Home / Fall 2016 / Streaming music has become the norm for students

Streaming music has become the norm for students

Written by Olivia Studdard, Staff Writer

College students have come a long way from streaming and downloading music off LimeWire and Napster. The desire to have music on at all times only spiked with the creation of the iPod in the early 2000s. The small pocket devices soared in popularity and young adults everywhere were racing to have the chance to downsize from their Walkman’s and portable CD players.

However, in recent years another downsizing trend is taking over. People have decided that carrying around both a cell phone and an iPod or mp3 player is too tedious and have converted to streaming music straight from their smartphones.

Popular streaming apps are Spotify, Pandora, IHeartRadio and Apple Music. You can likely find one or several of these apps on a college student’s phone.

Less technology to carry isn’t the only advantage to streaming music. With wireless networks almost everywhere these days, a simple network connection can grant you access to limitless music. But if networking isn’t for you, most streaming apps still give the opportunity to download music straight onto the device for later listening.

Senior Special Education major Kaitlin Stanley says the transition from iPod to streaming wasn’t an easy one, but a worthwhile one.

“I had such a hard time letting go of my iPod, even when I got a smartphone,” she said. “My iPod had all of my favorite songs on it. But now I’m Team Spotify all the way. I can’t imagine not being able to just listen to any song on demand.”

The attraction of discovery is high where music is concerned. People are always striving to find new music, new artists, new genres and styles that haven’t been found yet. So when a person uses a streaming app, he or she can have the opportunity to listen to music that hasn’t broken through and give new things a chance to be heard. The classic music devices don’t have this ability, rather they allow the user to pick songs from a library they have previously designed.

Being a college student, money is always an object. With many of these apps, free downloads are available to an extent, but when they start asking for money many students waiver.

“I loved my Pandora app, but it was so commercial heavy, so I switched to Spotify,” Anna Shaw, junior Spanish major, said. “But then they started asking for money to get the full experience, and I just couldn’t do $10 a month, but then I found out that they offer a half off discount for college students, and it’s really easy to get. I can totally do $5 to listen to my favorite music.”

Times have changed in the music world, and much of the driving force has come from young adults. The push for music listening to be simpler and more easily accessed has forced streaming apps into existence. Some might see it as a hassle to go from app to app to find the type of music they’re seeking, but when it boils down to the point, most college students wouldn’t survive without their headphones and an easy stream of tunes as they go through their days.

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