Streaming Music Apps – or Why I Don’t Like Spotify

Posted on April 24, 2018April 23, 2018 by Gail Eddy in Technology Tips

Streaming Music Apps

Last week I reviewed several streaming music apps. Since I’ve used Pandora for years for streaming music, I was wondering if there are other viable options out there. Are these other apps free? How many commercials do I have to listen to? And what are my options for commercial free streaming? (Please note that some of the links included may be affiliate links. If you click on them, Geek For Hire may receive a small commission.) You can see my review of Pandora and Google Play here.

Spotify:

I tried Spotify next. I did need to create an account before listening, which I guess makes sense. I’m not sure why they needed my birthday information, but they did ask, and I did lie… (You know me. Don’t provide any of your personal information that is not 100% required. They also asked if they could send me notifications. I declined those.)

Once I was logged in, they asked me to choose some favorite bands. Then they indicated that they would create some playlists for me. The next screen, however, was full of “popular” music that I am not inclined to listen to.

There was a little button that said “My Music”. When I clicked there, expecting to see all the bands I had JUST selected, they asked me to create a playlist. So I created a new playlist, but that apparently was only the title of the play list. I still had to choose music for this play list. And, again, a list of “popular” music was provided, six songs at a time. None of these songs were from any of the bands I had favorited earlier. On this screen, there isn’t a place to search for music that I might like. The only choices are the ones that Spotify has pre-selected for you.

So far, I’m not impressed, and I’m not recommending it. Next.

Apple Music:

I signed in with my Apple ID, so that was easy. Apple wanted me to sign up for their streaming music service and I would get the first 30 days for free. Since I’m looking for a free alternative to Pandora, I moved on. I know that I can always listed to my music in iTunes.

Tidal:

You know this about me already. I don’t believe in paying for apps. I don’t mind listening to some commercials in exchange for the service, but I won’t fork over my credit card info. Tidal is not available without a subscription, so…. Next.

AmazonMusic:

Since I already have an Amazon account, I easily signed in. I liked that they initiated two-factor authorization. They sent a code to my cell phone (which they already had on file) to make sure I was me. Once I entered that six digit code into my iPad, I was ready to go. They then asked if they could access my iTunes library which I declined. Amazon also wanted me to sign up for a free trial before being billed $11/month. I clicked on the “No thanks, not now” button. I also said “No thanks” to the offer to send me notifications. Then I noticed that as a Prime member I already get access to commercial-free play.

Amazon also has a list of recommended playlists. Unlike Spotify though, there was a variety of music here, including music I might like. I clicked on “Acoustic Pop”, for an hour and a half of pre-selected music. Amazon doesn’t have a “thumbs up” button. If you do like a song, you click on the three little dots for the drop-down menu. From there you can select “Add to my music”, which is as close to favorited as I can find here. You can add the song to one of your playlists from this drop-down menu too. If you don’t like a song, you simply click on the right arrow or next button.

Amazon also has an option to show the lyrics, a feature I really like. What I don’t like: My favorite local bands aren’t’ available as they are on some of the other platforms. Here’s the link if you’d like to give AmazonMusic a free trial. Amazon Music Unlimited Free Trial

Recomendation:

What is my recommendation for a streaming music app? I’ll still use Pandora, but I think Amazon Music is my new favorite.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fifteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

(Any links to products or services in this post may be affiliate links. If they are, we may receive a small commission when you click on it. Rest assured, your price will be the same!)

Streaming Music Apps – Part 1

Posted on April 17, 2018April 23, 2018 by Gail Eddy in Smartphone Apps, Technology Tips

Streaming Music Apps

I’ve used Pandora for streaming music for years. Whether I’m on a road trip or just driving to Staples, it’s been easy and convenient. Recently though, I’ve been hearing more about Spotify. And that set me to wondering what other streaming music apps are out there. I wanted to find out what other options I have. Are these other apps free? How many commercials do I have to listen to? And what are my options for commercial free streaming? (Please note that some of the links included may be affiliate links. If you click on them, Geek For Hire may receive a small commission.)

Research:

c|net is a website that I’ve liked for a while as it gives good explanations to technical subjects. Naturally I looked to see if they’ve done any research on this subject as a place to start. In a recent article, they listed their top six streaming music apps:

Spotify
Apple Music
Tidal
Amazon
Pandora
Google Play

Pandora:

Since I’ve used Pandora for years, I already know what I like about it. Streaming music is free (as long as I listen to commercials every five or six songs). I’m able to choose songs I like or don’t like via the thumbs up/down buttons. I can search for and find music I like, even the first CD recording from a local band. While I don’t really like the commercials, I do like that Pandora will occaisionally give me the option to watch a longer video for an hour of commercial free play. I also don’t like that you are allowed only so many thumbs down clicks per hour. But all-in-all, it’s worked well for me, for years. Pandora Streaming Music

Google Play:

Of the other five that c|net mentioned, I tried Google Play first. Since it’s Google, I easily signed in with my Google login info. There are two options: the Indivicual plan for $10/month and the Family plan for $15/month for six people. Both come with the first 30 days free. I clicked on “No thanks” and moved on. There were a number of playlists available on the first screen. Since none of those appealed to me, I quickly typed a favorite band into the search box and clicked the play button.

I noticed right away that there are the same thumbs up and down buttons I am used to on Pandora. Once the music was playing, I switched back to the Notes app on my iPad, and continued listening as I typed. When the first song was done, another song, in the same genre but different band started playing. So far, so good. And also, so far no commercials! (We’re on song number six now with no commercials and only one earned a thumbs down so far!) Google Play Free Trial.

Conclusions:

Check back next week for my review of the remaining four streaming music options and my favorite choice.

