Spotify launches in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#51

Post by bergie » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:29 PM UTC

sambeau wrote: post #42

I've been using Spotify since the UK closed beta (a few years ago, now). At first it seemed like the most amazing thing ever, but slowly I fell out of love with it, and now I barely use it. Why? 1) The ads. At first they were reasonably infrequent and unobtrusive. But gradually they became more frequent and more and more obtrusive. Eventually some companies were deliberately producing jarring ads to grab your attenti…

If you have the paid version you'll never hear the ads. I find it hard to see why anybody would use the ad-ridden version.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#52

Post by estel » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:29 PM UTC

timmaah wrote: post #48

estel wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a Radio section. You can choose genres and decades, but nothing equivalent to an "Artist radio".

Where would that be? Certainly not highlighted in the UI

Second item in the left-hand navigation pane.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#53

Post by alopes » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:30 PM UTC

Some invites:

cNqeAdBR4rnb4T9A , fE2ZrCLVNGfAJXKW , du4YaCBM337ZHnPL , e3NxdL5CnspC42ut , anFKrCMpD9X8ZJEL , dAXGZ8VTPE9Rk7Rx , bTE59B9TCWfHKBSR , cd4nHezZ9SafkmFh , cY4u7E7R2RrWMfca , fMHTqKLC6Z45nEn8 , dFKksMek8xhL2NS8 , eW8HBT75Ab5pDbSc , ca4AtNNmp9Cg77WE , c7BhhM9Z82rccnsd , dDrc38Ungxa9CxP3 , dfSV9B8MdwbAndmf , eW6gJwRrzc38TwEM , aB7UDYuM7cPzWB8Z , aXzrkNaULmeUzKnn , eT4Vy4cbA6DZSHPS , cpSAhfyD6fSZrUKu

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#54

Post by bergie » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:31 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #9

Spotify will change your life from one appreciating ownership to one preferring access. At least it did with me.

Same thing here. I don't have any MP3s any longer.

Kindle is doing something similar to my book reading. We ditched all paper books sometime last winter (they're now in the office library), and I'm actually reading a lot more because all my books are with me all the time.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#55

Post by k-mcgrady » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:34 PM UTC

sambeau wrote: post #42

I've been using Spotify since the UK closed beta (a few years ago, now). At first it seemed like the most amazing thing ever, but slowly I fell out of love with it, and now I barely use it. Why? 1) The ads. At first they were reasonably infrequent and unobtrusive. But gradually they became more frequent and more and more obtrusive. Eventually some companies were deliberately producing jarring ads to grab your attenti…

As I think you have realised some of your issues (ads and artist payments) could be solved by paying for premium. Premium customers also get access to some music that isn't available for free (and early access to lots of new albums).

I think the problem for you though is the music you listen to. I have never seen music start to disappear (and I listen to a wide variety of music). It's also not reasonable to expect artists such as the Beatles to be on Spotify. They've only arrived on iTunes after years of Apple trying to get them. There is no way they will ever let you stream their music for free on Spotify.

EDIT: And as jsherry said the Stones are on Spotify. I have a lot of their stuff in playlists and listen to them regularly.

I think the best way to use Spotify is in addition to iTunes. I use Spotify premium to listen to music that I would never buy. And then I buy music from iTunes that I regularly listen to or isn't available on Spotify (like the Beatles). For the price of one album a month I don't think that is a bad way to use the service and probably how the record labels hope it would be used.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#56

Post by panacea » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:35 PM UTC

bergie wrote: post #51

sambeau wrote: post #42

I've been using Spotify since the UK closed beta (a few years ago, now). At first it seemed like the most amazing thing ever, but slowly I fell out of love with it, and now I barely use it. Why? 1) The ads. At first they were reasonably infrequent and unobtrusive. But gradually they became more frequent and more and more obtrusive. Eventually some companies were deliberately producing jarring ads to grab your attenti…

If you have the paid version you'll never hear the ads. I find it hard to see why anybody would use the ad-ridden version.

I don't know why a company hasn't bought up all the ad spots with a short whispered message every ten slots that says "Ad free Spotify... brought to you by AwesomeCorp".

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#57

Post by jensnockert » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:39 PM UTC

Edit: Sorry, I am out, didn't think my ~60 invites would go through that quickly, hopefully those who got some are enjoying the service.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#58

Post by sambeau » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:39 PM UTC

jsherry wrote: post #50

sambeau wrote: post #42

I've been using Spotify since the UK closed beta (a few years ago, now). At first it seemed like the most amazing thing ever, but slowly I fell out of love with it, and now I barely use it. Why? 1) The ads. At first they were reasonably infrequent and unobtrusive. But gradually they became more frequent and more and more obtrusive. Eventually some companies were deliberately producing jarring ads to grab your attenti…

I have been using Spotify in the US in closed beta as well for over a month, so just wanted to give my two cents on these points. I will respond in order: 1.The ads on the free plan are obtrusive, but it's free. I didn't find them any more obtrusive than Pandora's ads. That said, I love the service and wanted to take it mobile, so I upgraded to premium, so I'm no longer hearing ads. 2.I didn't experience disappearing…

Sorry, I wasn't clear that that I have a UK account so the disappearances happened over a long period over a year ago.

My bad about The Stones. Maybe they were there that xmas.

I suspect that the issue the small independents have with Spotify is exactly linked to Artists' fees. Selling small amounts of CDs is actually worthwhile for a small artist - being on Spotify isn't.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#59

Post by sambeau » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:41 PM UTC

k-mcgrady wrote: post #55

sambeau wrote: post #42

I've been using Spotify since the UK closed beta (a few years ago, now). At first it seemed like the most amazing thing ever, but slowly I fell out of love with it, and now I barely use it. Why? 1) The ads. At first they were reasonably infrequent and unobtrusive. But gradually they became more frequent and more and more obtrusive. Eventually some companies were deliberately producing jarring ads to grab your attenti…

As I think you have realised some of your issues (ads and artist payments) could be solved by paying for premium. Premium customers also get access to some music that isn't available for free (and early access to lots of new albums). I think the problem for you though is the music you listen to. I have never seen music start to disappear (and I listen to a wide variety of music). It's also not reasonable to expect ar…

My bad about The Stones. To be clear this is my parents' taste in music rather than my own but lack of their favourite artists was enough for them to dismiss Spotify out-of-hand.

Re: Spotify launches in the US

#60

Post by ubercore » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 1:42 PM UTC

Is there a site that compares (up to date) catalog sizes of the different services? Rhapsody used to have the largest, but I couldn't abide their website. Rdio has a great site, but their selection wasn't so great. Mog has been a decent compromise, but I'm interested if Spotify has a larger library.