By Jordan Jerry | Staff Writer |

CSUSB is filled with music oriented students, legally & illegally.

Of course, we obviously support the legal position of streaming music.

Apple Music, Spotify and the improved Tidal are the top streaming services known to most music goers.

There are many features of these apps to look at starting with pricing, offline modes and easy use to name a few.

Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal all offer a monthly fee of $9.99, which provides all music that the streaming service provides, offline mode, no ads, and good quality music.

The similarities between Spotify and Tidal is their student discount membership for $4.99 a month as oppose to Apple Music which offers a Family Membership for $14.99 fee twice a month.

Apple Music also provides Beats 1 radio, other Apple Music Radio Stations, including CSUSB’s own Coyote Radio and lets you keep up with 100,000 songs in your iCloud Music Library.

Now, Tidal does have a more improved feature called “Tidal Hi-Fi” priced at $19.99 monthly. It delivers, “high-fidelity sound, delivering the music to your ears the way the artists and producers intend it to be heard,” stated on the Tidal  website.

As college students, we are looking for a large variety of good quality and offline music for only $4.99 a month.

Spotify does offer a Family Membership with 50% off the normal monthly fee which lets everyone listen at the same time. Take that Apple Music!

Tidal, the new streaming service established by Jay-Z, is currently shooting for the top spot of streaming services.

Tidal started off as, Aspiro AB until Jay-Z got his fingertips on it in 2015.

Aspiro was originally under WiMP, an old streaming service created in 2001 for Nokia phones, way before iPhones were selling, according to Businessinsider.com.

With a $9.99 monthly fee, Tidal gives not just exclusive music, but also videos (including interviews), tickets, merchandise, and “experiences that you can’t find anywhere else,” according to Tidal’s website.

Tidal Discovery, with their premium plan, you can listen to new music by new artists who are waiting for their big break sounds like a new and improved SoundCloud—maybe.

Some students say Tidal is a “wanna-be” Spotify with the same features.

A lot of people prefer more music when it comes to their streaming service.

Spotify and Apple music are at the top for the most music in their library setting a record at 30 million tracks and Tidal falls behind by about 5 million.

“I use Apple Music, I never really liked Spotify, Apple is easier to use and since I am an iPhone user I don’t have to download another app, and waste space. I do wish Apple would lower the price though,” stated student Sierra Miller stated.

Student Jennifer LeDuff saids Spotify is the way to go.

“I never tried Apple, I use to have an Android and started with Spotify, when I got an iPhone I never thought of switching to Apple,” said Le Duff

Overall, it seems like Spotify is the way to go; it’s cheaper, easier to use, and delivers about the same, if not better, quality then Apple Music.

Spotify seems to be the King of Music Streaming Services, but it’s on you. CSUSB choose up!