Best Music Streaming advice...My White 1520 Is Being Overnighted!

[tonybessette]

I am way too excited for a phone to be coming is a day or so, lol. I feel like a kid in a candy store.....SOOOOOOO excited to be done with my iPhone 5.

I have a few questions.....1) Is there a music streaming app better than others out there? I am leaving iOS, and I was fairly happy with iTunes Radio streaming....I paid $24/yr for no ads, but unfortunately it still had limited skips. I have never tried Pandora......but how is Xbox Music....is there a paid version where you get goodies, like no ads or unlimited skipping? 2) Is there a YouTube app that works well, or should I just straight up use the browser to use YouTube? 3) Any tips or suggestions for things I should get / must haves for this beauty?

 

[anon5954042]

I use metrotube for my YouTube needs and as for a music streaming Nokia Music or Pandora works.

 

[worldspy99]

Pandora ad free is done since we are in 2014. Nokia Mix Radio is awesome. Songza is a decent option. Later in 2014 watch out for MSFT deal for $49.99 which should provide for unlimited streaming and downloads for 1 year.

 

[jbowyer1]

1) Is there a music streaming app better than others out there?

I like Nokia Mix Radio the best myself. It's ad-free, lets you download four stations for offline listening (great for saving on data usage, or riding the subway through signal-less tunnels) and has a great station selection. It does have limited skips, though; a pay account will give you unlimited skips, a higher quality audio option, and removes the limit on the number of offline stations you can download.

Pandora has a great app, but as worldspy99 mentioned, the free premium accounts for WP users expired this year. Prior to that it was ad-free, but still had limited skips.

2) Is there a YouTube app that works well, or should I just straight up use the browser to use YouTube?

myTube and MetroTube are the popular ones. I prefer myTube, as it seems to handle HD videos better, and it's pretty cool to be able to watch the video in the background while reading its comments.

3) Any tips or suggestions for things I should get / must haves for this beauty?

Unique to WP, hmm... besides the aforementioned Nokia Mix Radio and myTube, how about Amazing Weather HD, Simple Calendar, Nokia Motion Monitor beta, Nokia Glance Background, TVShow, LiveGaming, and MyStocks Portfolio to start? Nokia's HERE Maps and Drive+ are great, with offline map downloads, though it's impossible to miss those.

 

[JaiMento]

I use MetroTube for YouTube needs and Xbox Music for music. Xbox Music is $10/mo ($100/yr) and allows you to stream unlimited commercial free music (no limit on skips). You can listen to specific songs/albums, create SmartDJ channels (similar to Pandora radio stations), or create your own custom playlists. You can also download the music for offline listening. I don't really use the syncing function, as I primarily just listen to music from my phone, but you should be able to sync your collection/stations/playlists across all of your devices. Xbox Music pass will also allow you to enjoy the service on your Xbox 360/Xbox One, if applicable.

Not saying my suggestions are the best for your needs, but I thought I'd provide some details about Xbox Music, since no one had provided them yet.

 

[giantenemybird]

I use Xbox Music and I love it. At this point, it gives you a better mobile experience than Spotify or any of the alternatives.

 

[spaulagain]

I use Xbox Music and I love it. At this point, it gives you a better mobile experience than Spotify or any of the alternatives.

This. Xbox Music hands down.

Create playlists with your personal music and streaming music all day long. They all sync between devices. Download or buy directly from Xbox to add to your collection, etc.

The only thing I'm missing that used to be available on Zune was to add songs to "favorites" with a little heart icon.

Overall Xbox Music has matured leaps and bounds in the past year.

 

[worldspy99]

I did not read the other two questions, my bad. For You Tube use Metro Tube or MyTube. As far as apps go you need to be a bit more specific. Here are the ones I use on a daily basis - Stopwatch, Nokia Camera/Panorama/SmartShot, Nokia Mix Radio, Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, WPCentral, Tumblr, Bing News, Bing Weather, ESPN Hub, HERE Maps/Drive+, Bing Search, Battery, Quick Settings, Music Hits, Phonly, NextGen Reader. Infrequently, I use TripIt, Concur, United, Flightaware, Groupon, Yelp Wikipedia, Shazam, Audiocloud, Pandora, Songza, The Daily Beast, eBay, Paypal. So there are quite a few good apps, pretty much every last one of these is more beautiful to use on WP vs iOS and Android. This coming from someone who owns 2 iOS devices, 2 Android devices and multiple WP8 devices.

