Comments on: Review: Does Spotify Live Up to the Hype?

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:57:43 +0000

Thanks Refe for the review… I’ve had a chance to spend a bit of time using Spotify and the more I use it, the more I realize that Spotify would only complement my current music consumption pattern.

I wouldn’t call it a game changer but will say that they have put together such a lightweight, fast interface that accessing and listening to music hasn’t been as easy.

For me I think I will go with the hybrid approach to enjoying my music… owning and accessing. There is music that I want copies of (CD or digital) and then there is music where I would be more than happy to have access to when the mood strikes but isn’t as important to “own” a copy.

So, for me, I will probably go with the iTunes, eMusic Last.fm and Spotify to support my music addiction.

Can’t wait to see what new features they have in store. As good as the interface is, information (outside of the bio) seems lacking or disorganized. In particular, the grouping of albums by artist, which I wish could be listed right up at the top. iTunes has them beat here. But having said that, I have started using the advanced search and you can really dig deep into their catalog by year(s), upc code, label, isrc etc. For example, something like: year:1987-1990 genre:pop.

Otherwise, sharing and collaborating on playlists is really cool. For a human driven, music discovery, it really works. I’ve had friends send a couple of playlists they handpicked with music I never heard of but thoroughly enjoyed. I’m looking forward to really digging into this for sure.

Sound quality is excellent (non-premium) so no complaints there.

Interesting enough, the audio ads are not annoying, obnoxious or disruptive whatsoever. They just seem to flow with whatever you are listening to. Another friend made the same comment and we both agreed, the US ads will probably be loud and obnoxious in comparison.

They certainly have made it easy enough for anyone to use but I really wonder if Spotify will gain mass market traction? Or will it be a niche service for us music geeks?

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Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:03:22 +0000

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By: refe

refe — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:28:43 +0000

That’s one thing I didn’t mention in my review – Spotify can sync up with your Last.fm scrobbling. Nifty feature, although it didn’t occur to me to use Last.fm as the recommendation engine and Spotify to listen.

Thanks for the comment, I was hoping someone who’s been on it for a while would chime in.

By: koningwoning

koningwoning — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:28:31 +0000

I also saw that you didn’t see (or use) another killer option: you can collaborate on playlists….. which is nice for all kinds of uses for instance for parties with friends.

By: koningwoning

koningwoning — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:25:06 +0000

I am an avid Spotify listener. I’ve had a premium subscription for about five months now. It’s changed the way I listen to music.
When you get into the service you go through three reactions (which my whole surroundings can confirm)
1. WOW! this is unbelievable. this is going to be a game changer
2. Crap. There is too much that they don’t have. It’s good, but not great enough to change my real habits
3. Nope – it really is easier and better than listening to CD’s or iTunes. The music they don’t have now they’ll have shortly and I can always listen to really similar things. so no need to search for other things.

I listen to Spotify in combination with Last.Fm. So I can use the “you should also listen to these bands” of Last.Fm and the great possibilities of listening to all kinds of (unknown) bands through Spotify.

I am discovering a lot of new artists through remixes of songs (aI listen to the remixers of great songs… often these guys make great music of their own) and compilation albums (often containing quite unknown cool artists)

P.s. by far the most important thing that Spotify has over all other music services is it’s great classification. This is what makes you able to reach that which you are looking for in all the multitude of information it contains.

P.p.s. the fact that you now also can listen offline to music lists also of course is UNBELIEVABLY good service.

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Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:32:56 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Justin Travis. Justin Travis said: Another take on Spotify…Thanks Rafe! RT @refeup: Does Spotify live up to the hype? http://bit.ly/1IAEjt #music #technology [...]