Android music download service

Mike Hoxbig

Mike Hoxbig

Honorary Master
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
56,204
Reaction score
37,361
Location
Jhb
So up until now I've been downloading music on my laptop via either iTunes or MixRadio and transferring it across to my phone. Is there seriously no drm-free music downloading service on Android? Google Music says that it's not available here yet...
 
Wrong country my friend, I gave up on the day and just went subscription, far simpler, easier and @ $10/month I could care less. Plus all my music gets synced without me doing anything.
 
Just use a streaming service like Simfy or Deezer. You can stream anything you want on any platform, and playlists can be downloaded for offline listening.

Why are you concerned with DRM-free downloads?
 
Bryn said:
Just use a streaming service like Simfy or Deezer. You can stream anything you want on any platform, and playlists can be downloaded for offline listening.

Why are you concerned with DRM-free downloads?
Click to expand...
OK simfy desktop is utter rubbish, but still a half decent option, it works damn well on the phone, they just need the phone devs to work with the pc devs so the pc version wasn't horse pucky.

They also need to apply some actual logic to the multiple devices control facility, its a joke compared to spotify,i keep giving simfy chances and they keep disappointing, I find it excruciatingly difficult to save half my monthly music costs when the best alternative is not even enough to be considered a bad joke when compared.

As for drm, some people enjoy the dark ages.
 
CranialBlaze said:
OK simfy desktop is utter rubbish, but still a half decent option, it works damn well on the phone, they just need the phone devs to work with the pc devs so the pc version wasn't horse pucky.

They also need to apply some actual logic to the multiple devices control facility, its a joke compared to spotify,i keep giving simfy chances and they keep disappointing, I find it excruciatingly difficult to save half my monthly music costs when the best alternative is not even enough to be considered a bad joke when compared.

As for drm, some people enjoy the dark ages.
Click to expand...

I use Simfy's desktop app every day without problem. What don't you like about it? And what is multiple device control? Are you referring to authorisation? If your list of authorised devices is full you can reset the list and sign in again on the devices you want to authorise.

As for saving money, that's the only reason I use Simfy ahead of Deezer. It's a lot cheaper than R60pm if you wait for the good promotions that they run occasionally. If it weren't for that I'd use Deezer for the superior audio quality, catalogue size and community features. One thing I must give Simfy credit for is their customer service. They phone you within a few hours of submitting a ticket on their website. They've even phoned within a few minutes on one or two occasions.
 
Yup streaming is the new music source. My phones just have Simfy and Deezer on them both with flexible payment options.

Simfy being the most flexible. Pay via MTN,Pay by mobile subscription,Pay via Edgars/Jet account/Pay via credit/debit card or via Afrihost

Deezer offers payment via Vodacom mobile billing with 1 month free via http://offers.vodafone.com/za or paying with credit card.


I just make sure I select my playlists when I'm home connected via wifi and take them off line to stream even if there is no network or my data is low. The new simfy app also includes a cache option which you can enable to help cache tracks once you listened to them once so you don't have to keep streaming them and wasting data. You can also select the size of the cache and how long these tracks are kept in the cache.

A combination of the 2 is the best but if I have to choose I choose Simfy Africa on iPhone or Android. Best out there for me.
 
Bryn said:
I use Simfy's desktop app every day without problem. What don't you like about it? And what is multiple device control? Are you referring to authorisation? If your list of authorised devices is full you can reset the list and sign in again on the devices you want to authorise.

As for saving money, that's the only reason I use Simfy ahead of Deezer. It's a lot cheaper than R60pm if you wait for the good promotions that they run occasionally. If it weren't for that I'd use Deezer for the superior audio quality, catalogue size and community features. One thing I must give Simfy credit for is their customer service. They phone you within a few hours of submitting a ticket on their website. They've even phoned within a few minutes on one or two occasions.
Click to expand...
Last time I tried it was about 4 month ago, and it was no better than the day it came out, compared to spotify it's awfully slow. They do not use any form of local cache for unsaved tracks (spotify does), this means streaming isn't always true streaming, if u listening to a play list, ur only streaming it once after which it's cached to your local drive, not sure for how long, I often listen to the same play lists as I make them quite large, my network usage is often on or close to zero.

Spotify uses single device access controls with no time based restrictions, so if I get a new phone I don't reset my account, I log in and remove it. Simply, when you reset, all your devices then need to redownload all saved tracks, even if they were not replaced. You can also only reset twice in a 6 month window, which caught me as within 2 or 3 months of each other I replaced my phone and upgraded both home and work machines to Windows 8, so after the 2nd one I was screwed.

