhapsody does not have a free service unlike Spotify. Rhapsody has a weird interface because it is difficult to maneuver around. It looks choppy, and there are so many things you can click on in its cramped display. That’s just for the computer. On your personal device, you receive annoying updates that you have to turn off, which tell you when new artists release albums or other promotional information. Some people might like these, but I don’t because of the sheer volume of notifications. One thing that Rhapsody does have is a good radio service when you pay for their premiere service. If you just want the radio service it costs $5 a month. Something that is cool with this service is it can show you other people that have the same music interests as you. You have the choice to follow them. All in all, rhapsody costs the same as Tidal and Spotify and it has 11,000,000 songs in its library.

Next, we have Tidal, which is the king of streaming quality. Tidal costs the same as Spotify and Rhapsody for its basic streaming option, which is $10 a month. Tidal has something different from all the other services with Apple Lossless quality. This is more costly than the basic plan, and it is costs $20 a month. At the moment Tidal is selling and streaming Kanye West’s new album, Life of Pablo. According to AllHipHop.com, Tidal doubled its subscribers right after Kanye released his album on the site. Tidal has a richer quality of sound than the other streaming services. The only reason to get Tidal would be for its $20 beautiful sound quality service, opposed to the $10 option. Tidal does not offer a free streaming option like Spotify. Tidal has a clean an easy interface that compliments the service it offers.

Finally, we have Spotify, my personal favorite streaming service. Spotify has the easiest website to maneuver and a phone app with a simplistic design. Spotify also has the same sound quality as Rhapsody and Tidal’s basic streaming option. Every couple of months or so Spotify has a deal where it’s only $.99 to join for three months, except this promotion is only for new members. The best part is that you can cancel anytime. Spotify is weak in one area though, which is its “Spotify Radio” where you are able to type in an artist or song and listen to similar or related songs. It’s not that great. The songs don’t usually sound like the selected artist. Spotify also has a lot of scarcely know indie artists. Someone created a program where you can listen to these artists, it’s called Forgotify. Additionally, Spotify has a free service where you can listen to whatever music you want on your computer, but it does come with ads. Spotify also has great playlists that they come up with each week. Spotify costs $10 a month and there are also student discounts if you are in college.

Rhapsody has its matching system for people who like the same music as you. Tidal has its Apple Lossless if you want better quality sound. Spotify is the best for its simplistic design and its free streaming service.