How to listen to or download music on Android and iOS
There are many options today to listen to music on your mobile device in a legal and free way, we will highlight the main options available to download and play music on an Android or iPhone device.
Spotify is undoubtedly one of the best known and most used options in the world to play streaming music or download in the case of the premium version.
Spotify
It is a free application that you can enjoy and listen to all the music you want in exchange for having advertising that interrupts playback between songs and certain features limited to the premium version such as being able to skip songs unlimitedly (in the version free you can only skip a song a limited number of times per hour) or be able to select certain songs (in the free version you can select an artist and Spotify decides which songs to play) and finally and the most useful feature of Spotify Premium is to be able to download the songs to your device to be able to listen to them at any time without connection and without consuming data on the mobile phone.
If you want to try the premium version you have 3 months of free trial, for this you must enter a valid credit card number, during these three months you will not be charged anything on the credit card, once the trial period is over, it will begin to collect the amount corresponding to the contracted version.
There are three types of plans to hire on Spotify:
- Individual plan at a cost of $9.99 per month.
- Duo plan at a cost of $12.99 per month.
- Premium for students with a cost of $4.99 per month.
- Family plan with up to 5 simultaneous users for $14.99 per month.
You can also listen to Spotify in both its free and premium versions while playing PlayStation with PlayStation Music.
Amazon Music
Amazon also has a music service to compete with iTunes and Spotify quite complete and for a very attractive price since it is included for free in Amazon Prime, so if you already have Prime you can install the Amazon Music App and enjoy of over 2 million songs without advertising.
There is another option called Amazon Music unlimited that allows you to enjoy a much more complete catalog with more than 50 million songs and without advertising, its cost is $9.99 per month like most streaming music services.
With Amazon Music you can download the songs to enjoy them later offline and connect with Alexa.
These are the available rates:
- Echo Plan: More than 50 million songs are available without limits and without advertising but only available to listen to an Amazon Echo that you must purchase separately. Price: $3.99 per month.
- Individual Plan: for $9.99 per month or $99 per year when you contract Prime, you will have more than 50 million songs without limits and without advertising and with the possibility of listening on any compatible device through your App or web browser.
- Family plan: for $14.99 per month with the same characteristics as the individual rate but with the possibility of having up to 6 different accounts that can be used simultaneously.
- Students plan: More than 60 million songs available for $0.99 per month. Must be enrolled at an accredited college or university to qualify.
You have a 30-day trial period accessing from this link: Try Amazon Music for free
Apple Music
Apple was the true pioneer in the download of music in a legal way betting from the first moment on iTunes from which you could buy and download music, later it has adopted the business model powered by Spotify of music streaming by monthly subscription called Apple Music.
It has more than 50 million songs available to stream or download to enjoy offline.
Apple Music has exclusive artists and albums that you can only listen to on its platform.
These are the available rates:
- Student: $4.99 per month.
- Individual: $9.99 a month all the music on all your Apple or Android devices downloading the App or from PC.
- Family: $14.99 per month with the same characteristics as the individual rate but with the possibility of having up to 6 different accounts that can be used simultaneously.
Those mentioned so far are the 3 most popular services and with the best chance of being maintained in the future, below we show others that are having less success despite being also driven by large technology companies.
Google Play Music
Streaming music service that Google tried to promote through its Android operating system, since it came factory-installed on all devices with this operating system and yet it was not as popular
It had a catalog of 40 million songs, the possibility of listening through any compatible device and through the web browser both in streaming and with the possibility of downloading to listen offline.
It only has 2 rates:
- Individual: $9.99 per month.
- Family: $14.99 a month like the rest of the platforms and available for up to 6 people
YouTube Music
Another music streaming service from Google but in this case with a peculiarity: the possibility of viewing the available video clips.
We do not have data on the number of songs available, but it is evident that many people use YouTube as a service to listen to music for free, the drawback on mobile devices is that you have to keep the screen on, and it is not possible to keep the App in second flat while we do other tasks such as chatting or browsing, these problems are solved by YouTube Music in its premium version.
Other advantages of YouTube Music premium is the elimination of advertising and the possibility of listening offline without the need for a connection.
It has the following rates:
- Individual: $9.99 per month.
- Family: $14.99 per month up to 5 members.
- Student: $4.99 per month.
It also has a 30-day trial period.
Tidal
Tidal is the music service created by artists with the aim of being fairer with the creators since it does not have a free music service in exchange for advertising such as Spotify, its goal is to reward with better remuneration for each song played.
These are the proprietary artists of Tidal: Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire (Win Butler and Regine Chassagne), Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Claudia Leitte, Clifford “T.I.” Harris, Coldplay, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J. Cole, Kanye West, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Damian Marley, Indochine, Lil Wayne, and Usher.
He also thinks about fans offering exclusive content from his artists like songs, interviews and videos.
Prices:
- Premium - $9.99 per month with standard sound quality, HD music videos, and expertly curated edits. (Prices vary depending on geographic location and local currency)
- HiFi - $19.99 a month with lossless hi-fi sound quality, HD video, and expertly curated editing. (Prices vary depending on geographic location and local currency)
- Family Premium - $14.99 per month including up to 5 family members. Standard sound quality, HD music videos, and expertly selected edits (prices vary depending on geographic location and local currency)
- Family HiFi - $29.99 per month, including up to 5 family members. Lossless Hi-Fi sound quality, HD music videos and expertly selected edits (prices vary depending on geographic location and local currency)
- Premium Student - $4.99 per month, you must be able to confirm that you meet the requirements and double check every 12 months. (Not available in all geographic locations)
- HiFi Student - $9.99 per month, you must be able to confirm that you meet the requirements and double check it every 12 months. (Not available in all geographic locations)
