Ryan was raving about the service back in 2009, three years later, Spotify finally comes to the USA.
So, I have an account, I've been playing around with it. Can't really do much on my iPod, since I'm not really to shell out $10 a month for Spotify on mobile. Seems kind of expensive, but then again, I'm not the target market for this service.
What I do like: I can wirelessly download playlist, music continues to play even when I'm syncing! I can stream a lot of music, although the more obscure ones aren't available.
What I do not like: you can't really do podcasts, you can't really do videos. Managing music must be done in a playlist - you can't just drag and drop songs onto your device. Does not consider an iPad a mobile device and won't do the syncing thing. Also, the service is only "invitation" only. Velvet rope and red carpets.
I've had some problems with its software. Took a while to index my music (while 90k tracks isn't a lot compared to certain people, I would say it's sort of normal for hardcore music fan). Sometime Spotify loses playlist, stars have disappeared, and I don't understand the difference between "local files" and "library" (I know there is a description "music you've starred, imported, bought or added to playlist" and "music from your computer", but they seem like one and the same to me).
To be fair, I also checked out Rdio (pronounced ar-dee-oh) and MOG. These two services does not offer any music management - it's strictly streaming music only. On Rdio, it took a while to match music via iTunes (which is not current) and MOG doesn't care what music I own. I think all these services offer similar music downloads, surprisingly a lot of artists are on these services already, minus the typical Beatles (which is not available on any streaming platform).
I downloaded a Camera Obscura album on Rdio and Sleeper's Greatest Hits on MOG. Both download quickly. There's actually something really cool about that. Spotify, on my free account, doesn't offer this.
All of these services are asking for $10 a month, chances are, you're only going to use one - if you had to choose. It comes down to music choice: Rdio about 8-9 million songs, MOG has about 11-12 million, and Spotify having about 13 million (details from osnews.com). I think with the ability to use the free service from Spotify (add your own music) and the extra one million songs, Spotify appears to be the real winner here.
UPDATE: Tried to play my Spotify playlist without the application running on my desktop - it tried to sync up and then refused to play my music! (Note: these are songs I've previously already downloaded on my device!) That was terribly annoying, it's definitely a FAIL on Spotify. I was already unhappy with the desktop not remembering 'stars' or deleting my playlist. I think I'll just stick to transferring my playlist the old stupid iTunes way, at least that works.
UPDATE #2: I've completely stopped using Spotify (that was fast!). It always wants to sync my playlist - and it refuses to play music I own/downloaded. I suspect MOG and Rdio will eventually not let me play the albums I've downloaded during my trial period, but at least with those two later services, it lets me play files offline.
So, I have an account, I've been playing around with it. Can't really do much on my iPod, since I'm not really to shell out $10 a month for Spotify on mobile. Seems kind of expensive, but then again, I'm not the target market for this service.
What I do like: I can wirelessly download playlist, music continues to play even when I'm syncing! I can stream a lot of music, although the more obscure ones aren't available.
What I do not like: you can't really do podcasts, you can't really do videos. Managing music must be done in a playlist - you can't just drag and drop songs onto your device. Does not consider an iPad a mobile device and won't do the syncing thing. Also, the service is only "invitation" only. Velvet rope and red carpets.
I've had some problems with its software. Took a while to index my music (while 90k tracks isn't a lot compared to certain people, I would say it's sort of normal for hardcore music fan). Sometime Spotify loses playlist, stars have disappeared, and I don't understand the difference between "local files" and "library" (I know there is a description "music you've starred, imported, bought or added to playlist" and "music from your computer", but they seem like one and the same to me).
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I downloaded a Camera Obscura album on Rdio and Sleeper's Greatest Hits on MOG. Both download quickly. There's actually something really cool about that. Spotify, on my free account, doesn't offer this.
All of these services are asking for $10 a month, chances are, you're only going to use one - if you had to choose. It comes down to music choice: Rdio about 8-9 million songs, MOG has about 11-12 million, and Spotify having about 13 million (details from osnews.com). I think with the ability to use the free service from Spotify (add your own music) and the extra one million songs, Spotify appears to be the real winner here.
UPDATE: Tried to play my Spotify playlist without the application running on my desktop - it tried to sync up and then refused to play my music! (Note: these are songs I've previously already downloaded on my device!) That was terribly annoying, it's definitely a FAIL on Spotify. I was already unhappy with the desktop not remembering 'stars' or deleting my playlist. I think I'll just stick to transferring my playlist the old stupid iTunes way, at least that works.
UPDATE #2: I've completely stopped using Spotify (that was fast!). It always wants to sync my playlist - and it refuses to play music I own/downloaded. I suspect MOG and Rdio will eventually not let me play the albums I've downloaded during my trial period, but at least with those two later services, it lets me play files offline.