Private Search Engines & Your Internet Safety

Posted on April 10, 2018April 10, 2018 by Gail Eddy in Google, Internet Searching, Privacy, Technology Tips

When we first started using Google, who would have thought that we’d want Private Search Engines in 2018? Privacy on the internet is something we used to take for granted. No one knew that we were logging into weird sites or making questionable purchases. That’s all changed now. Google tracks us. Facebook tracks us. Even Amazon knows that we bought those pink Ugg boots at Marshalls.

Last year I learned about a search engine that doesn’t track our searches. I have installed it on my phone, my tablet, and my laptop. It was easy to do. While my level of trust with technology is somewhat lower than it was five years ago, I do feel good about using DuckDuckGo.

But as I started researching this article, I wondered what other search engines are out there. It turns out that there are several from which to choose.

PRIVATE SEARCH ENGINES:

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is the one of the first private search engines I became aware of. I found that the app was easy to install on all of my devices. I like their privacy policy which is described on their website:

“DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information. That is our privacy policy in a nutshell.”

However, SearchEncrypt doesn’t think DuckDuckGo is as secure as it could be. Here’s a description of its major flaw on the SearchEncrypt website:

“DuckDuckGo is a private search engine. It is adamant about spreading privacy around the internet. However, there is one issue we discovered that raises privacy concerns. Your search terms, while they may be sent over your network in an encrypted form, show up in plain text in browsing history. DDG may work well for reducing advertiser tracking, avoiding filter bubbles, and limiting data profiling, however as this post explains, it may not offer the protection from surveillance organizations that some think.”

StartPage:

StartPage was originally developed in New York as the Ixquick private search engine. It was then acquired by a Dutch company and so most of its growth was in Europe. Now, they are becoming more well known around the world, including the US. They do utilize Google to get their results. I like how they define “Personal Information”

“Information is regarded as personal when it tells something about a human being who is or can be (uniquely) identified.
This definition stems from European law, which applies to StartPage, and is intentionally broad in order to provide a high level of privacy protection. This means, for example, that not just names and e-mail addresses can be personal information, but also numbers or other identifiers, such as your IP-address, to the extent that they link other information to a specific human being.”

SearchEncrypt:

According to HackerNoon, this is a newer edition to the private search engines. But SearchEncrypt is gaining users. Here is HackerNoon‘s description:

“This private search engine uses local encryption to secure your searches. It combines with AES-256 encryption with Secure Sockets Layer encryption. Search Encrypt then retrieves your search results from its network of search partners. After you’re done searching, your search terms expire so they are private even if someone else has access to your computer. Search Encrypt is a relatively new addition to this list, but it is growing quickly. Its Alexa Traffic Rank of 878 indicates that it receives millions of visitors daily.”

More About Private Search Engines:

If you’re looking for other private Search Engines, you can find a few listed in this article.

How do you do your Internet searches? Are you using Google, Yahoo!, or something else?

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past fifteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website, or give us a call on 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 days for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

(Any links to products or services in this post may be affiliate links. If they are, we may receive a small commission when you click on it. Rest assured, your price will be the same!)

Spear Phishing – What to look for

Posted on April 3, 2018April 3, 2018 by Gail Eddy in Technology Tips

I learned a new term today. Spear phishing. I’ve talked about phishing before in several blogposts, but spear phishing was a totally new term to me. As you might have guessed, it’s just like phishing, but way more targeted. They’ve got enough information about you to make you think they are legit. And that seems to be enough for you to fall for their schemes and give them even more information about you. But don’t fall for it!

There are several commonly used techniques including:

Flattery
Trusted Source
Social Engineering

Spear phishing via flattery:

This is when someone contacts you, either via an email, text, or other direct message. The message is from someone that you admire. They compliment you and ask you for some sort of assistance. Once you fall for the deception, they’ll ask for more and more of your personal information. In this article from Wired, the author actually provided her Twitter information, including her password. Here’s a short blip of her story:

“A few weeks ago, I got a direct message on Twitter from one Larry Summers. Yes, the Larry Summers, if that nasty little aquafresh checkmark beside @LHSummers was to be believed. Larry Summers of Harvard. Larry Summers of the World Bank. Larry Summers of the Treasury Department, for the love of god.”

Now that you know the end of the story, you can see where this is going. But, if you had been a fan of Secretary Lawrence Sanders, you might have been fooled too.

Spear phishing via a “Trusted Source”:

In this case, you receive an email from (what appears to be) someone you know. Most likely it is a work colleague, someone that you have corresponded with in the past. They’d like you to take a look at a document (which they have conveniently attacthed) before it gets published. Or, they’ve forgotten the password to access the company database for a specific file. It all seems very inocuous, and, because it is from someone that you trust, you fall for the bait.

Spear phishing via Social Engineering:

Social Engineering requires that the “spear phisher” do a bit of research about the target. They’ll learn the person’s title, the name and title of their boss, the name or subject of the person’s current project, maybe the name of one or two of their subordinates. Then they will send an email which appears to be from a company the target is working with.They’ll make a specific request, adding enough personal information to be believable.

How do you protect yourself from Spear phishing?

Don’t click on links until you have verified the end target of that link. Is it going to companyname.com or companynome.com? Tricky, right? Look carefully!
Don’t open any documents in an email until you have confirmed with your colleague that they actually sent it.
Don’t call the phone number or reply via the information included in the message. Use a phone number or email that you already have on file for that person.

Have you been the target of a spear phishing attack? How did you deal with it? Did you fall for their deception? Let us know in the comments below!

(Any links to products or services in this post may be affiliate links. If they are, we may receive a small commission when you click on it. Rest assured, your price will be the same!)