Here at Pocket-lint, we’ve tested every major music streaming service, and we continue to do so, using them as our daily musical companions. Now, as the year draws to a close, we’re celebrating the best music streaming platforms in 2023.
The 20th annual Pocket-lint Awards, sponsored by new EE, were held on 9 November 2023 – and included all the best devices across a wide range of products. In each category, we honed in on a shortlist of six nominees, each product having been reviewed by the Pocket-lint team in the last 12 months.
The competition is fierce in the music streaming business, with each service offering its own merits, whether that be audio quality, recommendation algorithms or exclusive content. WHen it comes down to it, though, there can only be one winner.
Music Streaming Service of the Year: Apple Music
Apple/ Pocket-lint
Apple Music
Apple Music stands out for its high-quality audio streaming, extensive feature set and exclusive content.
Apple Music is a fantastic streaming service that offers a gigantic library of tunes in exceptional quality. It offers spatial audio formats like Dolby Atmos and plenty of exclusive content, such as the Apple Music 1 radio station, which is a great way to discover new tracks.
It’s integrated with iTunes, too, so all your favourite songs from your iPod of yesteryear, or more likely, your current iPhone, can come along for the ride. Crucially, Apple Music is one of the only streaming platforms that allows you to edit the metadata of your tracks, so if you want to change the album artwork, you can. It’s perfect for those who like to keep their library pristine.
Apple Music is also competitively priced, especially when you consider the high-fidelity streaming options that come included in the price. For all these reasons and many more, it takes the top spot as Music Streaming Service of the Year.
Highly commended: Spotify
Spotify is a close contender for the top spot, and it’s a music streaming platform that needs no introduction. This longstanding favourite has an endless library of over 100 million songs, but where it really stands out, is in its ability to recommend new music tailored to your tastes.
It has some of the most advanced AI song recommendation algorithms, and this year, it added an AI radio station, complete with a talking host that will introduce tracks picked especially for you. Elsewhere, you can access podcasts, audiobooks and plenty of social features to share your music with friends.
The best of the rest
Amazon Music Unlimited
Amazon/ Pocket-lint
Amazon Music Unlimited has a library of over 100 million songs and podcasts, plus you can add your own music to your library, too. It’s available at a lower price for Amazon Prime subscribers, which makes it one of the most affordable options if you already have Prime.
It’s not just value that Amazon brings to the table, though; it also provides ultra-high definition streaming at up to 24-bit 192 kHz, along with support for spatial formats like Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio.
Deezer
Deezer is a music streaming service that has been all about high-quality audio since day one. It was the first platform to support Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format and has been offering millions of songs in lossless CD-quality FLAC format for many years.
It’s home to a similarly massive library of over 120 million songs and has some novel features like music quizzes, the ability to identify songs, a sing-along mode and more. Like most of our other selections, it supports downloading songs for offline play, as well as importing your own music library.
Tidal
Tidal/ Pocket-lint
Tidal is a streaming service that goes above and beyond with its commitment to high-quality music streaming. It offers HiRes FLAC playback at up to 24-bit 192 kHz, as well as a large library of Master Quality Authenticated tracks and spatial audio in Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio formats.
In addition to its library of over 100 million songs, it also has a massive selection of over 650,000 music videos and music documentaries, which is not something that’s offered by most other streaming platforms.
YouTube Music
YouTube Music is Google’s music streaming platform, offering a massive library of songs, music videos and podcasts. If you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber, then YouTube music is included as part of the plan, making it one of the best value options on the market.
It has all the features you’d expect from a top-tier streaming platform, including curated and user-generated playlists, the ability to download tracks for offline listening, and tools to import your own music. There’s even a TikTok-style feed for music discovery, which is a fun way to find something new to listen to.
How the EE Pocket-lint Awards judging works
The winner for the Best Music Streaming Service category was decided by the Pocket-lint team, along with a panel of expert judges from publications across the industry. Following a rigorous scoring process, the Best Music Streaming Service winner for 2023 was announced at an in-person event on 9 November 2023, along with the winners from the other 20 categories.
A Product of the Year winner was also announced, chosen from the winners of the 21 categories.
Trending Products
