# Do any streaming services work for opera?



## Admiral (Dec 27, 2014)

Thinking about dumping Sirius for my car and getting Apple music or Pandora or something like that. In the past these have all been problematic for opera/classical (can't search by composer but can find all the recordings with Charles Anthony...)

Do any of these services work for opera/classical? I'm tired of dealing with Sirius.

thanks,
A


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The thing that bothers me most about Sirius is that they never announce which singer is singing the arias. Why they refuse to do this I will never know. The only time they list a singer is when they present the entire opera. Very frustrating.
As annoying and poorly run as Sirius is, it's the only reasonable possibility for someone like me who also uses the computer streaming service as well as the car.


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## Admiral (Dec 27, 2014)

I don't do any streaming at home, only in the car, but I'm tired of dealing with 3 different Sirius accounts for each of my cars. They refuse to tell me which accounts go for which cars, and they are currently refusing to cancel a subscription that I called them to cancel. I like the service but I'm done with them


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Do you want the live broadcasts like from the Met, or do you want to just be able to stream recordings?


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## Admiral (Dec 27, 2014)

adriesba said:


> Do you want the live broadcasts like from the Met, or do you want to just be able to stream recordings?


If you mean video Met broadcasts, I don't need that as I'm usually listening in my car or to my CDs/LPs.

Really what I want is the ability to search and play whole operas, and whole symphonies (most streaming services do movements or songs, but not whole pieces)


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

There're multiple - Naxos is expensive but should pretty good (I haven't tried it myself but I've heard a lot of praise), Primephonic has FLAC streaming if I remember correctly and Spotify has surprisingly good library (with historical recordings etc.). There're some other streaming services as well that I don't recall at the moment because they aren't available in Estonia. If you're interested in Pristine's remastering and historical recordings then they should have a streaming service as well. I've also used Apple music but I think I left it because of a small library.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Oh, and Amazon and Youtube have opened streaming services as well, but I'm not competent to comment on them as I haven't seen a need to try them out myself.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Admiral said:


> If you mean video Met broadcasts, I don't need that as I'm usually listening in my car or to my CDs/LPs.
> 
> Really what I want is the ability to search and play whole operas, and whole symphonies (most streaming services do movements or songs, but not whole pieces)


I don't recall having that problem with Apple Music, though I only had that for a short period of time, so I don't remember.

I would recommend Google Play Music or, like annaw mentioned, Primephonic. They have a good variety, and you can view things by album to avoid the song-based organization of services like Spotify or Pandora. Plus, Primephonic lets you browse by composer since they are geared towards classical music. I think Primephonic is actually giving free two-month trials right now.

I have not compared overall sound quality between Google Play and Primephonic though.


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## Caryatid (Mar 28, 2020)

I've found Spotify perfectly adequate for finding music. Its only weakness is the sound quality.


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## Admiral (Dec 27, 2014)

I will check out primephonic thanks


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

adriesba said:


> I don't recall having that problem with Apple Music, though I only had that for a short period of time, so I don't remember.
> 
> I would recommend Google Play Music or, like annaw mentioned, Primephonic. They have a good variety, and you can view things by album to avoid the song-based organization of services like Spotify or Pandora. Plus, Primephonic lets you browse by composer since they are geared towards classical music. I think Primephonic is actually giving free two-month trials right now.
> 
> I have not compared overall sound quality between Google Play and Primephonic though.


Two months of free Primephonic subscription sounds amazing! Sad that I already have an account :lol: .


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

annaw said:


> Two months of free Primephonic subscription sounds amazing! Sad that I already have an account :lol: .


I see.  :lol:

Yeah I just got the email today. They also said that they will donate $10,000 to artists and $10 additional for each person that starts the two-month free trial. You have to use the voucher code found at this website (though they sent me the code in an email):

https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classic...s-support-for-musicians-affected-by-covid-19/


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

adriesba said:


> I see.  :lol:
> 
> Yeah I just got the email today. They also said that they will donate $10,000 to artists and $10 additional for each person that starts the two-month free trial. You have to use the voucher code found at this website (though they sent me the code in an email):
> 
> https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classic...s-support-for-musicians-affected-by-covid-19/


Uu, that's nice, thank you for the tip!


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## Helgi (Dec 27, 2019)

I use Spotify in the car and it's pretty great, except for seeing detailed information about what's playing – it's hit or miss with Spotify how well things are tagged, and the information on the screen in the car is pretty limited. So I wouldn't want to listen to an opera in the car I wasn't familiar with already.

Sound quality is not an issue at all.


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