I think that I would lose all the Zune benefits (re: integration) by not currently having a non-rrod xbox and windows phone. I couldn't tell you if they had an android app, but from what I've read the selection is not only less than iTunes, but less than Spotify as well. So, at this juncture, the 1.75/month "savings" is not enough to get me onboard. =(

2/4/2012 6:17:30 PM

Yeah, if you aren't "in" the microsoft hardware ecosystem, it doesn't make sense at all. Honestly it was worth it just for the xbox integration, but having a windows phone makes the Zune Pass 1000x more justified.

But if you're an Android/iOS user, Spotify is definitely the way to go

2/4/2012 8:16:49 PM

Selective pirate here. So there's been a couple of artists lately that I really dig and would like to show my support. Being that I already subscribe to spotify and their albums are on there, could I realistically listen to their work enough times to generate revenue equivalent to an iTunes purchase?

3/22/2012 9:53:32 AM

Is that how they get paid from Spotify...per listen?

3/22/2012 10:20:36 AM

For anyone on ICS (Android 4.0), if you're having issues with crashing they recently came out with a beta of their next version, which promises the following:

Quote :

"Totally new app with full support for Android 4.0 Top-to-bottom redesign All-new slide-out navigation Even more social - check out friends’ profile pages and playlists on the go Artist imagery in high resolution Related artist view - available for the first time on mobile ‘Extreme’ sound quality setting for 320kbps listening So much faster!"

http://www.spotify.com/us/blog/archives/2012/04/19/new-android-preview/
http://community.spotify.com/t5/Mobile-Android/quot-Official-quot-new-application-beta-release-missing-feature/td-p/45383

4/23/2012 11:28:01 AM

^^^I think the figure is somewhere around $.005 per listen

4/23/2012 12:28:31 PM

So say I wanna build a playlist with a friend of mine, where we can both add tracks.

Can I do that with Spotify?

7/26/2012 10:51:59 PM

^You can build a collaborative playlist, yes.

7/29/2012 5:02:45 PM

Quote :

"I think the figure is somewhere around $.005 per listen"

How can they afford this when having to send checks out to every artist known to man, monthly?
Not all artists are available either.


I think the record company gets all the profit because there are no local, unlabeled, freelance bands on spotify

7/29/2012 5:19:15 PM

^unlike some people, they have a good business model that they researched well. They built a good product and charge appropriately (plus money from advertisers on the free versions) so they don't have to bitch about Papa John's their competitors.

7/29/2012 6:16:47 PM

Been hanging out in the indie wok room in Soundrop. I gotta admit I'm really excited about this app.

8/14/2012 9:41:11 AM

^ Yeah I enjoy Sounddrop, mostly because it's built in to Spotify. Only problem is since it's voting based, you tend to hear the same [popular] songs often imo.

A better version of this type of service is Turntable.fm, but I can't remember if you can add songs to your Spotify playlists from their interface (one of the things I like most about Sounddrop).


On another note, do any of you "follow" any celebrities on Spotify? I currently have Bomani Jones, Joe Ovies and Trent Reznor favorited. It's a cool way to discover new music...

10/18/2012 3:19:33 PM

bomani jones and joe ovies are celebrities?

10/18/2012 4:14:20 PM

In varying degrees...a lot more people know their names than mine and yours

10/18/2012 4:17:13 PM

Any way you can stream local files (on a home desktop computer for example) to your phone? Services like Google Music do this, but Spotify doesn't seem to have this feature. Am I missing something?

1/24/2013 2:07:41 PM

Unless something has changed, I don't think that the local files show up on your mobile device unless they exist on the sdcard. Tracks on my home playlist will just be grayed out on mobile.

1/24/2013 11:23:30 PM

What apps do you all use in Spotify?

I've been using TuneWiki to get the lyrics to some songs, works pretty well. Sounddrop is fun. And sometimes I pop into Rolling Stones Recommends.

1/30/2013 2:12:36 PM

I've been plaing around with this "spotify connect" on my new pioneer A4 I got for $80 (awesome deal by the way). Anyone know what bit rate it uses to stream to the speaker? Obviously it can be set in iOS in the settings but I'm not convinced it uses that. I can control music from my phone or iPad at the same time and each is set differently.

