21. Listening to Music on Your PC
In this chapter, you find out how to listen to music on your PC, from Pandora, Spotify, and other streaming music services, as well as music you purchase and download from Amazon and Google Play Music.
Purchasing Digital Music Online
Many folks like to listen to music on their computers. You can stream music over the Internet to your computer or purchase and download tunes from online music stores and play them back on your PC. Whichever way you choose to listen, your computer—and Windows—will do the job.
Listening to Streaming Music
People our age have been conditioned to purchase the music we like, whether on vinyl, cassette tape, compact disc, or via digital download. But there’s an entire world of music on the Internet that you don’t have to purchase. It’s called streaming music, and it gives you pretty much all you can listen to for a low monthly subscription price—or even for free. There’s nothing to download; the music is streamed to your computer in real time, over the Internet.
The two largest streaming music services are Pandora and Spotify. We’ll look at each of these.
Listen to Pandora
Pandora is much like traditional AM or FM radio in that you listen to the songs Pandora selects for you, along with accompanying commercials. It’s a little more personalized than traditional radio, however, because you can create personalized stations. All you have to do is choose a song or artist; Pandora then creates a station with other songs like the one you picked. You access Pandora from the company’s website (www.pandora.com) or from the Pandora Windows app, which is available for free download from the Microsoft Store.
Free Versus Paid
Pandora’s basic membership is free, but ad-supported. (You have to suffer through commercials every few songs.) To get rid of the commercials, pay for the $4.99 per month Pandora Plus subscription. Or sign up for the $9.99 per month Pandora Premium, which lets you personalize your music with on-demand selections.
To use Pandora on the web, go to www.pandora.com and sign up or log in.
Click the Browse tab to browse through featured playlists and other recommendations. Or…
Click My Collection to view stations you’ve previously created.
Click a station or playlist to start playing it.
Click the Now Playing tab to view the currently playing item. Information about the current track and artist is displayed.
Click Pause to pause playback. Click Play to resume playback.
“Like” the current song by clicking the thumbs-up icon. Pandora will play more songs like this one.
If you don’t like the current song, click the thumbs-down icon. Pandora skips to the next song, won’t play the current one again, and will play fewer songs like it.
Skip to the next song without disliking it by clicking the Next Track button.
To create a new station, return to the main screen and enter the name of an artist, song, or genre into the Search box and then press Enter.
Pandora lists artists, albums, songs, stations, playlists, and podcasts that match your query. Click the one you want and Pandora starts playback and adds it to your list of favorites.
Listen to Spotify
The other big streaming music service today is Spotify. Unlike Pandora, Spotify’s paid service lets you choose specific tracks to listen to.
Spotify offers a web-based version you can access via your web browser or a standalone app that offers enhanced functionality. Access both at www.spotify.com.
Free Versus Paid
Spotify’s basic membership is free, but you’re subjected to commercials every few songs, and the service sometimes inserts its choices into your playlists. If you want to get rid of the commercials (and get true on-demand playback), you need to pay for a $9.99 per month subscription.
Go to www.spotify.com and either sign up or log into your account.
Scroll down the page and click Launch Web Player to launch Spotify’s Web Player.
Click to play any of the suggestions on the home page. Or…
Click Your Library to view playlists you’ve previously created. Or…
Click Search to browse through music by genre or mood. Or…
Enter the name of a song, album, or artist into the Search box and then press Enter.
Click the green Play button to play all the songs in the playlist or album or by that artist.
Double-click a song title to play that particular track.
Use the playback controls at the bottom to pause, rewind, or fast-forward playback.
Purchasing Digital Music Online
Prior to streaming music services, the only way to get music online was to purchase and download individual tracks or complete albums from an online music store. The three biggest online music stores today are Amazon Digital Music, Apple’s iTunes Store, and Google Play Music. Because Apple’s store requires you to download and install the iTunes software to make a purchase, this section focuses on the Amazon and Google stores, both of which you can access from any web browser.
Purchase Music from the Amazon Digital Music Store
The Amazon Digital Music Store is a major source of downloadable digital music in MP3 format. You can play the music you purchase from Amazon’s online store in any music playback app, including Microsoft’s Groove Music app, which is covered later in this chapter.
Amazon offers tens of millions of tracks for purchase. Prices run from 69 cents to $1.29 per track, with complete albums also available.
Point your web browser to mp3.amazon.com. The main page displays recommended releases.
Search for a specific song, album, or artist by entering your query into the Search box at the top of the page and clicking the magnifying glass button or pressing Enter.
Browse by genre by scrolling down to the Browse by Genre section in the left column; then click the genre you want.
Click to select the artist or album you want.
Purchase an entire album by clicking the Buy MP3 Album button. (Alternatively, click the Add to MP3 Cart button to purchase more than one item at this time.)
Purchase an individual track by clicking the down arrow for that track and then selecting Buy Song. (Alternatively, select Add Song to MP3 Cart to purchase more than one item at this time.)
Purchase Music from Google Play Music
Google offers an online music store similar to the Amazon Digital Music Store. Google Play Music offers tens of millions of individual tracks and complete albums for purchase, at prices ranging from 69 cents to $1.29 per track.
Point your web browser to play.google.com/store/music. The main page displays recommended releases.
Search for a specific song, album, or artist by entering your query into the Search box at the top of the page and clicking the magnifying glass button or pressing Enter.
Browse by genre by clicking Genres and then selecting the genre you want.
Click to select the artist or album you want.
Purchase an entire album by clicking the price button at the top of the album page.
Purchase an individual track by clicking the price button for that track.
Listen to Digital Music with the Groove Music App
How do you listen to the music you’ve downloaded from the Amazon or Google stores? There are several music player apps available, but the easiest one to use is the one that’s included with Windows 10—the Groove Music app.
You launch the Groove Music app from the Windows Start menu.
Click Songs to display individual tracks in your collection.
Click Artists to see your music organized by artist.
Click Albums to see all the albums in your collection.
Double-click an artist or album to view all tracks for that artist or album.
Click Play All to play all tracks within that artist or album.
Double-click a specific track to play only that track.
Click the Pause button to pause playback; click Play again to resume playback.
Search for Music
To search for specific tunes or artists in your collection, click the Search button in the navigation pane and enter the name of the song or artist you’re looking for.