Streaming music is everywhere these days. Spotify has finally launched in the U.S. after getting rave reviews overseas. I took the app for a quick spin today, and while it was an interesting idea, I’m not sure why there was such an epic buzz. Honestly, the only major benefit I see of the service is the ability to add legit music you don’t own to a playlist for free. Spotify requires a desktop client, which looks similar to iTunes, and does have a mobile app. However, to get any real use out of the mobile app, you have to pay $9.99 per month.

You can add music to playlists which sync across all machines you have Spotify installed. The music can be from their library of 15 million songs or your personal collection. I guess the consolidation of your music to one place is another potential benefit. I don’t really see that as a noteworthy benefit, because if I like music, I’m going to buy it and can listen to it whenever via my phone’s music app, Amazon MP3, or Google Music (even the iOS offering) . Also, if I just want to listen to some new stuff, or a better mix of music, then I’ll switch to a radio service like Pandora or Slacker.

Slacker Radio has many of the same features of Spotify, just organized into better packages. For example, Slacker Radio lets you create one playlist for free. You can add artists you like to the playlist and take your station with you on the mobile app. The catch? You can’t select specific songs and you can only skip 6 times per hour. However, you can ban or love songs, banning removes them completely from the station and loving the song will put it into rotation more frequently. The Slacker basic plan allows you unlimited skips, no ads, offline caching of your stations on mobile, and a few other perks; all for $3.99 per month. Their premium $9.99 version gives you the ability to select songs on demand, in addition to all the other features mentioned for basic.

The big difference between a service like Spotify and Slacker or Pandora is the ability to add your own music to the mix. Amazon MP3 and Google Music Beta (and the iOS offering) all help to address this concern. Amazon and Google’s offerings allow you to take your purchased music on the go with plenty of storage space for a marginal price.

I really thought Spotify was going to be the final option that would eliminate the need for multiple services. After giving it a test run today, I’m not as optimistic. I was shocked to realize that it would be $9.99 per month to get the usable version of their mobile app. Basically, it looks like you may need to use a combination of services if having your music on the go is a priority; unless you want to pay for the Spotify app. Personally, I like the flexibility of using Slacker and Google Music. I get a radio-like service with Slacker and I get all my personal music with Google Music. Both services have a good mobile app, stream very well over 3G, and offer online listening options for those times you have no signal.

Bottom line: Always do your research and don’t buy into the hype or star power backing these new online services. Know your key priorities, and find the service that best matches your needs.