Spotify again for the leadlead, if you do exceed the 3 device allocation by saving on a 4th device, you have a day or 2 to redownload your offline tracks before you actually need to download them again, having a cache lifetime means if your able too, the files just reindex and don't download anything.

I also often was unable to play, the play button did nothing with online or offline tracks, during they day if I stopped playing more than 3 or 4 times I would have to restart the app to be able to actually play again.

I will give you the on their support, that is fantastic yes.
 
Yeah I agree. Their support is OUT of this world..... I mean I had a problem with my account where it did not want to renew and they said while they get that sorted they activated a 6 month voucher so I don't get stuck with no sub. They always call me within a few minutes of logging a ticket. Support is really top notch to be honest.

Desktop app has come a long way actually but not like the app. The android and iphone app is AMAZING and has everything you want and need in a streaming service on your phone AND more.

I do wish for better radio options in simfy. I don't like that much but then again I simply tune in to Housetime.fm on TuneIn app and then that is sorted.
 
Bryn said:
Just use a streaming service like Simfy or Deezer. You can stream anything you want on any platform, and playlists can be downloaded for offline listening.

Why are you concerned with DRM-free downloads?
Click to expand...

Nah streaming is inefficient data-wise.

I want DRM-free because I want the ability to transfer something that I paid for across devices. Want to be able to put it on a USB stick and play in my car etc.

I get that there are people who prefer to stream, but is ridiculous that downloading a track to use as you please is virtually impossible. If they don't want my cash then it's fine, MixRadio, iTunes and piracy will get my support...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Nah streaming is inefficient data-wise.

I want DRM-free because I want the ability to transfer something that I paid for across devices. Want to be able to put it on a USB stick and play in my car etc.

I get that there are people who prefer to stream, but is ridiculous that downloading a track to use as you please is virtually impossible. If they don't want my cash then it's fine, MixRadio, iTunes and piracy will get my support...
Click to expand...
Unlike CDs etc the licensing on streaming is "per play". At least on the artist side...Simfy etc is just hoping you don't play enough to hit the subscription fee.

So I don't think you'll find something that allows you to "keep" the tracks...not legally at least.

I found simfy's support of offline play a quite reasonable compromise.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Nah streaming is inefficient data-wise.

I want DRM-free because I want the ability to transfer something that I paid for across devices. Want to be able to put it on a USB stick and play in my car etc.

I get that there are people who prefer to stream, but is ridiculous that downloading a track to use as you please is virtually impossible. If they don't want my cash then it's fine, MixRadio, iTunes and piracy will get my support...
Click to expand...

Streaming services do give you access to what you're paying for across devices. What you're paying for is instant access to almost all the music that exists. For the price of half a CD a month I think that's pretty good value (actually even cheaper if you make use of promos). You can set any playlist on any device to download for offline listening. I play my music in my car through Bluetooth and without needing to stream, so it's pretty painless. Certainly easier than maintaining a flash drive of music, because Simfy is always in sync across devices.

Streaming is probably more efficient when it comes to bandwidth consumption. You don't have to download any album that tickles your fancy - you just press play. If a song sucks we usually move on pretty quickly, so with streaming very little data was consumed.

A big part of streaming isn't even being accounted for in this discussion, and that's how easy it is to discover new music with streaming services. Every artist page has a tab along the top that lists similar artists, and on the home page you can see all new albums listed by genre. The rate at which I discover great new music has hugely increased since I started using Simfy.
 
Bryn said:
Streaming services do give you access to what you're paying for across devices. What you're paying for is instant access to almost all the music that exists. For the price of half a CD a month I think that's pretty good value (actually even cheaper if you make use of promos). You can set any playlist on any device to download for offline listening. I play my music in my car through Bluetooth and without needing to stream, so it's pretty painless. Certainly easier than maintaining a flash drive of music, because Simfy is always in sync across devices.

Streaming is probably more efficient when it comes to bandwidth consumption. You don't have to download any album that tickles your fancy - you just press play. If a song sucks we usually move on pretty quickly, so with streaming very little data was consumed.

A big part of streaming isn't even being accounted for in this discussion, and that's how easy it is to discover new music with streaming services. Every artist page has a tab along the top that lists similar artists, and on the home page you can see all new albums listed by genre. The rate at which I discover great new music has hugely increased since I started using Simfy.
Click to expand...

