Great Online Services For Free Music Streaming

Great Online Services For Free Music Streaming

With high-quality music available for free though these cool services, there's no need for piracy at all. 

Hitesh Raj Bhagat & Karan Bajaj compare some of your best options available on the web & mobile

DHINGANA 

Dhingana offers a large selection of music in regional languages including Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and in genres like bhajans, ghazals, remixes, meditation and so. If you sign-up for an account, you can create and share playlists as well as discover what your friends are listening to. 

PROS: User-controlled audio quality, no sign up required, genre-specific songs easily sorted from main screen, controls on lock screen CONS: Buffering a song takes time, visible advertisements in the music player, user cannot switch between accounts

HUNGAMA MYPLAY 

Hungama offers over 4,50,000 songs, videos, ringtones and wallpapers but the cluttered interface makes it difficult to find updated content. Search is accessible only though the options interface and thankfully, shows relevant results. However, there is no option to get detailed artist or album information. 

Immediate playback and super fast buffer, offers audio as well as video content, excellent search functionality, high quality video stream Advertisements play each time the app opens or exits, in app advertisements, no selectable audio quality, cannot skip ahead or back in a song 

RAAGA 

Raaga offers music in 18 languages but no international content. You also need to go through a time-

consuming signup & activation process after which you can have playlists synced between your device and web portal. The interface is easy-to-use but slow when navigating between menus.

Easy-to-use interface, fast search, on-screen volume controls, 'shake to skip' feature lets you skip songs using the device's accelerometer 

Compulsory sign-up required, no login via Facebook, slow interface, cannot adjust streaming audio quality, not much new content 

SAAVN 

With Saavn, you need to first select a language to see songs. You can view either new releases or weekly top 15-songs from the main window. The app automatically adds all the songs you select into a playlist visible under the music player — making it easier to keep a track of your library. 

User controlled audio quality (highest quality is 128 kbps), playlist synced between app and web portal, song buffer indicator 

In-app advertisements, no way to browse through different genres, no international content, no social network discovery or sharing 

GAANA 

With music in over 21 languages and a database of more than a million songs, the revamped Gaana is making a big splash. Once you log-in to your account you can sync your playlists across the web and all connected devices. The feature-rich interface makes it easy to discover and search for songs of your choice. 

International music collection, instant song playback, multiple ways to discover and search for music, share songs using third party apps No buffer progress bar, user cannot select audio quality, no lock screen controls, iffy search sometimes shows irrelevant results

Courtesy : Techtonic, Time of India dated 23-1-2013