The Guide to Music Streaming

Before our iPhones, there was iPod. It revolutionized the way we listen to music, and changed the music industry itself. Since then, music has become an ever-increasing part of our lives. With further technological evolutions, we can now stream music wirelessly using devices like Sonos and Bluetooth speakers (such as the Beats Pill).

An even bigger change now, though, is how we buy music. The days of paying .99 cents per song are waning. Services such as Spotify, Google Play and the newest Beats Music are the new way people get their music fix. By paying a subscription fee, usually as low as $10 per month, users can stream all the music they want, whenever they want. With so many options, though, how do you know which one is for you?

"[The record companies] won in court. Do you want to buy a Tower Records, Eduardo?" - Sean Parker (as played by Justin Timberlake) in The Social Network. 

Spotify (Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Ubuntu Touch, PC, Mac, Linux)
When Spotify started in 2008, it was initially available by invite-only. I was elated when I received my invitation back in 2009. Accounts were available for free, and allowed ad-supported playback on your computer. The basic premise was you could listen to any album by any artist, as well as curate specific playlists or even shuffle through genres, artists, etc. For $9.99/month, you could add offline downloaded playback and streaming on your mobile device. Though competitors from Google and Beats have arisen, Spotify is still my favorite.

Pandora Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Ubuntu Touch, Web)

Pandora is the original ubiquitous streaming service. This is the one that broke into the mainstream. Create a Pandora account, tell it what kind of music (specific artist, song, genre, etc) you want to listen to, and Pandora would immediately begin playing  a "station" of music that matched it. By employing the Music Genome Project, their playlists were smooth. My Matchbox Twenty station included Goo Goo Dolls, Vertical Horizon, Creed and U2 to name a few. Pandora is free, but ad-supported and you can't specify what song or full album you want to listen to. Just hit play and let it do its thing.

Google (Platforms: Android, PC, Web)
Last year, Google got into the streaming business with its Google Play offering. Available only on Android devices, this is basically Google's answer to Spotify. You can stream or download any album available in the Google Play store with a $9.99 subscription fee. iPhone with Google accounts are out of luck, though. However, iOS devices can take advantage of...


iTunes Radio (Platforms: iOS)

iTunes Radio is baked right into iOS 7, and is an iTunes-specific streaming service more akin to Pandora than Spotify. You specify what artist, genre you want, or the mood you are in, and iTunes Radio will begin playing a playlist that matches. It it culled and created from your purchase history from iTunes, so the artists you like are featured. Free of charge, with ads.

Beats Music (Platforms: iOS, Android)

Beats Music is the newest addition. The conceit of this streaming service is that the playlists are curated by music professionals. The service began as the project between Dr. Dre and Trent Reznor. As a user, you input your favorite artists, and Beats Music creates a playlist culled from your musical tastes. Its $15/month gives you access on several devices or for several family members.

OUTLIER: Songza

Songza is a bit different. It's a free app for iOS and Android. You can't specify what album or artist you want to listen to. You can't even curate your own playlists. Songza's playlist are offered as a music "concierge." You tell Songza what mood you're in or what you're currently doing, and you can choose a playlist that fits the mood. It's free, it's cool and it always offers something different depending on what you're doing.

Linux: So Unsexy

The unsexy Linux mascot, Tux

Let's face it: Linux is not sexy. It's nerdy. Linux is almost synonymous with "nerd in the basement." To many people, the Linux operating system is the command line and all the "wget"s and "sudo fdisk -l"s. (I know what you're thinking, and if you've never looked at a Linux command line, those commands don't mean a thing.)

I've always been a fan of the Ubuntu "flavor" of Linux. There are several Linux operating systems, from OpenSUSE to Fedora, from Debian to Ubuntu. To me, however, Ubuntu has always been in the forefront of those, mainly due to the original tagline of the OS: "Linux for human beings." It was easy to get into, easy to install and the original desktop interface (which has since changed to the mobile-esque Unity interface) was pretty analogous to what I was used to with Windows XP.

