Listening to classical music is a bit different from listening to modern pop music.
Multiple works are often released on the same album.
Most streaming services arent built to accommodate this.
A few are, and the best one isIdagio.
Why not Spotify?
And centuries of classical music in multiple genres are mostly lumped together into one genre.
Its not easy to browse through, say, new recordings of baroque organ music.
Spotify only offers up to 320 kbps, which is still below CD quality.
Theres also the issue of the giant library of non-classical music.
Spotifys top song result for Mozart is a new rap by Qveen Herby.
Luckily, there are three.
The competition
The three standouts in classical streaming are Primephonic, Naxos Music Library and Idagio.
All three offer high-quality streaming, sorting music by work, and an easy to use mobile app.
And searching for music on these apps wont turn up a million rock songs.
Naxos Music Libraryis an outlier.
Its featured music tab is slick and includes playlists curated by classical performers.
It has a good, modern-feeling mobile app and web interface.
But other than that, it feels like a slightly worse version of Idagio.
Theres no desktop app, only mobile and web apps.
you’re free to try it for two weeks without a credit card.
Idagio
Idagio costs $10/mo, which includes lossless streaming.
(you might also stream at 320 or 192 kbps to save data.)
Idagio has the slickest mobile app, and its the only service with a desktop ap.
The desktop version feels like a stripped-down Spotify, but it has all the basic features.
There are also featured performers and conductors, and playlists by critics and other experts.
On desktop and mobile, you’ve got the option to build playlists or a personal collection.
There are no social features, no contacts or friend feed, which honestly is a relief.
Things feel a little cleaner and minimalist, though coming over from Spotify, they might also feel sparse.
Idagio is great for browsing all the versions of a given work.
you’re able to filter results by performer or by instrument.
Its a great use of the additional data types that apply to classical music.
Its also a great way to discover unusual versions of a piece.
There are a few embarrassing limitations.
Hopefully that will get fixed soon.
And the iOS app doesnt have shuffle or repeat functions.
Is it worth it?
Spotify and Apple have some good classical music playlists, youll be fine.
