We are completely surrounded by notes and rhythms, whether we are listening to our favorite radio station, or jamming out to our own personal soundtrack. Now, thanks to smartphones, we have instant access to all of that with just the simple touch of a finger.

Spotify

Spotify is a popular app with 10 million users. There are two different versions of the app, Spotify Free and Spotify Premium.

With Spotify Free, you can listen to all of the music, but only on shuffle mode. Therefore, you can’t choose your favorite song and listen to it on repeat.

There are also quite a few pesky ads that you’ll have to endure listening to. With Spotify Premium, you can choose any song from an album for $9.99 a month. The app is available to download on the Apple store and Google Play store.

8tracks

Another versatile music app is 8tracks. Users form playlists by uploading them from their computer or using the public 8track library. The formed playlists can be tagged with key words that allow other listeners to see what kind of music is on your playlist. You can “like” playlists and listen to them again and again and you can see how many times a certain playlist was played. When searching for a song, you can view tags, users, playlists, and collections all at your fingertips.

SoundCloud

You can create your own music or listen to music from other artists using SoundCloud. Users can also make their own playlists or follow other people’s playlists. Another feature is the option to join different groups based on similar music tastes, almost like a music club.

Pandora

Pandora Radio is another way to listen to some of your favorite artists. You create different stations based on the bands the listener enjoys. It is a custom radio station centered on the listeners’ favorite tunes. Users can like or dislike the song currently playing and Pandora will take the preferences into account when it is choosing the next song. You also have the option to purchase the song playing.

Spotify is my favorite app to use; it has clear music, and since I have many songs, there are often little ads. Although I will occasionally use SoundCloud or Pandora, I will always return to Spotify.