I was looking at the Ubuntu website this last weekend and I noticed something:

There was no mention of Linux. Anywhere.

The world's leading Linux operating system does not (any longer) market itself as a Linux operating system. (New tagline: "The world's most popular free OS")

And it was then that I thought...Linux isn't sexy. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, knows this. To catapult Ubuntu's popularity out of the Linux nerd-dom and into popular culture, it has shed the Linuxness to appeal to the masses, to the end-user.

As more and more people become disenchanted with Microsoft and the direction they've gone with Windows 8, the more Ubuntu hopes to draw those people in.  It has to be said; Ubuntu is much more user-friendly than Windows 8 -- but that's another discussion altogether.

Ubuntu One advertisement

See that image to the right? It's a banner ad from Ubuntu's website, advertising their Ubuntu One service. It's Ubuntu's version of iCloud. That image conveys a hipness, that Ubuntu is used by cool people. It doesn't scream "nerdy Linux." It calmly suggest "this isn't Linux. This is Ubuntu. And Ubuntu is cool."

Linux isn't sexy. Canonical knows Linux isn't sexy, so they are distancing their product, Ubuntu, from those un-sexy origins and marketing it as fun, hip and cool. (and did we mention free?)

As Don Draper would say:

"If you don't like what people are saying...change the conversation."

Giving Windows the Boot: Why You Should Switch to Ubuntu!

In just a few months, support for Windows XP will come to an end. No more system updates means your Windows XP machine will be completely vulnerable to virus attacks and other types of malware. Unfortunately, switching from XP to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 will more than likely require quite a bit of hardware overhaul. Because newer operating systems are more resource-intensive than old Windows XP, your eight year-old desktop more than likely doesn't have the processing power to run these more recent operating systems. 

And even if you can or do upgrade to Windows 8.1, the tile interface on the new Microsoft operating system has left many users confused and irritated.

So, what can you do with that old machine? Sure, you could donate it to a local nonprofit or let us recycle it for you. Or, you could eek out a little more life out of it by getting rid of Microsoft Windows all together and installing Linux.

What is Linux?

Linux is a computer operating system, much like Windows or Mac OS X. It has its own suite of tools and programs, most of which are free and open source. (All Star Computer Service is a contributor and developer for LibreOffice, a free office suite available for Linux computers.) Though there are several variants of Linux available, our favorite is Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is a free operating system. Whereas it costs $119 for a license for Windows 8.1, you can download and install Ubuntu onto your computer absolutely free.

The good news? Ubuntu isn't anywhere near the resource hog as Windows or OSX, and the system can be installed on computers with older components.

What's the catch?
A lot of people will tell you that when you switch to a Linux OS from Windows, you'll have to replace all the applications you currently use. That's merely a half-truth, and I'll tell you why:

In the past, people relied a lot more on local applications (programs actually installed on the computer) to do most of their work. But now, many people simply use web apps to get work done. Facebook, email, even Quickbooks are all available online. The most popular third-party web browsers Firefox and Google Chrome are available for Linux. In fact, Firefox comes preloaded as the default internet browser in Ubuntu! LibreOffice, the default productivity suite in Ubuntu, is compatible with Microsoft Office and can read and write Office documents, Excel spreadsheets, even Powerpoint presentations. 

The Ubuntu desktop, with the Firefox web browser loaded.

As you can see, whereas it was once taboo to forego the walled garden of Microsoft Windows, open-source operating systems like Ubuntu are today a real, user-friendly alternative.

The kicker:
Want the best perk? Well hold on to your pants, because with Ubuntu you never have to worry about computer viruses. Never. Ever. Because most computer viruses and trojan horse malware are written for the Windows operating system, those files can't run on Linux. And, most of the programs that are available for Ubuntu are vetted through the Ubuntu Software Center, which is regularly checked and updated.

If you have further questions, or want to take the plunge into Ubuntu linux, contact us today. We'd love to help get you set up and extend the life of that old computer.