Spotify vs Slacker

They both have the free listening and 9.99 on demand. However spotify's library is 15 million vs slackers est. 8 million.

Ultimately Spotify has some huge partnerships going for them (facebook,coca cola, chevy). The library and social integration is key.

Just seems to me like spotify is going to over shadow slacker, rhapsody, MOG, etc...

Spotify's UI and App integration blows Slacker out of the water... Coming from someone who used Pandora, used Slacker Radio Premium Radio. Surely, Spotify doesnt have the artist radio feature, but the playlist creation ability is more important to me...

Ya I am a paying subscriber for both and one thing that is important to me is the streaming quality. On spotify desktop it's 320kbps and mobile is 160kbps. The free spotify access is 96kbps.

Slacker does provide a high quality option but that is 128kbps.

I do miss the spotify radio function, but a very high quality stream trumps that in my opinion. Also the spotify radio function has been promised in the US but due to more licensing restrictions is delayed.

I'll give both a little more time and then choose, but right now spotify has the edge.

spotify is alot faster than slacker

I love the integration of spotify certain Music groups are really hard to work with ie Metallica the Beatles. I'm going to get my daughter to check out Spotify as well. Since it might save me from her nickel and dimming with Itunes.

Day 2 with Spotify:
When I create a playlist on the Mac, it will automatically get "pushed" to the mobile app (both iOS & android).

If you add a song to that playlist from the mobile app, it will appear on you desktop app.

Its FAST.

Slacker sometimes takes a while to load the songs, with Spotify acts like if it was the native iPod app.

You can share playlists & tracks to others who are using Spotify as well.

What i miss from Slacker is that Spotify doesn't have an option to override the screen lock/dim, so after a minute on my car dock, it would automatically turn the screen off (even if it's on a cradle with power)

Thats what I've got until now, will report back with more later on...

Why is some music available on the Spotify desktop app, but not on the iPhone app (e.g., London Calling by the Clash)? I signed up for the Spotify premium subscription with the intent of ditching Rdio, but I can't say I'm that impressed so far.

Spotify is useless to me

I had high hopes for this service, but they didn't pan out. I like being able to stream music to my iPhone while I'm driving. Spotify's free service gives you nothing in terms of mobile phone streaming. They say you can stream your OWN music. Why in the hell do I need that if I already own the music?

I'm sticking with Slacker for two reasons. One, free mobile streaming with minor ad interruptions. Two, I like the Slacker stations. Just like having XM radio, except a lot less commercials and without annoying DJs. I don't really like searching for my music. I'm usually in the mood for a specific category of music, and Slacker gives me that.

I was quite excited for spotify, as I've been hearing for a couple of years how awesome it was but could never see for myself. I went ahead with a premium account right off the bat. I've been a slacker premium subscriber for quite some time, and gotta say, while the song selection seems good, and the app is fast, I still want my slacker. I wish slacker had more sharing options, but I really like the radio and on-demand offerings from slacker. I have a lot of time into programming my own stations on slacker and like that I don't have to search for every song I would like to hear, unlike spotify.

I think for now, slacker is still the best for me, hope spotify adds some features, at least let free subscribers listen to their playlists (but no search or editing of lists) from their mobile. Everyone wants mobile access, but it is hard to justify spending $10/mo for light users, give them an app.

Somthing that I really like about Spotify is the fact that you can create a playist then send that playlist to a friend to subscribe. It will automatically appear on my mobile app...

Still missing the artist discovery that Slacker/Pandora has.

eye4ni said:

I think for now, slacker is still the best for me, hope spotify adds some features, at least let free subscribers listen to their playlists (but no search or editing of lists) from their mobile. Everyone wants mobile access, but it is hard to justify spending $10/mo for light users, give them an app.

Click to expand...

There are several reasons for the mobile App only supporting Premium accounts:

1) The Desktop version of Spotify uses peer to peer networking to distribute the music. This dramatically reduces Spotify's costs. The mobile App does not do that - it probably wouldn't be able to on the App Store.

