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Spotify Makes U.S. Debut With Paid Plans and Invite-Only Free Service

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Absolutely true. I always say that to myself too when I download movies from newsservers too. In the netherlands its not illegal to download stuff, only upload. It's a, well grey area. But everyone knows it's basically wrong. So for music I now use spotify. It's a fair and well working. Movies is another story. There is nothing in the Netherlands that is offering something like spotify for movies. If it would I would say goodbye to my newsserver. Around 200 dollars/euros per year for every movie/song to stream sounds about right (except movies playing in cinema ofcourse).
 
nerdo said:
Nobody complained when the dollar was worth a lot more. Do you think £4.99 is too much or only start hating it when you found out the yanks pay less?.

the question is: is it worth £4.99 or not? If so, wtf cares?
Click to expand...

I see your point, but to be fair, some equality would be nice..!
 
Had it for an hour and here's my comparison of Spotify to Rdio:

-Spotify desktop app doesn't require Flash like Rdio does.
-Spotify doesn't have Artist Radio feature like Rdio does.
-Spotify uses Facebook for social. Rdio social is much better.
-Spotify is fast and probably has better bitrate for premium.
-Rdio let's you subscribe to dynamic playlists. Can't find that feature in Spotify.
-Spotify has a free account with ads. Rdio doesn't, you have to pay.
-Rdio has a web interface. Spotify doesn't.

I haven't tried ipod/iphone synching yet.

So far I'm liking Rdio more. Spotify seems to be lacking for me.
I especially miss the radio feature in Rdio.
I thought Spotify had genre browsing? That feature would put Spotify ahead for me but so far neither service has that.
 
I got an invite email from duckduckgoose, thank you very much by the way, but it just took me to the regular sign-up site, but then I just tried one of the codes from engadget and it worked!

I think it's a very nice interface, very easy to maneuver, and so far their commercials have been non-intrusive.

I'm presently in The States as part of my studies, so I don't know if I will be able to take the service with me home - does anybody know how that works? I remember reading something a while back about that with the paid services you should be able to use it even if you're in another country, but I'm not sure that's true anymore?
 
L I G H T I N G said:
Music streaming services.

One is free, one requires subscription and fees.

Your point?

Just because you pay for something, or pay more doesn't automatically make it better, just a placebo effect for unsuspecting consumers out there.
Click to expand...

People, let's not feed the troll, it will only make things worse (i mean, who would ever compare flash video streaming to high quality audio streaming?)

Let's just stop feeding it and it will die itself.
 
L I G H T I N G said:
Music streaming services.

One is free, one requires subscription and fees.

Your point?

Just because you pay for something, or pay more doesn't automatically make it better, just a placebo effect for unsuspecting consumers out there.
Click to expand...

So you use Youtube for:

Creating playlists for music you like from 15.000.000 songs all with correct tracklistings, songnames, album covers
Checking out your friends playlists of music they like
Sharing your playlists with friends on the web, Facebook, Twitter
Downloading playlists from the web, Facebook, Twitter
Listen to entire albums based on singles songs found in your friends playlists
Listen to all albums with all songs from an artist found in your friends playlist
Listen to songs, albums or playlists on your computer while surfing, writing, chatting, gaming
Listen to songs, albums or playlists on your phone while commuting, running, working when your phone is in your pocket
Using your phones remote control to control play/pause/next/previous with your phone on stand-by in your pocket
Streaming songs, albums or playlists by AirPlay to your home HiFi

You use Youtube for all this and you want me to believe you actually listen to music that isn't commercials or jingles?
 
dekadent said:
So you use Youtube for:

Creating playlists for music you like from 15.000.000 songs all with correct tracklistings, songnames, album covers
Checking out your friends playlists of music they like
Sharing your playlists with friends on the web, Facebook, Twitter
Downloading playlists from the web, Facebook, Twitter
Listen to entire albums based on singles songs found in your friends playlists
Listen to all albums with all songs from an artist found in your friends playlist
Listen to songs, albums or playlists on your computer while surfing, writing, chatting, gaming
Listen to songs, albums or playlists on your phone while commuting, running, working when your phone is in your pocket
Using your phones remote control to control play/pause/next/previous with your phone on stand-by in your pocket
Streaming songs, albums or playlists by AirPlay to your home HiFi

You use Youtube for all this and you want me to believe you actually listen to music that isn't commercials or jingles?
Click to expand...

All of these features are unnecessary, Music seems to be a huge part of your life then. All I do is put on headphones, pick a song and go run.
 
the Western zoo said:
I got an invite email from duckduckgoose, thank you very much by the way, but it just took me to the regular sign-up site, but then I just tried one of the codes from engadget and it worked!

I think it's a very nice interface, very easy to maneuver, and so far their commercials have been non-intrusive.

I'm presently in The States as part of my studies, so I don't know if I will be able to take the service with me home - does anybody know how that works? I remember reading something a while back about that with the paid services you should be able to use it even if you're in another country, but I'm not sure that's true anymore?
Click to expand...

first of all, thanks to those helping out with invites but i'm also confused. the links posted by other people take you to a screen to create an account. is that the same as getting an invite? i thought anyone could create an account?
 
