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Spotify Box

evanhailey.com

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Re: Spotify Box

#121

Post by piva00 »

antihero wrote: post #109
weq wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

all my friends use spotify and everytime i am with them i hear the same music. sure its the music they like, but its the same over and over and over again with no variation. They tell me spotify is great at discovery but i havnt heard it. i listen to djs, radio stations and other internet channels that mix the music i like into new and exciting compositions.

Yeah, I used to use Spotify for discovery when the radio function acted like...radio. Now it's just a 30 track playlist on loop generated based on things you have liked. So absolutely fucking pointless for discovery. I am SCREAMING OUT for a service that was like the old Spotify radio. Currently just going to gigs again and finding bands through bandcamp the organic way is what I'm doing. Also, here is a script I wro…

Curated playlists should be your jam then, find an artist/DJ you like the taste and follow their curations.

The radio also generate different playlists over time, the tracks in a song's/artist's radio will change and not be a static 30-odd tracks forever.

Re: Spotify Box

#122

Post by wwn_se »

croon wrote: post #106
kristjansson wrote: post #87

Separating the internet-connected (and therefore low life-expectancy) bits from the analog sound-reproduction (and therefore expensive and high life-expectancy) bits is a great way to build a solid system that can grow and adapt over time. This is a super cool and gratifying way to deliver the internet-connected bit at low cost (at least for those with hardware inclination, and access to means of production). For tho…

I don't really know why they stopped selling chromecast audio (outside of wanting to sell more speakers I guess), but I have (and had) a bunch of those and bookshelf speakers with Lepai T Amps. It worked great. I've though since replaced most of them with Nest Audios, mostly for the WAF.

A hack is to use a regular chromecast and a hdmi to rca/spdif adapter/splitter. Works pretty well and you can get them pretty cheap (in the ballpark of $20). But it will be more expensive than the chromecast audio unfortunatley

Re: Spotify Box

#123

Post by santialbo »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #54

We should just be cutting out the middlemen like Spotify, and buying music directly from musicians. Then, we can just use standards compliant hardware, of our choosing, to play the music in any format we want (many modern musicians release as flac, old school musicians still sell CDs; either play as lossless, or recompress to chosen target).

Why should we? You can do that if that's what you want. I prefer using Spotify because I can listen new and random artists without knowing their names and explicitly buying their music. Spotify provides me with a service I'm happy to pay for and I'm happy they take a cut from.

Re: Spotify Box

#124

Post by wwn_se »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #93
DiabloD3 wrote: post #54

We should just be cutting out the middlemen like Spotify, and buying music directly from musicians. Then, we can just use standards compliant hardware, of our choosing, to play the music in any format we want (many modern musicians release as flac, old school musicians still sell CDs; either play as lossless, or recompress to chosen target).

I prefer buying physical media. I am partial to CDs but that might just be my age. When CDs were everywhere, getting them was easy and prices more competitive. The last CD I wanted I had to order from Germany and the company really took far too much for the shipping. (€ 15) Once it arrived in Norway (ECC, not EU) I had to pay taxes on top of it. Media downloads from the artist is good in that I get to direct the mone…

You are just old ;)

I have not lost a file in 10years. I have a NAS with backup to the cloud, nothing fancy just a single drive NAS with automatic rolling backups. Important files go to multiple clouds.

Re: Spotify Box

#125

Post by sarasasa28 »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #54

We should just be cutting out the middlemen like Spotify, and buying music directly from musicians. Then, we can just use standards compliant hardware, of our choosing, to play the music in any format we want (many modern musicians release as flac, old school musicians still sell CDs; either play as lossless, or recompress to chosen target).

I use to be autistic about downl.. buying albums before, and listening in foobar or whatever

Spotify simplified my life in this regard so much, and the best is the random suggestions and music discovery. I won't be looking back

Netflix, Amazon prime and video services suck, and it's better indeed to download movies. Spotify is irreplaceable

Re: Spotify Box

#126

Post by darkerside »

kristjansson wrote: post #87

Separating the internet-connected (and therefore low life-expectancy) bits from the analog sound-reproduction (and therefore expensive and high life-expectancy) bits is a great way to build a solid system that can grow and adapt over time. This is a super cool and gratifying way to deliver the internet-connected bit at low cost (at least for those with hardware inclination, and access to means of production). For tho…

For similar reasons, I think the future of mobile connectivity is a screenless device that handles your WiFi/cellular connectivity, CPU, and storage, while connecting wirelessly to speakers and displays around you as needed. Including an earbud or screen device you can carry when you so choose.

