I’ve had YouTube Music since it was Google Music, but the price has recently doubled and at the same time I’ve started noticing my “Radio” keeps playing the same dozen songs over and over again. Started to feel like I was listening to Triple M.
Yesterday was the final straw as every song played on repeat until you manually skipped which is just… wtf? How does that even happen?
I have jumped on to Spotify for the minute, but find it is too heavily focused on “pop” music - it seems to choose songs that are broadly more popular, but aren’t really the same as what I’m choosing to play. I somehow always end up back with top 50 chart artists in the queue, even if I started on like bluegrass or hillbilly or something. Also if I select a song or artist and choose “Radio”, it always the same 50 songs and then just stops which doesn’t seem like what “Radio” should be at all.
What other options are there that are accessible from Australia, and preferably have a decent amount of Australian local content? I have zero interests in podcasts being jammed in, I just want music. And preferably music that I can just say “play stuff that sounds like this” and it’ll go on a deep dive to focus on things I haven’t heard before.
Critical:
- No ads
- Able to actually choose the music and skip and what not, so not Sirius or similar
- Good catalogue of Australian artists
- Android and Desktop clients
- “Family” plan or similar for 2 people
Budget not really an issue.
To be honest, I still rate Youtube Premium - the bundle that includes Music and ad-free Youtube is just too good a deal, even with the price hike. Some of the alternatives may be a bit cheaper, but you end up paying more if you still want to hang onto ad-free YT.
Given you said budget isn’t an issue, I’d personally still stick with YTM, but I haven’t personally had any issues with its radio function, and while I don’t listen to much Aussie stuff, I do have pretty esoteric tastes and it’s generally pretty decent.
Going from $17 to $34 a month isn’t remotely acceptable or a good deal.
Google, and all the other billion dollar companies, can eat shit! Constantly increasing the price without adding value. You pay and you pay and don’t own anything.
Blocking ads on YouTube is really simple and free. Netflix, Disney, F1, all of them, are easy to find for free. I’ve gone back to piracy for everything this year. I’ve had enough.