Yes, I'm aware iTunes exists. But I'm also aware there are lots of other apps, services, providers and so on. Many are apparently free.


So I have questions:

- you are using Android, or Apple? Other??(!)

- payware or freeware? A mixture?

- what provider/site/app do you use?

- Why do you use that one over the other alternatives?

- is the quality of the song as good in free services, as it is with pay versions?

- are these songs held in a cloud on your behalf...or do they actually download to youf phone memory?

- is DRM type stuff an issue with transferring between phone and computers and backup drives?

I have an Android phone and a "youtube downloader " and put the downloaded music directly in the music directory of the SD card...

I use ITunes and I'll also add that all of the music on my iPhone came originally from CD's or digital albums I bought from Amazon. I have yet to buy even a single song from iTunes. I rip all of my iTunes music at 384k which is pretty darn good quality for digital.

XBOX Music
Bought it on Christmas Sale for $30 for year.
Once you have it, you can download (rent) any song they allow, on any windows device.
(Maybe iOS and Android, I don't know)

The songs are either played off the Cloud, OR you can download them to your phone.
Love that, as I don't need to use "minutes" if I have it on the phone.
It also has a "Radio", which mimics how Pandora works.

No commercials. Unlimited Skips.

I don't use Pandora anymore, it is much better.
If I make a playlist for my phone, it will show up on my Surface.

Android OS, I buy directly from Amazon MP3.

Yarrrrr!

If you do go the "Yarrr!" route LOL , or have iTunes but don't want to use it to synchronize with your phone, or rip the CD's you own, Media Monkey is a great piece of software to synchronize your mobile devices.

Applies to both Apple and Android, probably even Windows Mobile (or however they call it now).

BTW, IMO Amazon > iTunes.

Android and a whole lot of usenet. Such a joy to organize your music right in the folders themselves. Not all this software malarkey.

I buy only from Amazon these days, much less hassle than iTunes. I still like iTunes purely as a player (much better than Windows Media Player at least).

Transfer to phone by cable or download directly from Amazon.

Android, SiriusXM $4 a month (discount because I have XM in my car), also accessible on any of my devices or computers.

Google Play Music just became available in Canada recently. I like that you can store 20,000 online for free, and stream to any android device or PC.

There are free options out there that are pretty good, if you are looking to stream. Jango, LastFM.

I had a year of Sony's Music Unlimited,(%70 off promotion) I did not like it. It lets you listen to a huge library of music, and you can sync it to any device. But you have to sync often, and the streaming music channels were brutal.

SiriusXM is my go to for sure, with on demand and MyXM settings now, I love it.

I mostly buy from Amazon, then download it to my desktop computer (I like being able to have a physical copy of the media I own, and since my car only has a CD changer, I'll often burn the music to disc). I'll then upload it to my Google Music account, and that way I can listen to it on the fly on my Android phone, and also on any computer I'm working on with minimal effort.

So there's a few steps there, but it's nice having a fat drive at home dedicated to just music, that myself or others on the network can also access. And I still hate iTunes with a passion.

What is this ? I Googled and I keep getting "talk like a pirate day in the UK"

OH, wait. You mean that "sharing service".

Google Play Music has a 30 day trial that I just started.

Pretty impressed with the music selection.

For the premium account (currently $8/month) you can store your personal library in the cloud to access anywhere. Also have access to streaming music. Great selection of music online. You can also purchase tracks and albums if you don't want to pay the monthly subscription.

I am going to try it for a month and decide if it is worth the $8/month.

One thing people have done with this is to setup a new 'shared' google account for the family to use. This looks like it would work, for up to 10 devices, but only one of them can be streaming non-purchased music at a time.

Same here, Yarrrrr!

Spotify for 10� a month, on both my Android device and Windows laptop. Quality doesn't change between pay/free, it just removes the ads between songs. With the exception of a few playlists I use fairly frequently (e.g. workout mixes) I don't download any actual files - it's all streamed over wifi or over the mobile network.

You can store your own music online with the free account as well.

I have a selection running thru itunes, but I also uploaded all my mp3 rips and downloads to my Amazon cloud and use the cloud player for stuff I dont have on the phone.

XBOX music, I'm grandfathered in on the old plan that let you keep 10 songs a month in addition to the unlimited streaming. Seamless on a Lumia 1020.

I'm a huge fan of the subscription google music service. The shared playlists, recommendations, explore and 'radio' features all work really well, and it even has google's 'I'm feeling lucky' button.