Re: Spotify Box

#127

Post by oarsinsync »

chrisjc wrote: post #120

I don't think it's explained in the article, but why was spotifyd chosen instead of cast or airplay "middleware"? Surely cast and airplay work with Spotify while delivering equal sound? Either way, amazing work and looks fantastic in wood.

Not the author, and I'm also not sure I fully understand your question, but am assuming 'cast or airplay' refers to the method used by mobile devices to redirect AV streams to different devices.

Both those solutions still require a spotify client somewhere to interact with the spotify api. The spotify client is still ultimately responsible for determining what to play, where to play from, and what stream URL then needs to be 'cast' to the device.

The box therefore running it's own client independently means you can still control it remotely, but it no longer hijacks control of all audio output on your mobile (or other) device.

spotifyd also implements the Spotify Connect protocol, which enables you to control it through the Spotify app (mobile, desktop, or web), while still retaining independent audio output for other apps on your devices.

Re: Spotify Box

#128

Post by pjmorris »

ajdude wrote: post #118
wussboy wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. But we’ll need some sort of centralized market or exchange on which to discover these artists and send them funds. Oh wait….

I dropped Spotify after that Facebook fiasco, now I just listen to my local college radio. The website does a good job of telling me what music they’re playing, and it ranges throughout the day from old-school jazz to techno or new age. The radio is nonprofit with no ads, and I’m close enough to get both HD1 and HD2 channels, So if I’m not digging what’s on one channel, I’ll just switch to the second.

> now I just listen to my local college radio.

Hear, hear for college radio! The local college radio station is one of my favorite places to listen. They've got great variety. Depending on when you tune in, you might hear 'indie', folk, metal, electronic, or something completely different.

Re: Spotify Box

#129

Post by hamburglar »

santialbo wrote: post #123
DiabloD3 wrote: post #54

We should just be cutting out the middlemen like Spotify, and buying music directly from musicians. Then, we can just use standards compliant hardware, of our choosing, to play the music in any format we want (many modern musicians release as flac, old school musicians still sell CDs; either play as lossless, or recompress to chosen target).

Why should we? You can do that if that's what you want. I prefer using Spotify because I can listen new and random artists without knowing their names and explicitly buying their music. Spotify provides me with a service I'm happy to pay for and I'm happy they take a cut from.

Well for one, if Spotify ends up being the only way musicians get paid, the pool of new and interesting artists is going to end up way, way smaller. I actively try to help independent artists succeed by giving them money directly, even though it ends up being somewhat inconvenient to me. Even the biggest-name independent musicians talk about how laughably little money they make from Spotify streaming compared to actually selling albums and tracks.

For another, pure streaming means you're locked into the streaming service's player, having internet access, and having a device you can run a client on. Just having the audio files is vastly preferable to me.

Re: Spotify Box

#130

Post by lxgr »

oarsinsync wrote: post #127
chrisjc wrote: post #120

I don't think it's explained in the article, but why was spotifyd chosen instead of cast or airplay "middleware"? Surely cast and airplay work with Spotify while delivering equal sound? Either way, amazing work and looks fantastic in wood.

Not the author, and I'm also not sure I fully understand your question, but am assuming 'cast or airplay' refers to the method used by mobile devices to redirect AV streams to different devices. Both those solutions still require a spotify client somewhere to interact with the spotify api. The spotify client is still ultimately responsible for determining what to play, where to play from, and what stream URL then nee…

This is true for AirPlay, but not really for Google Cast: While a Cast-capable device is required to initially launch Spotify, the Spotify Cast app is a full-featured Spotify Connect client.

For example, you can launch Spotify on a Google Home and control it from any device logged in to the same account, regardless of whether it understands the Cast protocol, is on the same network etc.

I suspect that once Spotify offers HomePod support, the situation might look somewhat similar for AirPlay (since being able to continue streaming with your phone out of battery etc. is possible on Apple Music on a HomePod already).

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