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Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

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Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should TV networks try to block you if you don't look at the TV while ads are running? Or if you turn it off/switch channel/mute it? Same goes for newspapers and magazines - do you have a right to skip pages filled with ads and not look at them?

...all the examples you gave are services you pay for. Spotify is preventing users from blocking ads on their free tier .

Not necessarily. There are free TV channels and free newspapers as well. Spotify is trying to prevent people from choosing which data packets will their devices process or not. Which is exactly the same as a publisher trying to prevent you from not looking at a page with ads, or cutting it out. In my opinion, users have a right of modifying anything they get - whether free or paid, which includes processing and filtering data that comes to their devices.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#192

Considering how services like Spotify and Apple Music incourage extra data usage, and randomally delete music as they see fit, I'm finding myself thinking more and more of these services as discovery tools (akin to radio) and less like media players (they aren't). One day very soon I'll be playing all my music in something else entirely again. While it's impossible to brush off the value of streaming services like Sp…

Better already exists, you can buy the mp3/ogg/flac, or you can hoist the Jolly Roger. Either option is better than Spotify in the long run, because your copies can’t be removed at a whim, and there are no TOS.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#193
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most radio stations are crap, but the world is a huge place. Listen to say WFMU out of NYC and you will hear a very wide selection of odd stuff.

And most of that odd stuff is also crap. I value the ability to discover music that is relevant to my tastes.

I find novelty to be it’s own reward. However, that’s literally just 1 of ~100,000 radio stations out there. Spotify is decent, but if you want to try something else their really are great options.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can keep a sheet of about 5-10 of them, and generate more when needed. It's inconvenient, but if your in an environment that disallows phones or other portable electronics (like 2FA Fobs/USB sticks), it may be the only reasonable way.

I wonder if there's a way to programmatically re-generate the one-time-use codes. It might be a fun project to set something up that emails a one-time-use code to my work email and then regenerates one.

There's a massive amount of websites that are blocked, so it's not really what I would call 'unfettered.' The reason that phones aren't allowed is related to the fact that they have cameras / microphones. They don't want someone's infected phone spilling company secrets.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could be mistaken, but it was my understanding that those backup codes are one-time-use only, and that using one basically burns it forever. My cookies get cleared every single time I close my browser, so I would have to continually log back in and keep burning more codes. If I'm wrong about this... that would be excellent.

You can keep a sheet of about 5-10 of them, and generate more when needed. It's inconvenient, but if your in an environment that disallows phones or other portable electronics (like 2FA Fobs/USB sticks), it may be the only reasonable way.

GP would need to remember to generate codes in advance and write them down and bring them to work, on a regular basis. And keep track of which codes were used. Can't speak for others, but this would be way too much effort for me to even entertain.

This is why I really dislike forced two factor authentication. It might make sense in a lot of circumstances, but not for everyone.

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Edit: Although, if we're talking about Google Play Music, I'm a bit confused, since you can turn two factor off for Google accounts. If you feel you need two factor on your main Google account but not Google Play Music (seems reasonable!), make a separate account for Google Play Music.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#197

I dont get why people use spotify instead of listening to free online radios from anywhere in the world. As a bonus, its like travelling. There are ads, but they target other people than you so its not even annoying (you will not be influenced to buy a car at a dealership in another country). Note that if you are the kind who likes targeted ads, this does not apply to you.

Radio doesn't play music I like, doesn't let me choose the song I want, doesn't let me pay for a subscription to remove adverts, doesn't let me use playlists, doesn't let me play part of a song or rewind a song or skip a song. I understand the appeal of something like live radio, but it definitely doesn't fall into the category of replacement for a music library or streaming.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#198
post #5
post #2

I wonder if this also applies to people who edit their hosts file.

"circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service;" I guess that answers that one.

so anyone who contributes to a general-purpose adblocker like ublock origin is in violation of spoitfy's ToS? what if someone has a paid account but is also (for example) the author of pihole? that's over-reaching.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#199

The only reason I use an ad-blocker with Spotify in the first place is that they have an abundance of NSFW ads that play. I'm not really comfortable with Trojan advertisements while I'm sitting in the office plugging away. It's definitely their right to deny service if people are freeloading... but there could be other people like me who wouldn't use an ad blocker in the first place (on Spotify, at least) if the ads…

My wife is an avid Pandora user, recently there's been ads from Adam & Eve on the service. It's been fantastic to sit down and eat dinner as a family, then hear an ad for a sex shop play after a couple of songs.

It's not like I'm offended at there being an ad for an adult store or anything, but it's just really offputting? I guess? to hear about some buy one get one on adult toys or whatever while I'm eating.

Re: Spotify will now suspend or terminate accounts it finds are using ad blockers

#200

I dont get why people use spotify instead of listening to free online radios from anywhere in the world. As a bonus, its like travelling. There are ads, but they target other people than you so its not even annoying (you will not be influenced to buy a car at a dealership in another country). Note that if you are the kind who likes targeted ads, this does not apply to you.

That seems rather disingenuous. You don't know why people like to customize their music experience instead of listening to radio which they have no control over which songs play? Really?
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