Free music sites becoming more popular than buying music

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With sites like Pandora, Grooveshark, Spotify and many more, buying music is becoming a thing of the past.

These music sharing sites allow users to listen to virtually any song they want to hear without having to purchase it. They allow the user to create personalized playlists for their private use, and people can even listen to the songs or playlists their friends are listening to as well.

“I love Pandora,” said senior Brooke Smith, an economics major. “My music library is pretty limited, but when I put an artist that I like in the search box of Pandora, it pulls up tons of music in that same genre. It’s awesome because it shows me music I’ve never heard of but love, and I instantly have a playlist I didn’t even have to make.”

Nowadays, because of the prevalence of these music streaming websites, the choice is whether or not to download music or to just stream it for free online, which seems to be the option of choice for most college students.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve actually bought music,” said Matt Hintze, a senior studying economics. “I just feel like there really isn’t a need since you can listen to any song you want to on Spotify for free.”

With the growth of music applications for smartphones, online and satellite radio stations and the plethora of music streaming sites available, many are asking the question: Do we really need to “own” music anymore when it is so readily accessible to just about everyone for absolutely no cost?

“Pandora’s application has been among the most-downloaded free apps for iPhones and iPads, demonstrating that streaming is becoming a mainstream way to listen to music on portable devices,” said Jareen Imam in an article for CNN. He also said Pandora is now available to people on more than 400 different devices.
“The cool thing about these sites is that you can pull them right up on your smartphone as well,” said Zack Woodmansee, a senior studying computer science. “Most of them have apps so you can get all of your playlists and music straight to your phone wherever you are. So why spend money on something you can have for free?”

There are still those dedicated music lovers, however, who want to own a physical momento of their favorite artists.

“Don’t get me wrong, Pandora and Spotify are great,” said senior Colette Jepson, studying psychology. “But there’s something to say about owning music. If you’re just in the mood for a certain song and you own it in your iTunes library, I feel like that is sometimes easier than having to look it up on Spotify and then having to wait through some ads.”

Though there will always be people who buy the music of their favorite artists, the convenience of free music available on sites and applications like Pandora, Spotify and many more has won the hearts of many people, young and old.

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