What music you listen too, says a lot about you. From the emotions as well what rhythms work for you. Sometimes what you listen to can be defined by what you hear in clubs and what your friends listen too, sometimes you realise that the music you listen to and respond to isn’t what others expect or like. That is cool if you like gymming to Mozart and find it relaxing to listen to Rihanna. One of the things that cell phones have made possible is cutting down on the devices we need to carry, we don’t need a mp3 player to listen to music anymore. Most of us have our entire music collection, or at least parts of it on our phones, constantly in our pockets.

While buying CDs and music is the honest thing to do, sometimes it can be ridiculously expensive to buy your music through the traditional music. What also happens if you don’t listen to hugely mainstream bands, a lot of cd shops don’t bother importing those albums. A few years ago this meant buying your CDs on Amazon and paying shipping to have them hopefully arriving intact at your door.

This has changed as more and more platforms are allowing you too, download albums of various artists and have different price points, some of them around the price of a Big Mac meal. We looking at a few of the ones available in South Africa and discussing their plus points.

Google Play Music:

Cost: R59.99 monthly

Requirements: Android phone or device for portable factor.

Google Play Music is a great option for those with Android phones, it allows you to either buy music or stream it for a fairly reasonable price every month. It has a family option for a bit more every month so you can share your account with your sister or convince your parents to sign up and share their family account with you. They have a fairly large selection of bands both locally and international. They also have a limited free option as well as a trail option, which is worth checking out. For a trail run.

Apple Music:

Cost: R59.99 for a normal account, R29.99 for a student account.

Requirements: Apple device e.g. iPhone, laptop, iPad, though the app does work on android devices

Apple music has a huge selection of international bands, including pretty obscure local bands as well as international bands and musicians. The subscription comes with a free three-month trial. Apple Music used to be exclusively Apple devices only but they have changed that so if you have an Apple or Android phone, you can use this app. They too have a family feature so if your mom is willing to share her account and she has an iPhone and you have android, don’t worry.

Deezer

Cost: Free to R59

Devices: Windows, Android, Apple,

Deezer was the first to launch in South Africa, it has a vast collection of Local music as well as international bands. It also figures out what you like listening too and creates playlists for you. It has a free version with a limited offering and allows you to listen to music in your browser. One of its biggest draws is not only its huge collection of music but the how compatible they made it to different devices.

What are your thoughts?