12/13/2013 9:48:02 AM

Quote :

"Spotify Adds Led Zeppelin, and Turns Focus to Mobile With competition growing in the streaming music market, Spotify announced a series of changes meant to entice new customers and extend its digital footprint farther around the world. At a news conference in Manhattan that was broadcast online, Daniel Ek, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, said the company was increasing the amount of free music it makes available on mobile devices, opening in 20 emerging markets and adding the music of Led Zeppelin. Spotify has fascinated those in the tech world practically since it began in Sweden in 2008, both for its sleek design and ambitious business model. Positioning itself as a legal alternative to piracy, the service makes music available free with advertising, or for monthly subscriptions of about $5 to $10, which eliminate the ads and add perks like access through mobile devices. Still, the relative lack of free music available on mobile phones has been seen as an impediment to Spotify’s growth. “The world has changed a lot since we launched,” Mr. Ek said in an interview after the news conference. “More than half of all users are now signing up straight to mobile, and there is a huge correlation between playing on mobile and getting people to convert.” Spotify will now make on-demand music — picking specific songs to listen to — available free on tablet computers. On mobile phones, free users can listen in shuffle mode to their playlists and to songs by any artist on the service. (Paying users, of course, can listen without the shuffling.) Spotify also announced that it was opening in 20 new countries, mostly in Latin America and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay. The company now operates in 55 markets around the world. But Spotify is about to face major competition from YouTube and Beats Music, which are expected to introduce subscription services early next year. Spotify’s exclusive deal with Led Zeppelin, which has sold more than 300 million albums around the world, was notable because the band had refused to license its music to streaming services. Led Zeppelin’s representatives have been in negotiations with various streaming services since at least January. Spotify, which has more than six million paying subscribers, is believed to have beaten out smaller competitors like Rdio and Rhapsody. Among the few major acts still absent from on-demand streaming services like Spotify are AC/DC, Tool, Garth Brooks and the Beatles."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/business/media/spotify-said-to-secure-exclusive-deal-with-led-zeppelin.html?hpw&rref=technology&_r=0

12/13/2013 9:55:11 AM

I love my spot iffy

I need to re-upgrade.

That shit recently expired and I can't deal

12/14/2013 9:09:42 AM

Yeah I've spent like 3 hundred on Spotify and I don't regret it at all. Take that record labels!

12/15/2013 3:17:18 PM

same here, been on Spotify for about a year now. Totally satisfying music solution

12/17/2013 8:09:47 PM

Quote :

"I've been plaing around with this "spotify connect" on my new pioneer A4 I got for $80 (awesome deal by the way). Anyone know what bit rate it uses to stream to the speaker?"

I got that same deal on the A4. I haven't been able to find anything on what bitrate the connect service uses. It sounds pretty good, though. I wish I had gotten another one. I've been thinking about buying Sonos setup. They're so damn expensive. I can't decide if it's worth it.

12/17/2013 9:17:01 PM

I had canceled my spotify..but I got a free 3 months via some contest...I like it.

12/18/2013 8:57:02 AM

I also stream spotify on my Denon receiver. Its the "320kbs" HQ quality setting.

12/19/2013 6:17:26 PM

So you all stream Spotify in your car? What does the data run through/how much is it?

12/20/2013 12:17:44 AM

how much is Spotify Premium or how much are our data plans?

I have an unlimited plan from AT&T and stream Spotify, SiriusXM, and iTunes Radio a couple times a day.

12/20/2013 8:50:15 PM

I know how much Spotify is.

How much is the data plan for these Pioneer A4s or whatever car receiver you people are streaming through (that isn't a mobile phone)?

12/21/2013 10:58:09 AM

The A4 is an Airplay Wifi speaker, kind of like a Sonos or a Squeezebox. It's not for the car. While in the Spotify app on the same wireless network, it shows up and you can throw the music there. Interestingly, my tablet shows up as another device I can 'cast' to. I guess that would be nice if I wanted to plug it into my surround via an aux cable and control it that way.

