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hacksaw-C87

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 12, 2009
241
0
Birmingham England
Has anyone on this forum used Spotify? I've just discovered it and I think it's fantastic. Essentially, it's a jukebox which you can use if you've got an internet connection and it's got an ENORMOUS range of music which you can add to playlists. It's also FREE.

My question is, do you think this could threaten Apple's profits from iTunes? Spotify will never replace my iPod, but I'm starting to think that perhaps I don't need to actually own my music in order to enjoy it ...

What do people think?

hacksaw
 

smilinmonki666

macrumors regular
Jan 20, 2008
240
0
Has anyone on this forum used Spotify? I've just discovered it and I think it's fantastic. Essentially, it's a jukebox which you can use if you've got an internet connection and it's got an ENORMOUS range of music which you can add to playlists. It's also FREE.

My question is, do you think this could threaten Apple's profits from iTunes? Spotify will never replace my iPod, but I'm starting to think that perhaps I don't need to actually own my music in order to enjoy it ...

What do people think?

hacksaw

I can see the excitement, but I will buy from the Apple store mainly due to iTunes Plus. But will only buy the occasional track or album on offer. But most of my source will be from Vinyl or CD.

I personally have used this service & is very good but it's not for me. It's free with adverts & no adverts when paid, so either way you loose out in my opinion. Plus, there's nothing better than having the physical item in your hand. Plus you can take that music anywhere you wish.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Radio is also free but people choose iTunes.

I believe they want to get you hooked and then serve ads or charge a monthly fee, then you'll be paying forever (more than buying music).

FYI, iTunes has free podcasts and video podcasts.
 

jzuena

macrumors 65816
Feb 21, 2007
1,125
149
Not to mention that this service isn't available in the US, Canada or Mexico.

It is also not available for any portable players with the possible future exception of the iPhone/iPod touch and then maybe Symbian and Android phones. And even with all of that, it still isn't available in the US, Canada, or Mexico on these devices.

So, if you are going to keep your iPod you are still going to be buying songs, so the paid version of Spotify would then be redundant cost. I can see using the add sponsored version while at work, if storing your iTunes songs on a work machine isn't allowed. But as Consultant has said, you still have the radio available for that which won't use up your company's Internet bandwidth.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
942
  • Yesterday my cable internet service dropped for about an hour, but iTunes kept on playing through my stereo speakers..... try that with Spotify!
  • I travel some to relatives who don't have internet service... I can still play my music while I'm there..... try that with Spotify!
  • I can organize, make playlists, burn CDs, add lyrics and album art, and my library only has music I like in it... no need to sort through or even see music that doesn't fit my tastes.... try that with Spotify!
I'll keep iTunes.
 

Earley008

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2008
65
0
Spotify is great if not amazing. HOWEVER will, in my opinion not stop people buying music. Most people listen to music out and about, running or in the car and if they want an album they will have to buy it. I use spotify a lot to listen to music while at my mac however im not always at my mac, therefore I will if I like it buy the song from one place or another.

I use spotify to listen to tracks before I buy them so I know I will like it. For me this works well for others maybe not. I think it will vary a lot how people use the program but it shows you how the future could be ... Imagine every song ever written being streamed onto all of your macs, pcs or even ipod!
 

Luap

macrumors 65816
Jul 5, 2004
1,249
743
  • Yesterday my cable internet service dropped for about an hour, but iTunes kept on playing through my stereo speakers..... try that with Spotify!
    [


Actually.. It caches all your recently played music. So yes, you can play music with no internet connection. In theory at least! You can set predefined cache sizes too.. But the default is pretty big.

---------------

I like Spotify, and use it as a way to discover new music. And, its one in the eye for music piracy.. Its easier to find and play music through Spotify, than it is to pirate it. Plus the artists still earn a bit from it via the advertising. And on the subject of advertising, its not too intrusive fortunately.

At the end of the day though, its just a glorified radio station that plays what you want, when you want. Many people still want to keep music so they can put it on their iPods or whatever, so iTunes or CD's for that matter are not going anywhere any time soon.

