All of these apps are completely free, and most are easily compatible with Android and iOS devices. Use the link to download the app or find it in the app store on your smartphone. You’ll be up and running in no time. Enter your favorite artist, and Pandora plays their songs along with similar artists it recommends. This is the easiest way to find new music similar to the songs you already love. As you listen, rate songs so that the app will play more of the music you like, or won’t play songs you don’t like. The service learns and improves suggestions based on your ratings. Bookmark your favorite artists to access them later, and stream podcasts from the app. The app works best when connected to Wi-Fi, so you can stream music with little to no buffering. Register for free with Pandora to save your stations and ratings across the phone app and their website if you also listen on your computer. There’s a free app for iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Nook, Windows Phone, Windows desktop, and other devices, including smartwatches. Download For: It listens to a song that’s played and tells you the name of the song and the artist. You can share your discovery, watch a music video of it on YouTube, and play it in Spotify. You can also find tour information, view a discography, read album reviews, and create a Pandora station based on that artist. Each song that’s identified through the app is saved as a tag. Share these tags with your friends and view their discoveries as well. Sometimes, depending on the song it identifies, you can watch the lyrics scroll by as you listen along. If you create a user account, you can view your Shazamed music from a computer. There’s also an extension for Chrome users, and a free app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, as well as Apple Watch, Android Wear, and macOS. Download For: Find music by viewing top lists and new releases, as well as by searching for playlists and your favorite artists and albums. Add your favorite songs to your music library and play those songs again later. One thing that makes playlists enjoyable with Spotify is that anyone can make one and share it with others so that they can play the same songs in their app. The app allows several push notifications, alerting you to things like a new album being released from an artist you follow, or when a playlist is updated. The basic version is free. If you want to remove ads, play any song at any time, download the music, and more, there are Spotify Premium plans to pick from. Get the app for Android, iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, and your Windows, Linux, or Mac computer. It also works well with an Apple Watch, even offering Premium users the ability to download playlists, podcasts, and albums directly to the Watch. Spotify also lets all users control playback from their Apple Watch on wireless speakers, TVs, or other devices. Download For: You can also listen to podcasts and create music stations based on your favorite songs, search for stations, and look in categories like 80s and 90s hits, alternative, holiday, classical, rock, oldies, and more to find the music you like. Save your favorite stations as presets and set one as an alarm clock, complete with a daily schedule and snooze option. Use the iHeartRadio music app to set a sleep timer to turn off a radio station after a certain number of minutes or hours. iHeartRadio also lets you view lyrics as you listen, see an artist’s biography, and share a station with others. Upgrading to iHeartRadio Plus or All Access gives you more features beyond what the free edition allows, including unlimited skips and playlists, instant replays, and more. Download For: Create new stations and playlists, as well as keep track of your favorite songs and recently played songs. The free version includes ads, doesn’t play music offline, has standard-quality audio, can’t play music on-demand, and doesn’t let you skip an unlimited number of songs. You can upgrade to get those features. The app runs on Android, iPhone, iPad, and other devices like TVs. Download For: Enter a song or artist, and you instantly have a list of all the radio stations around the country that play that song or artist. With a push of a button, you can listen to that radio station from your phone. TuneIn also lets you access podcasts and sports radio. If you like the service, consider subscribing to TuneIn Premium for commercial-free radio and fewer ads. The app works with many devices, including Android, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Windows Mobile, Windows, wearables, TVs, gaming consoles, speakers, and more. Download For: Search for music, artists, and audio, and follow other users to keep track of their new uploads. A combined 10-plus hours of audio is posted every minute from other users, which means you can find something interesting. Playlists can be built on the iPhone to create a customized stream of your favorite music and share the playlists with others. Some devices let you record and upload your audio through the app. If you create a user account, access your saved songs and other data from both the app and the website. An account and subscription to SoundCloud get you ad-free listening, no previews, high-quality audio, and offline listening. You can install the app on your Android, iPhone, or iPad. Download For: The YouTube Music video offerings include popular music videos along with live recordings, interviews, concert footage, and more, spanning decades of artists’ work. Add songs to your library and craft playlists, or choose from a variety of preset playlists. It can build a playlist for you based on the music you like. The basic, ad-supported version is free. Music Premium ($9.99 per month) lets you listen and watch ad-free and offers an audio-only mode so that you can play a song without its video. Music continues to play even when your screen isn’t activated. There’s also a Family and Student plan. Try the premium edition free for 30 days and see if the upgrade is worth it. YouTube Music works with Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs and offers iOS and Android apps. Download For: At the top of the app is a section for new music, popular songs, and singles. The Upcoming Tracks area of the app is complete with a countdown until the day the music will be available. Unlike some music streaming apps, this one lets you scroll back and forth through any song, leave comments on individual tracks, create playlists of the songs you see in the app, and save the music to your device. There’s also a built-in radio that lets you listen to top hits, instrumental music, and location-specific radio. Get this hip-hop music streaming app for iPhone and Android. Download For:
