Spotify

Well, I got an invite from a internet buddy of mine in the UK last week, and have started making use of the free service. It is really excellent, and my whole family are enjoying it!

Since it isn't in the US, that pretty much means my Facebook list is of no use connecting friends.

So if anyone here wants to add me, it is txa1265 as always!

Finally you got to try it I wounder if they'll ever manage to get in on the US market though.

Hope it lives up to the expectations which I probably added to....

GothicGothicness said:

Finally you got to try it I wounder if they'll ever manage to get in on the US market though.

Hope it lives up to the expectations which I probably added to….

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I am writing it up my thoughts for Gear Diary, but so far I am very pleased. Of course, getting from 'invite' to 'account' required doing stuff that while not illegal, was nonetheless not something I would regularly choose to do.

As for them coming to the US, I can certainly understand why there would be reluctance on the parts of artists and labels. Users think something like 'Gerry Rafferty died last week, I vaguely remember Baker Street from the 70's, wonder what else he did'? And they would love to hear it and then get on with their lives, never to bother again. The label wants you to search Amazon / iTunes, hear your 30 or 90 seconds, not be satisfied, and buy the track. Other streaming sites make you sift through several songs before landing on the one you want.

Of course, given the artist makes ~0.000001 for each play on Spotify, they would like a little more than 'i heard it and never care to hear it again' ... since it only makes sense if they grab a ton of listens.

I think with more premium members the pay will be higher.... actually more and more people goes premium.... first of all you get higher quality music.... second no commercials and third you can use it on offline devices.

After you have had premium it is hard to go back to free as you'll hear the difference.....

I use Spotify to find/test music I will eventually buy. The free version is sufficient for that, but I have subscribed to avoid the commercials. Although ut not the premium subscription. While premium allows off line listening, last time I checked I could not play Spotify music on my IPod (classic). Therefore, Spotify will not be my main source for music.

You can get it in your phone or get an ipod touch........

GothicGothicness said:

You can get it in your phone or get an ipod touch……..

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Which I won't do.

I still consider cell phones gadgets from hell. I have one I use occasionally, but it thankfully has no other functions than phoning and sms'ing. And even the 64Gb IPiod touch hasn't enoughn space to store all my music. Hah!

Says Pibbur who still misses DOS (actually he doesn't). And Wordstar. And the slide rule. And the days when you hammered runes on rocks. *sighs*

Well, on the assumption that you listen to music 24/7 every day... you just need to connect your ipod touch to the PC every 44th day... given that you have a laptop in your backpack it doesn't sound too troublesome....

On the other hand if you have so much music.... surely 160GB is not enough.... so you had better go for the spotify on cellphone anyway just think of it as an unlimited music player.. and don't use it for calling or surfing

pibbur said:

Which I won't do.

I still consider cell phones gadgets from hell. I have one I use occasionally, but it thankfully has no other functions than phoning and sms'ing. And even the 64Gb IPiod touch hasn't enoughn space to store all my music. Hah!

Says Pibbur who still misses DOS (actually he doesn't). And Wordstar. And the slide rule. And the days when you hammered runes on rocks. *sighs*

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I still have a slide rule

GothicGothicness said:

Well, on the assumption that you listen to music 24/7 every day… you just need to connect your ipod touch to the PC every 44th day… given that you have a laptop in your backpack it doesn't sound too troublesome….

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I'd rather spend my money on an even better ergometer bike.

On the other hand if you have so much music…. surely 160GB is not enough…. so you had better go for the spotify on cellphone anyway just think of it as an unlimited music player.. and don't use it for calling or surfing

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75Gb and growing. However, having a cell phone and not using it for calling is intriguing. *ponders*

75Gb and growing. However, having a cell phone and not using it for calling is intriguing. *ponders*

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And..... imagine if you really really need to listen to a song on the bus and you realize you don't have it on your ipod classic!

I'd rather spend my money on an even better ergometer bike.

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Well, if you have ever growing 75GB of music so far.... look at it as an investment! You're going to save money on this.

+ why not use this spare money you will earn to get winter tires on your real bike instead... which would earn you fresh air and a longer life!

GothicGothicness said:

And….. imagine if you really really need to listen to a song on the bus and you realize you don't have it on your ipod classic!

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I only want to listen to songs I already have. GOTCHA!

Well, if you have ever growing 75GB of music so far…. look at it as an investment! You're going to save money on this.

