music streaming subscription services on the Thunderbolt?

[optimum5]

I'm looking for a subscription music streaming service with a wide range of artists/albums/songs available. What's everybody's experience using one of these music services for the Thunderbolt?

I've been trying out Rhapsody and Grooveshark at the moment, and they both seem really good. The probably comes with the fact I'm still finding some albums/songs on Rhapsody that I can't find on Grooveshark, and vice versa. I've also tried Rdio but I'm still finding more stuff on Rhapsody and Grooveshark.

Not only is song selection an issue, but there are other faults with Rhapsody and Grooveshark. I'm having some issues with Rhapsody's Android App, where sometimes it has a hard time connecting to it's servers to play some songs (skips, skips, and more skips). Grooveshark of course is still arguably questionable on it's legalities since users can do unauthorized uploads to the service, and it does have the occasional "song stops playing and skips to the next song" problem.

Too bad I can't try spotify here in the US, and Amazon Cloud Drive music uses a different method all-together.

I'm leaning on... i dunno really. I'll play around with both for the next few weeks I guess, until I decide on which one I'll actually be subscribing to. It looks like it's still impossible to completely rely on a cloud based music system to replace my enormous CD collection.

 

[thedeceiver]

I use Rhapsody and have for years. I still have my Ibiza Rhapsody player. You're right about selection being hit or miss but that's usually the act themselves or the record company holding back on that. I rarely find a situation where Rhapsody doesn't have it for streaming but others do.

As for the network connectivity issues... they're a lot better than they used to be. I'd save your songs to your phone so you don't use the network to just listen.

What I wish Rhapsody had was the ability for the player to support Rhapsody songs as well as MP3 songs. If they let you store your MP3's in the cloud with their music catalog, that would be epic.

 

[phantomog]

I really like the Siruis/XM online app/

 

[qzic]

Along with you, I tired both Rhapsody and GrooveShark. I'm going to stick with GrooveShark and cancel my Rhapsody account that I've had for over 5 years.

I have an old grandfathered Rhapsody account for $72/year. It is an old account though and doesn't allow use on a portable device. I've mostly used it for PC and Tivo use the past few years. If I wanted to use my account on the TB, I would need to upgrade to a $99/year account. Not a big change, but I liked the old grandfathered account.

I recently discovered GrooveShark and their massive international catalog. I prefer to listen to a lot of international stuff, and was pleased to see a lot of it on there which Rhapsody doesn't have. I imagine GrooveShark will be sued by the record lables at some point and they will need to pay additional fees to maintain service. The "anywhere" memberhsip is required for use on the TB which is now $9/mo up from $30/year last December. You can buy one of the GrooveShark shirts here and they come with a free year of the "anywhere" membership, so that's the best way to get one now.

Edited to add:

I just went to the GrooveShark website and they are offering a free year of "Anywhere" membership for a $20 donation to the Japanese Red Cross.

 

[optimum5]

I just went to the GrooveShark website and they are offering a free year of "Anywhere" membership for a $20 donation to the Japanese Red Cross.

Well that settles it, with this deal I'll just juggle both GrooveShark and Rhapsody for at least a year. Thanks for the heads up!
BTW yeah I agree that one of the main reasons to choose GrooveShark over Rhapsody is for the catalog of international songs.

Storenvy - Product - Japan Relief + Year GSA by Grooveshark