Sure but as I said that's great for people who want to use it. It's not for people who don't.

On iTunes and MixRadio I don't have to get a whole album, just the tracks I want and it's around R10 each. I'm fine with paying that and getting specific tracks that I want, as it allows me to play it in my car or on any device that I wish.

What gets to me is that Android is supposed to be the go-to place for openness and choice, yet it seems like even Apple is less restrictive on this front.

I came across something called 7digital Music Store but the reviews seems very mixed. Surely this can't be our only choice?
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Sure but as I said that's great for people who want to use it. It's not for people who don't.

On iTunes and MixRadio I don't have to get a whole album, just the tracks I want and it's around R10 each. I'm fine with paying that and getting specific tracks that I want, as it allows me to play it in my car or on any device that I wish.

What gets to me is that Android is supposed to be the go-to place for openness and choice, yet it seems like even Apple is less restrictive on this front.

I came across something called 7digital Music Store but the reviews seems very mixed. Surely this can't be our only choice?
Click to expand...

How do you know that you're buying all the tracks that you would enjoy on a particular album? Your method of acquiring music seems extremely restrictive, not to mention slow going.

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning portability, when streaming services are available wherever you want them. Most people play their music in the car, and streaming doesn't introduce any problems in this regard.

You should take out a free trial with Simfy and see how you like it. I also had reservations about streaming, especially considering my 400+GB music library that I had at the time that would rapidly become outdated if abandoned. Well I quickly stopped caring about my previously downloaded music once I joined Simfy. Streaming is the future. Embrace it.
 
Bryn said:
How do you know that you're buying all the tracks that you would enjoy on a particular album? Your method of acquiring music seems extremely restrictive, not to mention slow going.

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning portability, when streaming services are available wherever you want them. Most people play their music in the car, and streaming doesn't introduce any problems in this regard.

You should take out a free trial with Simfy and see how you like it. I also had reservations about streaming, especially considering my 400+GB music library that I had at the time that would rapidly become outdated if abandoned. Well I quickly stopped caring about my previously downloaded music once I joined Simfy. Streaming is the future. Embrace it.
Click to expand...

Sorry mate but this is putting the blame on the user, and not the problem. That's an Apple way of doing things. I don't want to connect via Bluetooth and stream to my audio system, I want it on a USB stick for the best possible quality. It's really nobody's business how I discover music or why I don't want to stream, the fact is that I don't want to. And it's ridiculous that I cannot pay for and download an audio track that I want, I'm being pushed to do something that I don't want to. It's great if it's the future, and I'd probably eventually join the bandwagon, but I want the choice to listen to my music the way I please...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Sorry mate but this is putting the blame on the user, and not the problem. That's an Apple way of doing things. I don't want to connect via Bluetooth and stream to my audio system, I want it on a USB stick for the best possible quality. It's really nobody's business how I discover music or why I don't want to stream, the fact is that I don't want to. And it's ridiculous that I cannot pay for and download an audio track that I want, I'm being pushed to do something that I don't want to. It's great if it's the future, and I'd probably eventually join the bandwagon, but I want the choice to listen to my music the way I please...
Click to expand...

Deezer streams at 320kbps. The quality won't be a problem. You could even go with Tidal and stream at uncompressed CD quality.

If you're so determined to buy individual tracks, just keep using iTunes. It's cheaper than any other service I've seen here.

When you eventually make the change, you'll kick yourself for not doing it sooner.
 
Bryn said:
Deezer streams at 320kbps. The quality won't be a problem. You could even go with Tidal and stream at uncompressed CD quality.

If you're so determined to buy individual tracks, just keep using iTunes. It's cheaper than any other service I've seen here.

When you eventually make the change, you'll kick yourself for not doing it sooner.
Click to expand...
As I said before, dark ages, the quality of streaming services available exceed that of pay for tracks, but hey, you may as well stop bothering as your talking to a brink wall. He wants to know how to do something nobody does anymore because it's outdated and inefficient, he has no interest in dealing with what is current, forget the future.

I stream at max quality, download at max quality and buy top quality ear phones so I always get the best quality from my streaming service without having to look for new music and transfer files from pillar to post via outdated and inefficient methodologies. Having to sort out them myself and all that rubbish, instead I listen to suggestions artist radio and recommendations from friends that use my streaming service. The way I always have something new and more often than not, good, to listen too.

I also do not have this problem of having to find sites to give money too so that I can get music and enjoy all the tedium attached to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X