Turn on, tune in, sign up

Online music-streaming has come on in leaps and bounds of late, and there are now any number of reasons for signing up to one of the top providers

Few things have revolutionised the way we listen to recorded music as much as the advent of online streaming. The move to storing musical information on a vinyl disc was a landmark – as was the advent of the compact disc as the standard-bearer for the digital age – but doing away with discs altogether? That innovation surely deserves a place at the top table.

The genesis of this particular revolution was predictably modest. When streamed music first broke cover and flowed into the disc-playing public’s consciousness, it was touted by one or two fledgling firms juggling copyright infringement issues and preaching a gospel of convenience. So-so quality MP3 files were the order of the day and quality-conscious audiophiles found little to get excited about.

But, like any other newborn, online streaming soon grew up. It threw off the shackles of lo-res formats and morphed into the multi-faceted medium we have today, loaded with useful features and flexible user options.