2) By restricting the mobile App to premium users, they do not need to work in any of the advertising system or restrictions that the Open/Free/Unlimited services have. This saves them time, makes the Apps smaller and reduces their costs. They pride themselves on having Apps for a lot of platforms, and they can't maintain that if they add in too many features.

I'm not familiar with Slacker, but I've been playing around with Spotify Premium after paying the $10 fee and I'm very impressed so far. I had about a dozen albums on my eMusic wish list. Spotify had all of them, and I now have all of them on my iPod.

I've read a lot of comments from people complaining that it costs money, but why would people think you should get access to 15 million songs for free? It's a good deal for $10, even if just viewed as a big music preview service.

Nothing against Slacker, but I'm impressed with Spotify, and I think it could significantly dig into iTunes music sales.

OutGolfn said:

Ya I am a paying subscriber for both and one thing that is important to me is the streaming quality. On spotify desktop it's 320kbps and mobile is 160kbps. The free spotify access is 96kbps.

Slacker does provide a high quality option but that is 128kbps.

I do miss the spotify radio function, but a very high quality stream trumps that in my opinion. Also the spotify radio function has been promised in the US but due to more licensing restrictions is delayed.

I'll give both a little more time and then choose, but right now spotify has the edge.

Click to expand...

If you have your iPhone or Android on wifi, you can stream MOG at 320 Kbps. It is the reason I am not switching. I did download the free version of Spotify, but I can't consider the premium until it matches MOG on the quality. I use airport express and other AirPlay devices, so this is by far the most important feature. I don't really care about the Facebook/twitter integration. I think MOG offers something similar but have never tried it.

I believe I have a couple invites left (they require a Facebook account) to Spotify, so pm me if you want a link.

I used the free version of slacker a while back, but I prefered rhapsody at the time.

For me Mog is the best, i had Slacker premium for 2 months it's ok but they just don't have much songs as Mog or spotify... And with Mog you can stream or download at 320kbps straight to the iPhone or iPad. I
just cancelled my Slacker sub this morning I'm sticking with Mog!

Everyone should try it to see exactly what I'm talking about...


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

Can't see myself paying $10/month if I'm only getting a paltry maximum bitrate of 160kbps. Seriously.

Gonna try this Mog thing out.

MOG's use of restricting 320kbps to Wi-Fi only is a terrible solution to the real problem - Apple's unfair App Store Guidelines.

I don't see Spotify switching to 320kbps unless they can do it over the cellular network. That would go completely against their ethos.

I've been using MOG for the past few days and I've been blown away with the buffering speed, high quality bitrate, and seemingly endless selection.

For less than the price of a CD a month, it is a great deal. Can't wait til the iW1 airplay speakers release.

Spotify has to make some changes before I foot the bill for a monthly subscription.

I know earlier I said I liked Spotify better for the speed and quality, however now I am eating my words. After using both I have found myself really using Slacker's radio platform more, as I tend to do a lot of passive listening. Just wish Slacker would bump up their streaming quality

I too prefer Slacker because of its stations, particularly the ones from festivals (e.g. Coachella, Austin City Limits, SXSW, Lolapalooza) and the ones they collaborate on with magazines (e.g. Filter, Source). Its a service for people who love good music.

Bump, now that Spotify offers radio stations (sort of) does that change anything?

I just cancelled Slacker, wasn't crazy about the app and can't justify it for the radio stations alone (which are great) since I have a Sirius/XM subscription. Thinking about giving Spotify another try

Dunbar said:

Bump, now that Spotify offers radio stations (sort of) does that change anything?

I just cancelled Slacker, wasn't crazy about the app and can't justify it for the radio stations alone (which are great) since I have a Sirius/XM subscription. Thinking about giving Spotify another try

Click to expand...

I've still been happy with Slacker for $3.99/month. Sirius XM just released their new 2.0 app update yesterday with the DVR features, but the extra $9/month for that and some talk is not worth it to me.

Spotify has a large library and partnerships, but its really an on demand listening company. They are trying to "add-in" a radio feature. It's ok, but of course can be improved.

It all depends on the type of listener you are. If you like just passively listening then my vote is still Slacker over Pandora/Spotify. If you like to actively dig into albums and artists then Spotify, but that will cost ya more $9.99/month.

My 2 cents