Spotify's U.S. Landing Page • Hacker News Board

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#31

Post by shii » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #22

shii wrote: post #14

Grooveshark already does everything listed. And it's been available in the USA for years. The only problem is their iPhone app has been continuously rejected by Apple so they've been forced to publish for iOS on Cydia's store for jailbroken apps. That and licensing/litigation issues with some large recording companies. They have deals with a few and have been through court with others.

Grooveshark is user uploaded which means duplicates, fakes, bad tagging (so the "same" song might have widely different total times). Use Grooveshark if you like trial/error in your music listening.

I've been using it for more than 3 years and have noticed lots of duplicates in searches like you mention, but the flagging feature has removed virtually all crappy songs. I bump in to way fewer of these types of tracks now than in 2008 when it was called Grooveshark Lite. The vast majority of songs are great quality. But I agree, there are lots of duplicates and bad tagging around.

Another upside to user uploaded content is that Grooveshark has a massive library of available songs. I have found the most obscure artists in different languages on Grooveshark. I listen to a lot of music and artists and there are very few musicians I haven't found on Grooveshark.

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#32

Post by seabee » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #24

bobwebb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why it doesn't get more attention. Inferior marketing department, I suppose.

I don't think Grooveshark is a very good product, but I'm not crazy about Spotify either. Last time I used Spotify (about a year ago) they didn't even have the ability save albums to a collection or library. You could only create playlists which turned into terrible UI once you had more than a few. Not having a web interface is also a major minus in my book.

The problem with music players is that not everyone wants to consume music in the same way.

BTW you can create folders of playlists. Between that and search, it makes it manageable enough for me.

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#33

Post by microtonal » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:11 PM UTC

michael_dorfman wrote: post #16

pirko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't really upload tracks, as in upload to the cloud. You can only import tracks into the client so that you don't need another media player to play them.

You can upload tracks to the cloud, but you can only play them with a Spotify client. Further: if the track is in the GraceNote database, you can share the track (via a playlist) with friends on Spotify.

Not according to Spotify themselves:

http://www.spotify.com/nl/help/faq/local-files/does-spotify-...

As I have always understood it, your local music collection is included in the client. If you share playlists containing tracks from your local collection. But if they are not provided by Spotify, friends need to have the same tracks locally as well to be able to play them.

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#34

Post by davidpadbury » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:11 PM UTC

melvinmt wrote: post #7

Spotify has completely replaced iPod on my iOS devices and iTunes on my MacBook. Coming from Europe, I'm using Spotify in the States for over a month now so I guess that once you get a (paid) subscription it works everywhere in the world (it has no streaming restrictions). So all you need to do to try it out is create an account through a proxy/VPN and you're all set!

I've been paying for Spotify in the UK and been using the desktop client without any tricks in the US since moving here. The big problem is that the Spotify iPhone app isn't available in the US app store. Is there anyway around this?

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#35

Post by modernerd » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:12 PM UTC

Spotify feels like driving around in a stolen car and leaving £10 a month in the glovebox.

I'm a European Spotify subscriber, and I'd be hard pushed to go back to purchasing albums again. Access really does trump 'ownership', and it would take Apple introducing a similar subscription service for me to go back to iTunes now.

But I wonder how Spotify can scale and actively support musicians. It might sound strange, but -- even as a paid subscriber -- I feel guilty when I use Spotify. I can't help feeling that musicians get an even rougher deal when I listen to their music over Spotify than when I buy tracks from iTunes or directly from their websites.

There is something unsettling about having instant access to a huge array of songs and only paying £9.99 a month for the service. It is so different to the traditional model that it almost feels like stealing. It's a feeling I don't get listening to the radio; with the radio, you're a passenger hitching a lift. With Spotify, you're in control. And somehow it feels wrong. Like joyriding[1], It's hard to shake the feeling that there will be consequences.

I'm sure that won't dent your enjoyment of the service if you're in the US, but I thought it worth sharing the viewpoint.

[1]: So I'm told.

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#36

Post by tptacek » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:12 PM UTC

I know this is exciting to people who have been envious of UK Spotify, but we've had Rdio for like a year now, right? Rdio is pretty excellent.

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#37

Post by Tomek_ » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:12 PM UTC

megaman821 wrote: post #4

A couple of questions to Spotify users: What advantages does Spotify have over Rdio? Can Spotify be used as a streaming service and a digital locker for tracks they don't have?

For one thing: user interface. The one of Rdio is pretty confusing, whereas the one of Spotify is, for me at least, the best UI of a music player ever. That's the great thing about Spotify (and I think it's often overlooked): it's not only that their idea is great, but also that the execution of that idea is stellar (for the same reason I prefer Spotify over Grooveshark).

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#38

Post by binarymax » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:19 PM UTC

kenneth_reitz wrote: post #28

binarymax wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im not sure since I've never used Rdio. But here is what I love about spotify (I am a premium subscriber for a laughable fee of £10 per month for all the ad-free music I want). - The collection is enormous, and newly released albums become available pretty quickly. There are of course artists who are not available but there is so much out there its insane. - The speed. Since its pretty much legalized P2P, I never nee…

The most important: Audio quality. If you have a paid Spotify subscription, you get 320kbps ogg streams (when they're available).

Almost forgot about that - my speakers don't do the service justice :)

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#39

Post by ender7 » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:20 PM UTC

modernerd wrote: post #35

Spotify feels like driving around in a stolen car and leaving £10 a month in the glovebox. I'm a European Spotify subscriber, and I'd be hard pushed to go back to purchasing albums again. Access really does trump 'ownership', and it would take Apple introducing a similar subscription service for me to go back to iTunes now. But I wonder how Spotify can scale and actively support musicians. It might sound strange, but…

It seems that we're quickly heading toward a point where all music becomes essentially free [1], and serves only as PR for boosting ticket sales. Keep in mind that, currently, most musicians can be broken into two groups:

1. Superstars that make so much money that they won't be missing your Spotify dollars.

2. Most other musicians, who don't really make that much off album sales compared to ticket sales (unless they sell physical CDs at their concerts, in which case, maybe).

I'm curious if there are any indie musicians out there with a different opinion, though.

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2008/11/08/360-music-deals-become-mand...

Re: Spotify's U.S. Landing Page

#40

Post by shii » Wed, Jul 06, 2011, 5:24 PM UTC

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #24

bobwebb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why it doesn't get more attention. Inferior marketing department, I suppose.

I don't think Grooveshark is a very good product, but I'm not crazy about Spotify either. Last time I used Spotify (about a year ago) they didn't even have the ability save albums to a collection or library. You could only create playlists which turned into terrible UI once you had more than a few. Not having a web interface is also a major minus in my book.

Grooveshark allows you to build a library of music, favorites, playlists, follow friends, find and buy concert tickets from Artists page through SongKick (YC 07), listen on your mobile device if you have Grooveshark Anywhere. Their other paid plan, Grooveshark Plus gives you access to early features before they're rolled out to the normal users like their desktop client, visualizations, Last.fm scrobbling, no limits on library + fav size and more.

If they can find a way to fix their content quality problem and licensing issues with the RIAA, they have a really bright future. They're the most innovative company in the space right now and I think it would be a damn shame if they were forced to close due to different recording companies constantly suing them and turning back on their settlement deals. Having to deal with EMI, Sony Warner MG, Universal and their ilk separately is part of the problem as well. The reason their iPhone app got pulled from the App Store[1] was because UMG filed a new copyright infringement lawsuit against them Jan 2010.

You have to understand they function quite similarly to how Youtube works and is obligated to follow the DMCA.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grooveshark#Legal_issues