Spotify is in the US now. I'd like to try, but you need an invite. Anyone want to invite me? 😀 (send a PM)
I'm a long time Internet radio user - from MusicMatch radio at the turn of the century thru Launchcast , Shoutcast and Pandora, as well as many streaming broadcast stations. I've done both paid and free.
Since Spotify has a 320K Vorbis stream for paid members, that is enticing. But I'd like to check their library - mostly jazz and classical - before paying.
Thoughts?
I'm a long time Internet radio user - from MusicMatch radio at the turn of the century thru Launchcast , Shoutcast and Pandora, as well as many streaming broadcast stations. I've done both paid and free.
Since Spotify has a 320K Vorbis stream for paid members, that is enticing. But I'd like to check their library - mostly jazz and classical - before paying.
Thoughts?
Hey Pano, PM sent. See if it works ok.
I've got quite a few invites left, so just post in this thread if you want one.
I've got quite a few invites left, so just post in this thread if you want one.
Otherwise I've used Spotify for quite a bit, I've been paying for about an year and a half as well and I'm extremely happy with it. It has a lot of things I've trouble finding otherwise and is very convenient. Hi-quality Vorbis is just amazing too.
There is a lot of Jazz, but I hear libraries are a bit country-dependent, so it might be different in the USA. But in general the library is expanding all the time and it's getting pretty rich by now. It's worth 2 beers a month over here, so it definitely delivers quite a lot, compared to its cost 🙂
There is a lot of Jazz, but I hear libraries are a bit country-dependent, so it might be different in the USA. But in general the library is expanding all the time and it's getting pretty rich by now. It's worth 2 beers a month over here, so it definitely delivers quite a lot, compared to its cost 🙂
OK, just 10 minutes with Spotify and I'm convinced. Even the free version sounds much better than Pandora. Bandwidth usage is low and as a number of reviews stated, it starts very fast.
The selection is great in both classical and jazz. I'm listening to Ravel at the moment, plenty to choose from.
Leave it to the Swedes to engineer a better music service.
Thanks Atilla for the invite.
The selection is great in both classical and jazz. I'm listening to Ravel at the moment, plenty to choose from.
Leave it to the Swedes to engineer a better music service.
Thanks Atilla for the invite.Seriously, this service has changed a lot of things around here, all for the better 🙂
*Atilla who still misses "Johnatan from Spotify"
*Atilla who still misses "Johnatan from Spotify"
I can imagine. 🙂
After spending a day with the free service, I'm pretty impressed. One major flaw, tho. The adverts are LOUD! If I turn off the volume leveling they are insanely loud. Mostly because I listen to classical and jazz that are recorded at -18dB (or lower) average level. The adverts must be a full 10dB hotter, maybe more. And they are never for any music I'd listen to.
Going to the pay service would fix that, of course. But it's relatively expensive, compared to the pay services I'm used to. $10 a month for Premium? I can get a Netflix movie streaming account for $2 less. And Pandora One only costs me $3 a month.
It's a great service, but the pricing is going to keep a lot of folks away from the paid accounts.
After spending a day with the free service, I'm pretty impressed. One major flaw, tho. The adverts are LOUD! If I turn off the volume leveling they are insanely loud. Mostly because I listen to classical and jazz that are recorded at -18dB (or lower) average level. The adverts must be a full 10dB hotter, maybe more. And they are never for any music I'd listen to.
Going to the pay service would fix that, of course. But it's relatively expensive, compared to the pay services I'm used to. $10 a month for Premium? I can get a Netflix movie streaming account for $2 less. And Pandora One only costs me $3 a month.
It's a great service, but the pricing is going to keep a lot of folks away from the paid accounts.
It's amazing how our perceptions of value change, isn't it? A library of all the recordings in the world in great quality are not worth even $10 a month these days.
Yet I am perplexed by the way people are prepared to pay £0.79 per track from iTunes without batting an eyelid. I know such people, and I find they are simply not open to the idea of streaming vs. 'buying' the music. Yet these same people are the ones who do possess the gizmos that are capable of streaming all the time, or storing tracks which are playable 'offline' from the streaming services like Spotify.
Paying £0.79 for a track would cause me extreme pain, but £10 per month for Spotify (with the high quality streaming option) seems like a bargain to me. In the end, the music industry probably makes the same amount of money from me (I probably didn't even used to buy a CD per month) but I get all the music in the world to choose from. Seems like a win-win.
The volume levelling seems to be a bit controversial. I initially assumed it was volume normalisation per track, i.e. fixing the maximum level of each track at full scale, but I would swear that it is acting as volume compression and destroying the dynamics. An acquaintance concluded the same thing independently from me, and I have seen arguments about it on the interweb. Could be easily proved I suppose.