 

[tonybessette]

Brilliant! I'll give Xbox Music a go....do they have a subscription to have unlimited skips or no ads?

 

[Laura Knotek]

Brilliant! I'll give Xbox Music a go....do they have a subscription to have unlimited skips or no ads?

You can only stream 10 hrs of Xbox Music Radio per month without a subscription. A trial version of the subscription is available. https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...m%2Fen-US%2Fmusic%2Fmusic-pass&token=4AqpB5TU

 

[tonybessette]

Xbox Music is $10/mo ($100/yr) and allows you to stream unlimited commercial free music (no limit on skips).

Just reread this...not bad! I can not tell you how valuable unlimited skips are to me, lol......as well as commercial free music.

 

[tonybessette]

You can only stream 10 hrs of Xbox Music Radio per month without a subscription. A trial version of the subscription is available. Xbox Music Pass - Xbox.com

As soon as it's set up....I'll be getting this "pass" for $10/mo :smile:

 

[Laura Knotek]

As soon as it's set up....I'll be getting this "pass" for $10/mo :smile:

It's $100 if you subscribe for an entire year.

 

[spaulagain]

Just reread this...not bad! I can not tell you how valuable unlimited skips are to me, lol......as well as commercial free music.

Ya, it's great to be able to Shazam a song you hear, link directly to that song in Xbox Music (from Shazam), then play it, play the artists whole album, buy it, or play the smart DJ (like a station works on Pandora). If you download it or buy it, it's in your collection on any Xbox Music app.

BTW, when you get your phone and sign up for an Xbox Music pass, be sure to download the separate Xbox Music app from the store. It's the one that syncs better with your other devices. Microsoft is preparing to dump the baked in Music + Videos app when they launch 8.1 so that they can update the apps more frequently.

 

[JaiMento]

As soon as it's set up....I'll be getting this "pass" for $10/mo :smile:

If you sign up for Xbox Music pass, they offer a free 30 day trial of the service. However, fair warning with the trial (albeit, I am not sure if this has been corrected) but back with my L920 when WP8 first launched, there was a bug that affected some that prevented Windows Phone 8 devices from acquiring the licenses to play the music that was downloaded (streaming music was unaffected) when the trial expired and transitioned into your paid subscription. For me, to resolve this, I had to remove my phone from the authorized devices list and hard reset it.

Again, I'm not sure if this still occurs, but it's my fair warning to you.

Edit: Also, about the Xbox Music app, it downloads music to the app's storage, rather than the music folder and can not be stored on the SD card (applicable, since this is the L1520 board). However, you can still download music straight from the Store app and it will save to the music folder (either on the phone's internal storage or on your SD card, if you choose) and still be accessible via the Xbox Music app or the Music + Video Hub.

 

[tonybessette]

I do hope I can store the music onto my 64 GB Micro SD card. With 16G of internal storage....I'm not sure the 20MP photos I take, plus all the music I plan to move from my iPhone 5 to my Nokia 1520 will fit.

 

[JaiMento]

You can store music and photos on the SD card. Just don't use the Xbox Music app to download the music. Use the Store app. And any music you manually transfer can be stored on the SD card as well.

 

[bsd107]

I also moved from four years of iOS to WP8. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting the Xbox Music pass. Once you do that, you'll never want to go back. It actually has MORE features than iTunes, and a full music library (since Microsoft's music services have been around almost as long as iTunes).(The other services, including Nokia Music, Pandora, etc., are really just the radio services. Not a criticism, but they are not really the same thing as iTunes which you may be used to....)

 

[mobile divide]

Windows phone IMHO has the best music experience between Xbox music and Nokia Mix Radio (ad-free Pandora is nice too). I pay the $14 a month and have unlimited offline radio play through Nokia music for discovery and music surfing and unlimited direct downloads with great album art and bios through Xbox music. I much prefer it to iOS (ex iPhone 5 user here too).

 

[snowmutt]

I am a big XBOX Music fan. I find it to be a great service and the value is amazing. If you get the one year subscription @100.00, and just download about 2 CDs a month, it pays for itself. Throw in you have it across 4 devices, and you have a great bargin.

At that point, the streaming/stations options are like gravy. I mean- the good homemade gravy.

I like Metrotube, but when I tried to play a link from a website, it asked me to download the official You Tube app, which I did just for that purpose. Any You Tube browsing I do is on Metro Tube.

Also, I have to give a shout out to Tune In radio app if you are interested in actual radio stations. I am a big user.

I am looking at the white L1520 myself here soon!! Let us know what you think of it!!