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Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#41

Post by lobster_johnson »

psychotik wrote: post #25
nhangen wrote: post #23

The fatal flaw of Spotify, Rdio, and even Last.fm is that finding good music is just too much work. Too much social and too many clicks. I wish Pandora could buy one of these services and combine their discovery engine with the catalogues of the subscription services. Until then, I think I'll just keep buying music.

Hey, if you like discovery try Audiogalaxy Mixes - we just launched it a week or so ago [1]. We think it's better than Pandora (much larger catalog, smarter algos, more input types) - tell me if it's not. It's free on the web (no ads) with a free trial on mobile, after which we charge a small fee to cover licensing costs. If you email viraj@audiogalaxy.com with your account I'll comp you a free month. I'd love to kno…

Hm. Just tried to follow your link (on my iPad). I get a page inviting me to install an app, so I do. After creating an account, the app is basically empty, telling me I have to share some music on my computer. Weird, but ok, so I come back here and try your link again, and I still get the same page asking me to install your app. Is this how it's supposed to work?

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#42

Post by Inufu »

psychotik wrote: post #25
nhangen wrote: post #23

The fatal flaw of Spotify, Rdio, and even Last.fm is that finding good music is just too much work. Too much social and too many clicks. I wish Pandora could buy one of these services and combine their discovery engine with the catalogues of the subscription services. Until then, I think I'll just keep buying music.

Hey, if you like discovery try Audiogalaxy Mixes - we just launched it a week or so ago [1]. We think it's better than Pandora (much larger catalog, smarter algos, more input types) - tell me if it's not. It's free on the web (no ads) with a free trial on mobile, after which we charge a small fee to cover licensing costs. If you email viraj@audiogalaxy.com with your account I'll comp you a free month. I'd love to kno…

Audiogalaxy looks really good, but I can't find a radio mode. (like last.fm, where you enter a tag / artist and it plays similiar songs) Is there such a thing?

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#43

Post by gaoshan »

I find more awesome music, quicker, with Spotify than I ever did with any other music tool. I especially like the apps for this: Pitchfork, Guardian, RollingStone, etc. This combined with checking out what my "friends" are listening to really is a great way to find good stuff.

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#44

Post by joering2 »

andybak wrote: post #29
psychotik wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, if you like discovery try Audiogalaxy Mixes - we just launched it a week or so ago [1]. We think it's better than Pandora (much larger catalog, smarter algos, more input types) - tell me if it's not. It's free on the web (no ads) with a free trial on mobile, after which we charge a small fee to cover licensing costs. If you email viraj@audiogalaxy.com with your account I'll comp you a free month. I'd love to kno…

Ahhhh. Audiogalaxy. That brings back memories. It was amazing back in it's (less legitimate) days. It took over from Napster but improved on it in many ways.

+1. Exactly the same feeling. There was lots of high quality 320k songs and albums there one couldnt find anywhere else... not that I ever used it, of course :)

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#45

Post by Drbble »

rmc wrote: post #17
bitterfounder0 wrote: post #15

My college used DC++ to internally share music, movies, tv shows, and porn. You could browse someones entire media collection. It gave you an overall sense for their taste in music and was a great way to find new bands. Reading about Napster reminded me how much I miss this feature. The article glosses over how slow Napster '99 was. I remember waiting a couple hours to download an album. Fast downloads are more impor…

To be fair, this was the age of dial-up, not broadband.

It was broadband (well, high speed LAN) on college campuses.

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#46

Post by psychotik »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #41
psychotik wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, if you like discovery try Audiogalaxy Mixes - we just launched it a week or so ago [1]. We think it's better than Pandora (much larger catalog, smarter algos, more input types) - tell me if it's not. It's free on the web (no ads) with a free trial on mobile, after which we charge a small fee to cover licensing costs. If you email viraj@audiogalaxy.com with your account I'll comp you a free month. I'd love to kno…

Hm. Just tried to follow your link (on my iPad). I get a page inviting me to install an app, so I do. After creating an account, the app is basically empty, telling me I have to share some music on my computer. Weird, but ok, so I come back here and try your link again, and I still get the same page asking me to install your app. Is this how it's supposed to work?

Are you in the US? Mixes are US only at this time. Non-US users can still use the personal music streaming service though. You install a tiny piece of software on your home machine and then can access all your music everywhere for free.

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#47

Post by psychotik »

Inufu wrote: post #42
psychotik wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, if you like discovery try Audiogalaxy Mixes - we just launched it a week or so ago [1]. We think it's better than Pandora (much larger catalog, smarter algos, more input types) - tell me if it's not. It's free on the web (no ads) with a free trial on mobile, after which we charge a small fee to cover licensing costs. If you email viraj@audiogalaxy.com with your account I'll comp you a free month. I'd love to kno…

Audiogalaxy looks really good, but I can't find a radio mode. (like last.fm, where you enter a tag / artist and it plays similiar songs) Is there such a thing?

Yes, but it's US only at this time. Non-US users can still use the personal music streaming service though.

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#48

Post by joejohnson »

brianwhitman wrote: post #21

I disagree with this -- i was a very heavy Napster user in 99 and am a very heavy Spotify user (and, NB, they are a customer) today. Obviously it's a fun angle for a SXSW talk, but: - The "depth of catalog" is actually incorrect -- Spotify has far far more songs than Napster did (you can see in that screenshot even, most logins/servers hit less than 1m songs totally available, and of course those are just total index…

You are correct, I believe Spotify is much better than Napster was in 1999. But there are still huge flaws with Spotify. It's collection is often missing songs due to licensing issues. I'm tired of seeing songs greyed-out because they are "unavailable" where I live. Spotify's search leaves much to be desired (Napster's wasn't amazing either, however).

But I think the essence of what Sean Parker was saying was that there are still many hurdles that a legal system like Spotify will have to overcome. If you really want everything without restrictions, pirating is still a better option.

Re: Sad but true: Napster '99 still smokes Spotify 2012

#50

Post by meatsock »

rmc wrote: post #18

It's interesting that it's more than a decade since Napster, and the music industry hasn't gone bust yet. It's almost like P2P cannot destroy the main music industry.

no but the music industry can destroy the music industry, and they're doing a bang-up job of it. maybe a different way to think of it is: it's been more than a decade since napster and the music industry is just now beginning to get a clue.
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