Spotify can suck down some data, especially if you set the bitrate as high as it will go. My phone says the Spotify app has used ~1GB of data this month. Without doing the math exactly, I'd guess I average 30 min - 1hr a day of streaming on the 320kbps setting.

12/21/2013 1:48:01 PM

350MB for me but I download most/all of my playlists on wifi for streaming in the car.

12/23/2013 5:17:14 PM

is there a way to speed up the Spotify desktop app? is it a cache thing? I use it all the time and lately it's just been boggy as hell searching and loading artist catalogs. It's fine actually playing.

2/17/2014 4:09:28 PM

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-clear-your-spotify-cache-and-save-hard-disk-spac-1357912561

2/17/2014 4:48:41 PM

Does anyone play Spotify from their phone through an AUX jack in their car? I don't think it's always been this way, but when I play a track the sound is playing roughly 90% out of the passenger side speakers, with 10% through the driver side and almost zero bass through my subwoofer.

This doesn't happen from my iPod or through SiriusXM. Any idea what may cause this or a solution? At first I thought my speakers may have busted but that is not the case.

6/5/2014 9:22:24 PM

I used to ... don't think I had that problem though

6/5/2014 10:29:29 PM

^^ I do with no problems.

What you're describing sounds like a bad connection somewhere with your AUX cable. Are you using your phone as the audio source for the other things which work fine/maybe it's your phone?

6/6/2014 9:54:46 AM

anyone's desktop client running really slow since a couple of the latest updates? Mine is borderline unusable these days.

9/9/2015 10:15:19 AM

mine seems to be running just fine

9/9/2015 3:33:37 PM

^^Yeah, I'm having that problem. For some reason it's grinding up A LOT of memory.

9/18/2015 10:27:55 AM

Quote :

"I think that I would lose all the Zune benefits "

lol

9/18/2015 4:29:19 PM

http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/30/9416579/spotify-discover-weekly-online-music-curation-interview

I actually read this whole thing. You can chalk it up to hyping/advertising Spotify but I believe Discover Weekly is the greatest music curation service I've seen yet (and they used such a simple idea). I'm still pissed they dropped Apps though.

10/13/2015 4:46:37 PM

I'm really happy with Apply Music's curated playlists.

10/14/2015 7:50:27 PM

^^ very cool thanks for posting...wasn't aware of that feature.

^ Is that based on what you listen to?

10/14/2015 10:48:55 PM

^^^ Wow, I've just started using the Discover Weekly after seeing your post and it's pretty amazing.

10/23/2015 6:46:16 PM

Wow, I'm glad. So far I've discovered Porter Robinson (from NC?!!) and The So So Glos. The best part is knowing it comes from kindred spirits.

10/25/2015 1:15:13 AM

Discover Weekly has been absolutely on point since the start. Get on this people!


i've told dozens of people about it. but i realized that i kind of live on spotify and most people don't. It's probably the #1 thing i use.

10/26/2015 8:59:29 AM

As someone who listens to music nearly 24x7, i still have rarely ever used spotify Which seems weird I guess. Maybe part of it is still that I purchase the majority of my music and can barely keep up with listening to all the albums that are in my personal queue anyway (already surpassed 100 albums this year).

I might still give Discover Weekly a shot though because discovering music is pretty much my #1 hobby. My guess though, is that unless i became a spotify power user I am not sure how useful the service would be to me.

[Edited on October 26, 2015 at 11:00 AM. Reason : ]

10/26/2015 10:58:18 AM

i use spotify to find new music all the time, spend hours doing it and have found some real gems that way

10/26/2015 10:51:39 PM

I tried to find a Timbaland & Magoo song from the late 90s and it is not on there.

10/28/2015 1:59:33 PM

So if you mainly listen to discovery weekly every day then does it evolve based upon it's own suggestions?

11/10/2015 11:47:40 AM

I doubt it...I imagine it bases it picks on your playlists, not just your listening. Guess I could check out that longread on it but nah.

11/10/2015 11:51:03 AM