Currently, I subscribe to two music streaming services (Pandora and Google Music) and listen to audiobooks and podcasts regularly from my smartphone. Music, audiobooks, and podcasts are a regular part of my day. First we will talk about streaming services, then talk about getting them on your phone, and finally talk about using them. We will be focusing on music, but at the end, we will discuss audiobooks and podcasts as well.
Many of you are familiar with various video streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+. The music industry has something similar going on. There are music streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, I Heart Radio, Google Music, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. One of the differences between video and music services is that a lot of the music services will allow you to listen for free to “radio” content. By radio content, I mean you put in a type of music (rock, classical, jazz, rap) and the service will play that type of music. They won’t let you play specific songs, unless you subscribe. For the free version, they are also ads. Subscription costs range between $5 and $15 per month depending on the service and how many of your people have access.
Pick a service. If you don’t like it no worries, you can easily cancel your subscription and try something else. f you want to try one out, I recommend starting with Pandora. I find it is the most user-friendly and has the best features when using it for free. Also, you don’t have to have an account to start listening.
Once you decide on a brand, go to the Play Store (Android) / App Store (Apple), and use the search box (magnifying glass) to find the app and choose “Install” or “Get”. Putting the app on your phone is free. The app icon should appear at the end of all your apps. (It might take a minute to download.) Go home and find the newly installed app, tap to open.
Most services require you to have an account, but you may be able to get away without one. If the app requires an account, you will need to sign up for an account, by creating a username and password like you do to create any other account. The app should walk you through this process. I encourage you to include this information where ever you are managing your passwords. Remember to include the brand, username, email address if different than username, password, and the date you created the password.
To pick music, use the search box to ener an artist, song, or genre of music. If you don’t pay for the service, you probably go only do the “radio” feature, which means it will play music of that artist, similar to the song, or a genre of music. If you do pay for service, then you will probably be able to play specific songs and create playlists.
The icons for play (triangle), pause (two lines), stop (square), and skip/fast forward (two arrows) are the same icons used on tape and CD players.
If you created an account and are signed in then your searches will be saved and the app will suggest music similar to what you have listened to.
Also remember that streaming music requires an internet connection. Remember that there are two ways to connect to the internet on your smartphone, through Wi-fi and through your data network. If you don’t have internet,you will not be able to listen to music. Some apps do have an offline mode where you can listen without internete service.
Using bluetooth, you can connect your smartphone to external speakers, headphones, or your car stereo. Bluetooth allows a user to wirelessly connect a speaker to the smartphone. Before the music will play through the speaker, you will need to pair the speaker with the smartphone. This involves putting the speaker into pair mode and then going to bluetooth settings on our phone to connect the speaker to the phone..
First what are podcasts? Podcasts are pre-recorded radio talk shows on a wide, wide varitety of topics. The nice thing about podcasts is that all the previous episodes are available. Some music apps will have a podcast section, or you can download an app specifically for podcasts.
Ask your friends and family what they listen to. Here some to check out:
Audible allows you to buy audiobooks and has a subscription service. It is kinda expensive. Most libraries in Oregon belong to the Oregon Digital Library Consortium, so if you have a library card you have access to audiobooks for free. I recommend the Libby app not the Overdrive app. I find Libby to user-friendly compared to Overdrive. Once you put the app on your phone, you will need to log in using your library barcode number and PIN. Then you can find ebooks and audiobooks. There is a way to filter out and see just the audiobooks. Once you find and download an audiobook, then you will be able to listen to the book without an internet connection. This is really handy for road trips. There are a lot of adult friendly kids books.
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