Music and technology have to rate as two of my favourite things and they compliment each other perfectly. Without my music, or my technology for that matter, I am lost.

There are so many options available these days to stream music, listen to play lists and thousands of radio stations, the sheer number of apps is incredible. There are of courser the giants, the really big players as well as a huge number of smaller ones. Some are good, some are great and others are simply mind-blowing. We have never been so spoilt for choice in our lives. A large number of them are not legal and although some are quite popular. I tend to steer clear of those. Not only is it illegal, unethical and unfair to the artists, it also potentially exposes you to some nasty viruses and other unsavoury things you really do not want on your device. I am more than happy to pay a reasonable fee for quality music on a practical, effective platform.

The challenge is that most of these apps rely on streaming the music in real time. While that is fine a lot of the time, there are many occasions where you simply do not have unlimited access to high-speed, inexpensive data.  Our devices, by definition, are mobile and unfortunately, there is no blanket of wi-fi that covers us wherever we go, well, not yet anyway. Fortunately, there are a good many apps that overcome this problem, allowing you to download your favourite music, videos or play lists and listen to them at your leisure, even without the benefit of a data connection. There are far too many to mention them all but let’s take a look at 3 cool music apps that you can use without wi-fi.

For information on the best way to listen to your music, get the full article here.

• Amazon Music with Prime Music

It makes sense to start with Amazon, one of the supreme rulers of cyberspace who seem to just keep growing and taking over aspects of our online entertainment, not to mention a few other parts of our lives a long the way.  Often prepared to take a back seat for a while as new trailblazing companies cut a path, as soon as things start to look viable Amazon swoops in, gobbles a few of the smaller guys up and shows the rest how to really do it. And when they sink their teeth into something, odds are the clever people at Amazon will do a damn fine job of it too.

They are already successful with their Kindle store; Amazon Prime video is doing well and we expect no less from Amazon Music.

As late comers to this part of the market they have benefited by learning from the mistakes of those that came before them but it also means they still have a few bits missing. It still has a lot to offer and will allow you download and store your music to listen to when and where you want to. If you have an Amazon Prime account already (as half of the US market currently has) it is a no brainer as far as I am concerned. If not, it is still reasonable, at $99/year which works out at %8.25 per month, a lot less than most comparable competitors. If you have an iTunes collection it will allow you to integrate the two which is great.

Their music collection is not as vast as some of the other players but what you do get is quality, relevant content. If there is something you particularly want from another source, they will happily allow you to add it to your library. It is easy to use and navigation is fast and painless. One of the major benefits, the purpose of this article, is the ability to enjoy offline playback.

There are a few minor drawbacks but I have no doubt Amazon will iron those out over time and will keep adding to the already impressive list of features. It is definitely an option worth looking into.

• Groove

Not to be left out of the music content business, Microsoft offers us Groove. It has suffered from a bit of an identity crisis having previously been Xbox Music, the Zune and now Groove. It is wonderful for Xbox users as you can integrate with your other devices as well as sync your music with OneDrive. It will also happily let you download tracks to your device, enabling you to listen to music without an active wi-fi connection. It boasts an impressive 40 million songs and some very nifty features.

Still far from perfect but a quality application none the less. Microsoft are not one for failure so I have no doubt they will continue to improve and fine-tune Groove.

• Spotify

Far and away the biggest and most popular name in music streaming has to be Spotify. They set the stage for many others to try and replicate but the increased competition just makes them more creative and innovative to stay where they are, at number one. There sheer size and universal popularity makes gives them more pull with some of the less digital music friendly artists and they often mange to scoop a few bonus tracks from regular artists that their competitors do not seem able to get their hands on. It is especially cool for fans of indie music.

Most importantly, they offer offline sync so you can enjoy the Spotify experience without the necessity of a data connection.

That was really just a taste of some of the many music apps available, many of which will allow you to listen to music without wi-fi. Play around with the free trials that most of them offer, chat to friends or do a bit more research and find one that works for you.

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