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DON'T listen to her!! DON'T listen to her! DON'T listen to her! *puh*

+ why not use this spare money you will earn to get winter tires on your real bike instead… which would earn you fresh air and a longer life!

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So will my ergometer bike. Apart from the fresh air thing.

But, you're starting to cobnvince me, so I think it's safest if we end the discussion here. *shivers*

Corwin said:

I still have a slide rule

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But the real question is whether you remember how to use it. Is it functional or just a museum piece?

Pardon the off-topic.

dteowner said:

But the real question is whether you remember how to use it. Is it functional or just a museum piece?

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Of course we know how to use it. What a strange question.

Pardon the off-topic.

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Yes. You rightwings never know how to behave!!!!

I wish I could upgrade to premium, but for silly international commerce reasons they are very picky about accounts being local to your country of origin ...

As for my usage, I have about half of a 500GB external drive filled with my ripped CD's as well as older records and tapes I have digitized in the past. I try to keep my active iTunes library to ~10-15GB, but that gets hard, since I bought 3 CD's (well, digital) today ...

Since last time, I've given Spotify and the Premium some serious thought (including whether I should get me a Smartphone or not). I have decided not to upgrade, in stead I've cancelled my "unlimited" subscription, downgrading to the free version.

I still want to be able to take all my music with me, which means that currently an IPhone can't replace my IPod classic. And I remain a veryr unwilling cell phone user, I take it with me only when I absolutely have to (I LIKE being unavailable when I'm ... eh ... unavailable).

But the major issue is that despite a truly impressing catalogue, a lot of the music I like to listen to isn't there. For some bands it's probably not Spotify's fault: Pink Floyd is missing, as is Tool (the latter is also not on ITunes store). I'm more puzzled that most of Porcupine Tree's music is missing. Among bands not there (except for possibly a track or two) are: Rhea's obsession, Where angels fall, Astra (The prog rock band - there is pop artist/band with the same name), Blind Ego and White. Not particularly well known bands (although White is a project by Yes drummer Patrick White), but I like their music, and I like finding bands like these (Emusic is a great source for out of mainstream/esoteric music).

So, for the moment, I've gone back to using Spotify strictly for test listening to music I will eventually buy (in those cases the music is actually there), and for that use, the free version is sufficient.

@GG: Thanks for the input.

BTW, a safe bet is that within 10 years or so I will have a smartphone (possibly because those are the only ones available), and maybe I'll go for premium then (possibly because a lot of music is only available on spotifyish services).

I am not surprised, indeed that is the spotify problem... if you are into rare bands.. that are not there.... but since I don't give up convincing easily

Are you aware that you could add music to your spotify? I think the majority of your music is probably already on spotify and you'd just need a little space extra for the songs you added? totally enough for your smart-phones memory card...... and there are great smart-phones for pennies such as the ZTE-blade ( $140 )

As for a cellphone I totally understand.. I feel the same way and I don't have a smart-phone.... but the company is forcing it on you these days so I too will be forced to have one.... but if you have a data-only subscription you won't be reachable unless you start up skype or g-talk

Yes, most of the music I listen to is on spotify, and I know I can add the rest to it. But as of now, this is not enough for me to change my sources of music (it's a change I don't need (!))

And fortunately my functions at work don't require a cell phone yet. (I haven't given them the number of the one I occasionally use). I was going to include a link to www.smashmyphone.com where nice looking women crush cell phones under their high heels, but unfortunately the site isn't operational anymore

So, while I appreciate your efforts, right now this game is lost for you. But you'll very likely be saying "told you so" in a couple of years.

"I've made up my mind, don't come here with facts!"

I have certainly found much of my music not there - and realized that much of what I was seeing from those artists was from my own library (I have my Alienware loaded up with ~100GB of music, whereas I keep my Mac-to-iPod library ~10GB).

Sadly, and I am sure it varies from here to EU, I have found eMusic lacking - and it just keeps getting worse! In November when they switched from credits to $ they lost loads of indie and alt bands in order to get Ke$sha and Eminem and other pop trash that folks won't buy there anyway ...

pibbur said:

Which I won't do.

I still consider cell phones gadgets from hell. I

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Worst thing is people get offended if you dont answer their call or text message every time they contact you. In the old days they just thought that perhaps you werent home. Now its like a crime or somthing.

Othervice I dont mind smartphone. Thanks to it I can read rpgwatch in the toilet. Search anwsers to critical decisions from google while on date or watch funny videos of hitler from youtube in local pub. And the camera is so good that Ive taken som 900 pictures with it in two years.