This week in Brookertainment we’re starting the first half of my two part series on the different ways people get different types of media.  Whether that be how they get their music or how they stream their favorite shows and movies, there are many different programs that allow you to access these for free or for a small monthly fee.

When it comes to music, the most popular way people listen is through Pandora or Spotify.  Both services have a free option with some restrictions and a premium version.  Spotify’s free version allows you to create your own playlists and pick specific songs while Pandora is more like a music recommendation radio where you choose an artist or song you like and it plays similar music.  When it comes to skipping songs,  both Spotify and Pandora only allows you to skip a few songs per hour.  The Spotify app only allows five skips while Pandora allows 6 skips  per hour for each radio.  On the other hand, if you stream Spotify from a computer, you can skip an unlimited amount of songs.

If you don’t want to deal with the ads both of these services have with their free options, you can upgrade to their premium versions.  Spotify premium offers a three month trial for $1, after the three months it costs $9.99 a month for one person and each additional family member gets a 50% off discount.  Pandora One offers a cheaper option at only $4.99 a month.  While Pandora is the cheaper option, it has a smaller library with about a million songs while Spotify has about 30 million songs.  While listening to music on the go, Spotify Premium allows you to listen to your saved playlists and songs without using any data.  On the other hand,  Pandora requires the use of wifi or data.

Overall both services are great.  Each one offers unique ways of listening to music.  Tune in next episode where I’ll be comparing two very popular ways of streaming your favorite shows and movies…Netflix vs. Hulu.