Best quality streaming music? Pandora not cutting it

[jbdan]

Sound quality just not quite there for me even on "high" quality settings.

What do you use?

 

[necosino]

I use Pandora. What exactly isn't enough for you? It's free <40 hours, $0.99/month after that (Once you hit 40 hours. If you don't hit 40, there's no charge).

Sound quality is great for me, even though I barely have service at work. Plug the phone into a decent set of speakers and it sounds as good as music stored locally.

 

[Kappen]

I agree with necosino and Pandora is what I use. There is also Last.fm and slacker radio. I don't think the sound quality is any better or worse just different ways of selecting the play list.

 

[aw1974]

I've been very happy with the sound quality on Pandora. However, I think the quality is a bit lacking on last.fm.

 

[Soupdaddy]

I ditched Pandora a long time ago. Slacker is much better imo.

 

[jbdan]

Thanks for the replies! I'm not knocking Pandora sorry if that is what it sounded like. I really love the app I just wanted higher quality sounding audio from a streaming music app. Maybe there is no such thing.

So I use my Inc as my music palyer in my car....I have a direct input into the 8 speaker system and have used my Zune in the past....Pandora does not have the fidelity/sound that the Zune or CD does. Not a deal breaker at all just wondered what else everyone out there was using and their experience.

I'll give slacker a whirl thanks for the tip!

 

[woop]

How good do you need from streaming radio? I'm not sure it'd make a large difference between apps. I think the only higher quality would be actual grouprips/CDs

 

[k.electron]

grooveshark.

 

[jbdan]

How good do you need from streaming radio?

I want 192khz 3d optical digital dolby DTS master audio surround

 

[mched]

I ditched Pandora a long time ago. Slacker is much better imo.

+1... I to prefer Slacker.

 

[FlyPenFly]

Slacker! I think they use a higher bitrate

 

[GAUG3]

Slacker here.

 

[SirensOfTitan]

Grooveshark is excellent if you're willing to pay the premium user fee. You can look up anything and play whatever you want.

 

[JETC]

I use Pandora. What exactly isn't enough for you? It's free <40 hours, $0.99/month after that (Once you hit 40 hours. If you don't hit 40, there's no charge).

Sound quality is great for me, even though I barely have service at work. Plug the phone into a decent set of speakers and it sounds as good as music stored locally.

Wow..really? Do they charge you automatically if you hit that 40hrs+? And do you get 40hrs free a month or 40hrs total of use?

 

[necosino]

Wow..really? Do they charge you automatically if you hit that 40hrs+? And do you get 40hrs free a month or 40hrs total of use?

40 hours a month. So in May, let's say May 17th you hit the 40 hours. You can just wait until June 1st and start listening again, or when you open Pandora, it will notify you that you have to pay $0.99. This is a one-time charge, non-recurring, no hidden fees, just 99 cents for the rest of the calender month.

So you pay the 99 cents, and get to listen until the end of the month. Then June 1st you go back to 40 hours. In June if you only use 30 hours, you don't get billed a thing.

With free you get the 40 hours, 6 skips/hour, and occasional adds.

Pandora is add-supported via audio adds or online advertisements (although I haven't heard a single audio add via mobile..) That's how they can keep it so cheap. They do offer a $36/year Pandora One plan which offers no adds, higher quality (like the OP wanted), and unlimited skips.

 

[jbdan]

40 hours a month. So in May, let's say May 17th you hit the 40 hours. You can just wait until June 1st and start listening again, or when you open Pandora, it will notify you that you have to pay $0.99. This is a one-time charge, non-recurring, no hidden fees, just 99 cents for the rest of the calender month.

So you pay the 99 cents, and get to listen until the end of the month. Then June 1st you go back to 40 hours. In June if you only use 30 hours, you don't get billed a thing.

Did not know this thx. Worth a buck for sure!

 

[aw1974]

I just downloaded Slacker and it has force closed on me twice now. Anyone else having issues with Slacker?

 

[woop]

Doesn't Slacker also have a limit before charging? Or am I totally off-base on this?

 

[FlyPenFly]

you can't skip more than six times and there are ads

 

[Shtang]

I've been using slacker since my Blackberry days and i love it. You can also make other favorites on their site and it'll sync to your phone. I'm just about rdy to pay to get rid of the commercials as it can get annoying.

 

[jetsfan2010]

Pandora is perfect for me at my desk at work

 

[ken20banks]

I use last.fm

I think it's great. After using it for a while, it's usually pretty accurate about my musical tastes and preferences, and it has a simple interface. It has a nice widget and unlimited song skipping. For those having sound quality issues, there is a High Audio Quality opting in the settings. The current version also automatically scrobbles any tracks played from the Incredible's stock music player, which I find really useful.

 

[highvolts]

Just ditches Pandora because of this thread. Last.fm FTW

 

[bjanow]

...They do offer a $36/year Pandora One plan which offers no adds, higher quality (like the OP wanted), and unlimited skips.

I really like Pandora and bought the $36 option. Well worth the money and the ad free version is just great. I use it on the phone in the car and on my computer plugged into some decent speakers.

 

[necosino]

@OP: There is a free 24-hour trial of the Pandora ONE, which has the higher bitrate. Maybe just try it out and see if you like it any better. If so, it's $36/year.