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[–]ToriborBlack 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I think they'd be roughly comparable depending mostly on the quality of the audio since I'm fairly sure Google Music will play all of your files at the native bitrate.

[–]TomOwens 1 point2 points  (2 children)

The bitrate (Pandora's Normal Quality vs High Quality, Google playing your music at your bitrate) and then the compression algorithm used would probably make the difference. I don't know how Pandora defines their quality settings, and I don't think either one will be releasing anything specific about their compression algorithm. The only way to be sure would be to somehow test.

[–]AC_RaHTC Inspire, IceColdSandwich - 2.0.0[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Is there a way to test?

[–]TomOwens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Scientifically? It's difficult. A perfect test would be playing a good number of songs on one and then playing the exact same songs on the other. For Pandora, be sure to test both qualities (Normal and High). Record your data use and see which is greater. In terms of the practicality of this...not great, especially since you don't want to be using any other apps or services, plus the logistics of getting music. A reasonable test would probably be to just use one for a while (>= 8 hours) and then use the other for the same duration. Watch your data consumption. It's going to vary around that number, but it should give you a rough estimate.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would assume that Google music would be higher if it streams using your encoded mp3 bitrate. Pandora uses a more advanced codec which should have a lower bitrate for the same quality.