Streaming services are getting tougher to keep track of. If you’re like many people, you subscribe to at least two: one for music and another for TV and movies. There are plenty of people who subscribe to more than two, and then if you add other services like Internet radio, it gets even more complex. As services aim to one-up each other, you’ll see content that was available on one service disappear as other services vie for exclusives. Fortunately, there’s a solution. Audials One not only lets you access all your streaming services in one place but also allows you to record and play back content whenever you want.
What Does Audials One Do?
Audials offers a few different products: Audials Music, Audials Movie, and Audials Radio. Audials One ties these all together in one product, meaning you can stream basically anything you can think of from a single app. Streaming is only one part of the equation. Audials supports recording and saving from streaming services, too. Instead of finding and installing downloaders and recorders for various services, you can do it all within a single app.
Features
In addition to streaming services, Audials One supports Internet radio. If you’re above a certain age, you might remember recording your favorite songs from the radio. Audials One lets you do this too. While this is legal in most areas, you might want to check that it is for you as well. If you have a song you love but can’t find it on streaming services, you can use the Wish List feature of Audials One. This will keep a virtual eye on Internet radio services, recording the song for you if it spots the song played on one of these services. Audials One also offers a large level of customization. For example, you can change color themes and other aspects of how the program both looks and acts.
Getting Started with Audials One
Audials One has fairly modest system requirements, so you should be able to run it on nearly any system. Requirements include a 1GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, and 1GB available hard drive space. The software runs on Windows 7, 8, and 10, but the Audials website mentions it will also run on macOS via Parallels. To get started, download the software from the Audials website, then run the installer. The software will request some permissions during the installation process, as it needs these in order to capture recordings. You’ll also want to install the apps for any streaming services you plan to use with Audials One. This means music services like Spotify or Apple Music, as well as video services like Netflix. If the software doesn’t have an app, it will instead launch in a web browser.
Using Audials One
Out of the gate, search will work in Audials One, but it’s somewhat limited. To enhance the search functionality, you can connect the software with Spotify. This works even with a free account, but you will need to have the Spotify app installed, even if you don’t plan to play music through it. You can use the app by searching for whatever you’re looking for, or you can choose a service. At a basic level, you can use Audials One as a launcher for other streaming apps. Of course, you can also record from these. The app uses loopback recording, which in the case of audio would mean that the audio from your sound card is routed to the software. This is how it can work with any streaming service, not just those that Audials lists as supported. To record an unsupported service, all you need to do is launch the app and start playing. In the case of a music service or Internet radio provider, for example, Audials One will record the audio from your sound card and can even break it into songs automatically. In case you run into a service that doesn’t work out of the box, the app supports third-party plugins. This is how the Spotify integration works, for example, so these can enable some powerful functionality.
Pricing
There is a recent trend in modern software to offer two ways of paying: a one-time purchase or a subscription model. Audials One uses this and provides you with two options. The standard one-time purchase normally costs $59.90 but is available right now for $49.90. The subscription option costs either $3.49 per month or $39.90 annually. The benefit of the subscription model is that you get any future updates to the app included. That said, those who purchase Audials One 2020 will get a discount on the purchase price of future versions.
Conclusion
Given the relatively low price, Audials One is a great piece of software, even if you only use it for organizing the streaming services you use. If you’re a big fan of Internet radio and are looking to use the song-recording features, it’s an even better deal. For Internet radio stations that play songs that are otherwise unavailable, Audials One might as well be essential. If you’re not sure about the software, the good news is you don’t need to buy it to try it out. A demo of Audials One is available, as well as the other more slimmed-down versions of the software. The company also offers a 14-day money back warranty. This should be more than enough to help you decide if the software is right for you.