I'm a Spotify premium subscriber... It'd be nice if there was a native iPad app..
 
nerdo said:
Nobody complained when the dollar was worth a lot more. Do you think £4.99 is too much or only start hating it when you found out the yanks pay less?.

the question is: is it worth £4.99 or not? If so, wtf cares?
Click to expand...

Not at all I disagree with different pricing whatever the region. There is no reason why a service such as Spotify should be different in the USA to the UK.
 
kurzz said:
Had it for an hour and here's my comparison of Spotify to Rdio:

-Rdio let's you subscribe to dynamic playlists. Can't find that feature in Spotify.
I thought Spotify had genre browsing? That feature would put Spotify ahead for me but so far neither service has that.
Click to expand...

What do you mean with dynamic playlists? Spotify both have playlist subscriptions and collaborative playlists, which I find pretty dynamic.

Regarding genre browsing, a workaround might be creative searching.
http://www.spotify.com/se/about/features/advanced-search-syntax/
Example: genre:techno OR year:1995 NOT scooter
 
Rhapsody is the SAME THING.

Someone please explain to me how Spotify is any different than Rhapsody.

I know Spotify has a free service, but no listens to music on the computer & you need to pay $10 to use your iPhone, so I see no difference!!
 
DipDog3 said:
Someone please explain to me how Spotify is any different than Rhapsody.

I know Spotify has a free service, but no listens to music on the computer & you need to pay $10 to use your iPhone, so I see no difference!!
Click to expand...

I only listen to music on the computer, people consume music in very different ways.
 
"Starred" items vs. playlist

Maybe I don't understand what "starring" an item does. When I star a song on the desktop app, it does not show up on my iphone even after syncing and vice versa. If I add all the starred items to a playlist called "All Songs", that syncs to the iphone. I know it's seems like a small thing, but why do I have to go through the extra step of creating a playlist just to get these songs on both devices, especially since the "starring" feature is on both apps. I see that it will do this if I have offline syncing on, but I don't want to physically copy the song to my phone, I want to stream. Am I missing the point of the stars?
 
Wait, is the price in the US with or without tax? That would explain the discrepancy.
I'm in the UK, been using spotify premium for a while now. My only issues have been discovering new music (lack of a sort of radio, genre search or genius feature basically), although with shared playlists this is somewhat redundant. That and the lack of some artists - Led Zeppelin (although I've got their albums), new Radiohead, etc. Also what strikes me is the fact that it's a subscription service, if spotify goes down or if some artist or label disagrees and removes content or if I just can't or won't pay anymore (new better service down the road?) then BAM - your investment gone. No more music.

Spotify is awesome though, glad to see it in the US. It's a great deal, and the desktop application is brilliantly slick (not so much the iOS app, but it does let me stream and download tons of music on the fly). All in all, I think it's time I stopped spending so much in iTunes. When I really like some music, I can listen to my hearts content and then buy the exact tracks and playlists I know I will want to keep.

EDIT: actually led zepp is in there. Metallica isn't but then I never expected them anyway.
 
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Spotify is really great, I've been using it since the service started. I am slightly annoyed by some missing artists, but I find myself actually just forgetting them, and not listening to them any more! There's so much else to listen to, that it's hard to be annoyed at those few ones missing (like the Beatles, Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
 
eroplos said:
And with Premium you can listen offline (save music, which is pretty handy on your phone) and the music is in higher quality :)
Click to expand...

I agree that those are nice features, but you can do the same thing with MOG. At the moment, I have both. Also, the offline music in MOG is 320kbps, which is the same as Spotify highest quality.
 
MacObsessed said:
Apart from the legit iOS app, comparing the free service, what is the advantage over Grooveshark?
Click to expand...

Usability in my opinion. I tried using Grooveshark at work where I wasn't allowed Spotify and it does not even compare. Spotify works so smoothly that you could mistake the songs for all being local, its so fast. Unfortunately I haven't used Grooveshark enough to comment further.
 
I've used the Spotify Premium service for a couple of years and I can't even remember how I consumed music before that. It works like a charm!
 
So far so good. I think it's great. I've never used Rdio or Grooveshark so this is my first experience streaming. It's lightening fast.

Few obsevations.

1. Holy Copying the itunes interface batman. I mean it looks exactly like iTunes. Not that i'm complaining b/c I understand it all and it's a squeeky clean interface but wow they "samsunged" the crud out of iTunes. Even the scroll bars look like a Mac and i'm on a PC.

2. It looks into your iTunes library which is cool. My friends band has one album on spotify but i have demos of his and other stuff in my iTunes it pulled up the songs he has on spotify and pulled out of my iTunes somehow the demo songs etc..

3. It's super fast and responsive. No lag, quick. Even when you search it's like instant. You play a song instant.

4. Sound quality is not bad just different. The vocals are really upfront and the drums and some instrumentation is pushed to the back. Maybe you can EQ this. Not that it sounds bad but I know every inflection on some of these songs and they have different nuances with this delivery system.

It basically feels like having the entire itunes experience and library for free.
 
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