Theres room for iTunes & Spotify ;)
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
942
Actually.. It caches all your recently played music. So yes, you can play music with no internet connection. In theory at least! You can set predefined cache sizes too.. But the default is pretty big.
Of course, caching recently played music doesn't help if you want to play something you haven't heard in a while. It's a poor substitute for owning and controlling your own music. Plus, if you're going to use up drive space for a large cache, you can use the same space to store your own music and have access to it anytime, anywhere.
 

hacksaw-C87

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 12, 2009
241
0
Birmingham England
Spotify is great if not amazing. HOWEVER will, in my opinion not stop people buying music. Most people listen to music out and about, running or in the car and if they want an album they will have to buy it. I use spotify a lot to listen to music while at my mac however im not always at my mac, therefore I will if I like it buy the song from one place or another.

I use spotify to listen to tracks before I buy them so I know I will like it. For me this works well for others maybe not. I think it will vary a lot how people use the program but it shows you how the future could be ... Imagine every song ever written being streamed onto all of your macs, pcs or even ipod!


Yeah I use it for the same thing. I'd still use amazon to buy my music because there mp3 pricing is so much more competitive but today I was able to listen to all Deep Purple's live stuff without purchasing or anything which I thought was a great service that you don't really get with iTunes. I'll still buy all my music.
 

mogzieee

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2008
668
1
London, UK
Spotify is certainly something to compare to iTunes... by not a threat since you can't download the tunes and put them on your iPod - unless you record them to mp3's and import them in (which I sometimes rather naughtily do using Audio Hijack Pro).

Plus, it will only ever be a huge threat to iTunes when it gets released in the USA.
 

netdog

macrumors 603
Feb 6, 2006
5,760
38
London
Spotify is great if not amazing. HOWEVER will, in my opinion not stop people buying music.

Agreed.

In my opinion, it is illegal torrents and the like that are a threat to music sales, not online customizable narrowcasters. I would expect that those sorts of services will just increase music sales in the long run, just as radio did.
 

superbungalow

macrumors member
Dec 29, 2008
62
0
Agreed.

In my opinion, it is illegal torrents and the like that are a threat to music sales, not online customizable narrowcasters. I would expect that those sorts of services will just increase music sales in the long run, just as radio did.

Too true, I was going to say, this thread should be renamed:

Free music online, a threat to iTunes or not?
 

AAPLaday

Guest
Aug 6, 2008
2,411
2
Manchester UK
I have just signed up for the free service now. Reminds me a bit of when i used to use the yahoo music service a few years ago. As someone mentioned earlier its a great way to preview music before i buy it as i get the full track and not a 30 second clip. Plus they are going to be opening its API and launching a toolkit that will allow future use on mobile phones and games consoles.
 

AAPLaday

Guest
Aug 6, 2008
2,411
2
Manchester UK
Ok after using it a few days i really like the service, its almost instantaneous when you select a song and they have a large selection of tunes available. The search feature is great and you can easily rewind or fast forward songs with no delay. And it will save your playlists. Also they will be creating a partnership with 7digital who actually sell music in the FLAC format!!!!
 

The Grood

macrumors regular
Mar 1, 2006
182
0
Spotify is great if you're at your desk/at work.

I don't mind ignoring a few banner ads, so the free service it is then.

Helps you choose songs to buy from iTunes, so if anything it's a good thing for Apple in that respect.

Big drawback though as far as i can see is there's no way to stream the content wirelessly? Or is there???
 

grapefruitmoon

macrumors newbie
Jan 12, 2009
17
0
To me, they serve totally different purposes. Spotify is nothing more than okay...I wouldn't want to pay for it, even though I despise the awful ads. My big gripe with it is the catalogue, it's dreadful. So many holes, I find it frustrating more than anything.
 

old-wiz

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2008
8,331
228
West Suburban Boston Ma
Well, I wouldn't have spotify, would I? Where would I be if Apple went out of business? I wouldn't be able to buy songs of iTunes either and I'd be a bit stuffed. ... not sure you've got much of an argument going ...

If Apple goes out of business you still have the music on your computer and can continue to play it forever.

If you download music on demand from Spotify and it's not cached on your system then you are out of luck.

And how long before spotify gets nuked by the copyright terrorists?
 

Manic Mouse

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2006
943
0
I think it compliments iTunes.

You can listen to a new album or artist on Spotify, if you like what you hear you can then buy it on iTunes.

Yeah, totally agree. Just discovered this service today and I must admit to being very impressed. Just type in a song and listen away. Like others have said, you don't really get to "own" the song as with iTunes and can't sync with an iPod or buy the music so it's not really an iTunes competitor. A very nice compliment when you want to listen to a song or two, but maybe not buy.
 
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