Music has always been central to identity—people express their personality through the artists they listen to. It’s common to carry thousands of songs in our pockets these days; smartphones have gigabytes and gigabytes of onboard storage, and the contents of our devices are often mirrors of ourselves. Faster processors and more storage enable today’s smartphones to do more than ever before; there are more ways to listen to music on your portable device today than even a year ago, and storefronts and apps are continually popping into existence.
Much can be made about the distinction between having a song and owning a song, but the ubiquity of high speed data networks mean that it’s mattering less and less where the music actually lives—whether on your phone or in the cloud, it’s easy to rock out with your phone out.
In parts one and two of our Ultimate Smartphone Guide, we determined the best phone in each major ecosystem, and then we gave our recommendations for cool social apps on each platform. This time, we’re going to look at how to discover and listen to music—reviewing both the buying experience with storefronts and also the major streaming services.
iOS and the iTunes Store
The iTunes Store was the first widely successful online music-buying platform. It originally sold 128kbps, FairPlay DRM-encumbered AAC files for 99 cents a pop, but it later updated to 256kbps, DRM-free, iTunes Plus AAC files with variable pricing after Apple relented to industry demands.
If you use an iPhone (or other iOS device), the iTunes Store is a great place to start discovering and buying digital music. It’s organized by genre and includes a variety of lists for top singles and albums—for the store as a whole and for individual genres. Tell Apple what your favorite genres are and the company will send weekly e-mails telling you about top albums, free “singles of the week,” and new releases in those genres.

Full Story: Drop the beat: The Ultimate Smartphone Guide, part III | Ars Technica.