As college students, we always have our headphones on us. If not, we may have our speakers blasting our favorite tunes. We often pride ourselves on our taste of music, but where do we stream this music from? There are so many options nowadays: Spotify, SoundCloud, Pandora, Apple Music and more. Which music streaming service is actually the best for college students? Which is used the most often?

Photos by Tony Anderson

Spotify
As I went around campus and talked to students about this, it was evident one streaming service was the most popular by far. Spotify was mentioned by almost every person. When asked why, the students said they liked how they could make their own playlists on it.
Senior Kaleb Wezdenko said “I like the fact I can use Spotify on my computer or Playstation, unlike Apple Music.”
Another benefit was the price. There is a student discount for Spotify Premium that bundles it with Hulu for $4.99 a month. Not a bad deal, considering Spotify Premium without the student discount is $9.99 a month. Those who are not willing to pay the $4.99 student discount price of Spotify still tend to love it. Listening without a subscription doesn’t allow offline listening and allows ads to play every 30 minutes or so, but, it’s free, so who cares?
Pandora
Pandora was mentioned second to Spotify. A lot of people liked this app because it has been around for so long. It was the first app they downloaded, so they decided to stick with it.
“It’s just what I’ve always used,” Sophomore Adam Doraska said.
A cool thing about Pandora is that it comes with pre-made playlists, which makes it easier to find new artists or new music in general. Pandora Plus costs $4.99 a month with no ads, unlimited skips and replays, unlimited personalized play and up to four stations for online listening. But if that’s not good enough for you, you can upgrade to Pandora Premium, which is $9.99 a month. That includes all of what Pandora Plus has but more. You can listen to any music offline, search and play any song and create your own playlists.

Apple Music
Apple Music was also mentioned. People liked this app because it is easy to use and comes downloaded on iPhones. Because of this, a lot of people started with this app.
“It’s cheap and I can get whatever music I want,” Senior Chasity Davis said.
Although Apple Music and Spotify both have around 40 million songs, Apple has some music that is considered exclusive. For example, Taylor Swift’s music wasn’t on Spotify for some time, nor was Chance The Rapper’s album, Coloring Book. The minimum cost of Apple Music is $4.99 a month with the student discount. Without the discount, it is $9.99 a month. Included in this price is ad-free listening, offline listening and access through all Apple devices. A cool additional thing about it is the option to buy a family plan for $14.99 a month. With this, there is access for up to six people and a personal account for each family member. Grab some of your friends and split the cost. For six people, it would only be $2.50 each.
Amazon
Have you ever heard of Amazon music? Yes, that’s a thing. If you have Amazon Prime, this is an option you should really consider. Amazon Prime is $49 for a full year with the student discount, which includes Prime music. Prime music includes ad-free listening, offline listening and over two million songs. Although this streaming service isn’t well known, a lot of students have Amazon Prime and this is a great way to get one’s full use out of the $49 price.
Out of the 35 students interviewed, 22 of the students listened to Spotify, eight listened to Pandora and five listened to Apple Music. Students are passionate about listening and even more passionate about saving a buck or two. Find the streaming service that works best for you.