Anyway, I never turn on the volume levelling.
100%
I agree with Pano.
The ad's are to loud ! And it is not so cheap!
Best,
Audiofanatic 😉
I agree with Pano.
The ad's are to loud ! And it is not so cheap!
Best,
Audiofanatic 😉
I find the same. It kills the dynamics. Maybe not a problem with today's squashed music, but listening to piano solos it really kills them.
Yes, even at $10 a month, it's a great deal. But with the price of things like Netflix and Pandora One, I'm just plain spoiled! Maybe the best comparison here is the Unlimited plan at $5 a month.
Thanks to the exchange rates, we pay about 18 dollars a month, currently. But as I said, measured in beer, is 2 pints out in the town, so it's all very relative. I find it stupidly cheap here.
The adverts have always been insanely loud, that's true.
As for the normalisation, I've heard people complain that it destroys the music quality, but I never have it on so I haven't checked. And it doesn't normalize the ads.
The adverts have always been insanely loud, that's true.
As for the normalisation, I've heard people complain that it destroys the music quality, but I never have it on so I haven't checked. And it doesn't normalize the ads.
Both Pandora and Spotify are not available in my part of the globe yet 🙁 Oh well I still enjoy the interaction of playing a disc and reading its contents at times etc 🙂
Nice to see that it finally has been launched in the US!
I have used Spotify for 2-3 years now and have paid for it from the 4th month. $15/month for almost all (well) music in the world is no biggie 🙂 The biggest advantage when you pay for it is the higher quality but most of all, you can use it on your mobile phone. Android, iOS or Symbian OS.
The offline mode is gold. Just sync the tunes you want when on WiFi and you have them where ever you go with no need for data connection.
I have 31 invites left, let me know if you need one!
Best regards,
Carl
I have used Spotify for 2-3 years now and have paid for it from the 4th month. $15/month for almost all (well) music in the world is no biggie 🙂 The biggest advantage when you pay for it is the higher quality but most of all, you can use it on your mobile phone. Android, iOS or Symbian OS.
The offline mode is gold. Just sync the tunes you want when on WiFi and you have them where ever you go with no need for data connection.
I have 31 invites left, let me know if you need one!
Best regards,
Carl
I'll probably end up with Premium. I just wish Unlimited had the higher bitrate, I don't need or care about the mobile phone stuff.
Is it possible for the music to pass through Foobar playlist? I need the music to load in foobar to USB>DAC.
Joe
Joe
As far as I've been able to tell, no. But there may be a Foobar plugin somewhere. I'd love to run it thru my JRiver player, but no plugin yet. Spotify seems to use its own audio engine, no matter what. At least in Windoze.
As long as your USB DAC is the default, it should not be a problem.
Can the more experienced Spotify users shed some more light?
EDIT: Maybe Spotifoo?
As long as your USB DAC is the default, it should not be a problem.
Can the more experienced Spotify users shed some more light?
EDIT: Maybe Spotifoo?
Hm, I haven't seen any integration being provided to the app, sadly.
As for the mobile app, it's godly, even on older phones. I use it as a music player on my E52, for local files, there simply isn't anything better for S60 that I've seen yet.
As for the mobile app, it's godly, even on older phones. I use it as a music player on my E52, for local files, there simply isn't anything better for S60 that I've seen yet.
google music seems to play my flac files in high rate mp3 mode, free, I upload all my songs and can play any where. realize not the same since spotify seems to have many songs ...
I had a friend over yesterday to listen to my system. He brought his music collection on a big USB hard drive. Unfortunately it was Mac formated and I could not read it. But we found almost all he wanted to hear on Spotify.
I don't have the high quality streaming, just the "No adverts" version. He was still surprised at how good it sounded. He had brought a Cobie Calliat CD and we compared that to the Spotify version. The steaming version was like a lot of mid to high bitrate compression, slightly warmer and flatter than the original. The CD version had more space and depth and sounded slightly cooler. We didn't hear any artifacts in the stream, just the loss of some detail and a warming of the sound.
Just a FWIW.
I don't have the high quality streaming, just the "No adverts" version. He was still surprised at how good it sounded. He had brought a Cobie Calliat CD and we compared that to the Spotify version. The steaming version was like a lot of mid to high bitrate compression, slightly warmer and flatter than the original. The CD version had more space and depth and sounded slightly cooler. We didn't hear any artifacts in the stream, just the loss of some detail and a warming of the sound.
Just a FWIW.
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