There are many different options when it comes to streaming music online. You can choose from services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon Music. Each service has its own benefits and drawbacks. But if you’re interested in the highest quality, there are several ways to ensure that you’re getting a truly lossless experience.

Apple Music

The world’s leading music streaming service, Spotify, has been rolling out some big changes to their mobile interface in the past few months. These include a new navigation bar that sits near the top of a playlist. Additionally, users can now type in lyrics directly into the search bar. This will show them what song has that lyric.

Previously, the only way to listen to songs in full resolution was to connect your headphones to a wired speaker. However, Apple Music now allows you to stream music in full resolution, with lossless and Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio.

While Apple Music has the iCloud Music Library, which allows you to access songs that you’ve uploaded to your iCloud account, there are still gaps in the catalogue. The service’s free tier offers 15 playlists based on your listening history, which you can listen to for 24 hours.

Spotify, on the other hand, offers a free tier, but the limits of that are severely restrictive. Despite the limitations, the company continues to offer lossless audio streaming.

Spotify’s HiFi feature was first announced back in February. Later that year, it was revealed that Billie Eilish was among the artists who had expressed an interest in the new audio format. It was soon revealed that the feature would be available as a separate tier for Premium subscribers.

Unlike its free tier, the HiFi tier offers CD quality audio. However, the feature will be available only in certain regions, and is expected to be limited to wired speakers.

In addition to music, Spotify also supports non-music streaming features. Users can browse and create custom radio stations and podcasts. They can also play their own MP3s within the app. Another perk is the ability to listen to songs with Alexa voice commands.

Spotify’s free tier is a good value, but the company is likely to have to offer a free upgrade to remain competitive. A recent survey hints that the company could be on the verge of bringing the feature back.

Currently, the company offers a free trial and six-month subscription. You can sign up for a free trial of Premium, or you can get one month for free.

Amazon Music

If you’re shopping for a new music service, you may have heard of Amazon Music or Spotify. These two services are similar, and both offer 30-day free trials. However, there are some differences.

While the free tiers of these two services are fairly limited, the ad-free plan of Spotify offers a lot more for only $10 per month. The service also has a number of unique features. Including “spatial remixes” and a Dolby Atmos soundbar.

Both services are available in mobile apps and web browsers. The Amazon Music app includes an Alexa voice assistant. You can ask Alexa to play songs, skip tracks, or even control smart lights. Interestingly, the company has taken some steps to keep its users from moving to the rival service.

For starters, the service has a well-organized interface. Using a search function, you can find a track that you’re interested in. You can also get recommended playlists based on your listening habits. In addition, there’s a fun “Car Mode” feature that allows you to access a simplified interface while driving.

On top of that, Amazon Music has several perks for its prime members. In fact, you can get access to over 2 million songs for free with a Prime subscription. And, if you’re already a member, you can upgrade to the ad-free Music Unlimited for only $9 a month.

Not to be overlooked is the Amazon Music HD service. With this subscription, you’ll be able to enjoy a catalog of more than 70 million songs. To take full advantage of the service, you’ll need high quality headphones or speakers.

But the most important feature isn’t the one you’d expect. It’s the ad-free, lossless audio streaming. Unfortunately, you won’t get to experience this until later this year.

The true contender in this battle of the music services is not Amazon Music, but Spotify. They’re both available for a variety of platforms, including iOS, Android, desktop, Roku media streamers, Sonos systems, and Amazon Echo devices. Those who are a regular Spotify user will feel right at home with the Amazon Music platform.

Deezer

There are two major lossless streaming services out there, Spotify and Deezer. Both offer a variety of features, including live radio, collaborative playlists, and similar content. However, they have different offerings and price points. For example, the Premium plan from Deezer includes HiFi audio while Spotify’s plan doesn’t.

Deezer also offers a feature called SongCatcher, which helps you find songs that you don’t recognize. It saves the tracks to your library and also tells you what artist they are by name. This is a good tool for discovering new music.

The free tier from both services offers music at a low-quality 96-Kbps stream rate. Users can upgrade to the 160-Kbps setting or the 320-Kbps option for a small fee.

Both services allow users to transfer music from other platforms to their accounts. But, while both services have similar discovery features, Spotify’s algorithm is a little better at recommending songs. Moreover, Spotify’s Discovery Mode gives artists a lower royalty rate and better exposure on personal playlists.

Spotify also has an “Behind the Lyrics” feature, which explains song parts based on the artist’s comments. This is a useful tool, but it only works for some songs.

In June, Apple launched a lossless upgrade for Apple Music. As of now, both services offer free trials.

Deezer also allows users to upload catalogs from competitors. It also has a feature that lets you see lyrics while they are being sung. While the quality is not as high as Apple’s, it is better than some of the other lossless services.

Though Deezer is a smaller service, it has more subscribers than some other lossless music streaming services. Deezer has also launched its “For book lovers” category, which mostly features classical lit audiobooks.

Spotify HiFi isn’t available yet, but it’s expected to debut soon. Until then, though, you can get music at CD-quality, lossless audio.

If you want to stream lossless music, it’s best to use Wi-Fi. Bluetooth isn’t compatible with lossless streaming. Also, you’ll need a compatible device. And if you want to listen to lossless tracks on a cellular connection, your data plan might not support it.

Friend Activity section

Spotify’s Friend Activity feature lets you follow your friends and see what they’re listening to. You can also find out what music they like and create collaborative playlists. This section is only available on the desktop version of the app.

The Friend Activity section of the desktop app allows you to view your friends’ playlists, listen to their songs, and share playlists with them. If you want to disable this feature, you can do so. For example, you can hide your own activity so other users can’t see what you’re doing. Alternatively, you can make the section private so that only you can see what your friends are doing.

In order to activate the Friend Activity feature, you need to connect your Facebook account with your Spotify account. Once you have done that, you can access your friends’ profile pages by clicking on their username. When you click on their username, a new pane will open up with a search field. Use the filter field to narrow down your friend list.

After you have entered your friend’s profile page, you’ll be able to see their most recent song selections. You’ll also be able to see their most active streaming sessions. There’s also a timestamp next to the last track they streamed.

Another feature you’ll be able to enjoy is the community page. It’s in development, but it’s probably going to include collaborative playlists. Here, you can create a playlist with your friends and add tracks, delete tracks, or edit the tracks. At any time, you can stop the collaborative playlist.

Spotify is a popular music streaming service with 182 million users. As of 2022, the United States accounts for a majority of the service’s user base. With 182 million people paying for music on the service, it delivers worth to its content creators and advertisers.

As with most social features on Spotify, the Friend Activity section is only available on the desktop version of its app. As a result, you’ll have to download a third-party app in order to use the feature on your mobile device.