Very convenient but mobile streaming can eat into your data pretty quick. +1 for Sirius/XM Radio either built in or separately and connected to a Rear Aux jack. Great tunes and MLB coverage but not so great fidelity. But no worse than any audio file format other than lossless or uncompressed.
We currently use Spotify, about $10.00 per month or $120.00 per year, and it has been the best $10.00 per month I've ever spent. We like it much better than Amazon Prime music, which we also have or a paid iTunes subscription which we dropped in favor of Spotify..
Actually, we now have the Spotify family account for $14.99. Between my daughter, wife and myself we carry nearly 10,000 songs on our phones in
off-line mode.. My iPad has another 3k songs or so as well. Spotify's off-line mode allows you to download when on wi-fi so no data is used. You can download your songs, playlists etc. and just store them on your phone or tablet or both.. To carry that much music in CD's would take up half our boat.....
I can't even count the sheer number of songs and playlists I've downloaded for off-line mode but suffice it to say it is days and days worth..... I just stream it to the stereo from where ever I am on the boat. We've not touched a CD since the first gen iPod came out, why would I. For critical listening, on the 2 chanel system, I play only SACD or vinyl.
On the stereo front just get one that has bluetooth, and a CD player if you really want to dust them off. No need for "marine" stereo if it is below deck. I see zero lifetime differences between so called "marine" stereos and car stereos for below deck use. I see just as many Fusion, Clarion Marine, Sony Marine, Kenwood Marine etc. fail as I do the $59.00 Wal*Mart stereo. The Kenwood Excelon on our boat is not a "marine" unit and I think I paid $69.00 for it on a Crutchfield sale.......
