“Great device + great service = poor experience”

Mark Mulligan posts a fascinating report on the Forrester blog regarding his recent study of music streaming service and technology device combinations. Basically, Mulligan and his researchers wanted to know which streaming service-device scenario provided the best overall listening experience to the consumer.

The experiment stemmed from the major problem of poor service-to-device journeys. As Mulligan says, “Pitifully few companies put anything like enough focus on the service-to-device journey (or if they do, they execute poorly). Just as much effort needs to be invested in ensuring services are fully integrated and optimized for supported devices as in building the services and devices themselves. Otherwise: great device + great service = poor experience.”

My experience with music streaming services is strictly limited to desktop devices. Even then, every streaming service seems to perform much differently through my computer. I’ve often wondered why, assuming that it was due to the squirrels that live inside my hard drive. Mulligan’s study provides a deeper look into the issue. Definitely worth reading.

So, which service-device combo offers the best music experience, according to Mulligan? You might be surprised to know that neither is made by Apple (although it comes close). Read on to learn for yourself.

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Photo by juanpol, used under a Creative Commons license.