And if music is just background noise, then you might be willing to put up with ads and the occasional inability to skip a track you don't really like. But if you're a real music fan, you're probably willing to pay to rid yourself of those annoyances, and you have plenty of online options to choose from, as we learned in researching this guide. We focused on sites that offer ad-free streaming, with a large collection to choose from. Most of the mainstream services have access to the same collection of 40 to 60 million tracks; we also included some specialized services that offer alternatives to the major record labels. Every service here offers ad-free streaming for its paid subscribers, with the ability to save content for offline listening and stream any song or album on demand. Most also offer custom playlists, smart DJs, and other ways to discover new music based on things you already like. A few of the services in this list also offer the option to buy music and add it to your collection, and several others include tools to upload tracks from your personal collection to mix and match with the online catalog. For an extra few bucks a month, music fans with golden ears can upgrade from compressed audio to ultra-high-quality lossless streams. The pound gorilla of online music services earned its top status by being downright addictive, with some of the best smart playlists around. It also has the best social connections, as long as you're willing to connect your Facebook and Spotify accounts.


Read these next…
Sharing is Nice
The world of music is constantly changing. As technology evolves, the way we buy and listen to music has radically shifted. With all the choices for streaming and listening music, it can quickly get expensive for students. Although you can download music onto your device and listen to it at any time, streaming music to your device on demand is becoming increasingly popular. Streaming technology delivers audio and video to computers and mobile devices in a continuous flow, which lets you watch or listen on demand.
The specialists
For most of these deals you will have to provide some form of student verification or access the deal via your student union. Amazon Music when combined with an Amazon Prime subscription will also give you video streaming and access to Amazon Prime discounts and next day shopping which together with its 6-month free trial makes it well worth checking out. Apple Music for those of you who live in the Apple ecosystem with iPhones, iPads and Macs are likely to want to take advantage of their generous student discount and 3-month free trial.
Just by proving you're currently enrolled in school, for example, you become eligible for deals on Microsoft's Office suite, Spotify and Hulu subscriptions and Amazon Prime if you register with an. Beyond the deals listed below, your school's housing department may offer certain streaming services at no additional charge, and your student bookstore could have further discounts on devices and software. Decisions, decisions!