'tastes the same'

[alocispepraluger102]

LINK

[Shawn]

Haven't we already discussed Spotify in a bunch of threads?

The comparison to Napster really isn't valid in any way.

[alocispepraluger102]

THE RESULT FOR ME IS AN ENDLESS ARRAY OF MP3 FILES COSTING NOTHING, WITH AN OCCASIONAL UNOBTRUSIVE RADIO COMMERCIAL SQUEEZED IN.

FOR MY PURPOSES, COMPARISONS TO NAPSTER ARE VALID.

Edited September 19, 2012 by alocispepraluger102

[Shawn]

Napster was a way for people to share illegal .mp3s people ripped from their own collections. No money was paid to record labels or artists. It was completely centered around downloading of files.

Spotify is a streaming service, it's not about downloading of files, the content is acquired from the record labels, royalties are paid. Artists get free publicity, I've discovered quite a few bands on Spotify and went out and bought their albums because of it...I probably would never have heard them otherwise.

Do the artists make enough money on this stuff? No. But they make more money from Spotify than if somebody illegally downloaded their album from a blog.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Shawn

[Jazzmoose]

Third button up on the left. Hit it.

[BERIGAN]

I was seeing everyone and their brother talking about it a few months ago...started using it, started to get what seemed like a fair number of ads,so did what I do with pandora, hit mute on the keyboard...well, Spotify doesn't like you to do that...the ads would freeze! Even if you did it for 10 minutes, unmute, there was the ad. Something about that really burned my britches, so after awhile, I gave up on them. Hmmm, wonder if I just turned the volume way down, if the ad would still freeze?

[Daniel A]

If you turn the volume down below a certain level the ads will freeze. If you're using external speakers you could always turn down the volume on those, of course.

[Pete C]

The Napster name was eventually bought for a legal streaming service similar to Spotify. When Spotify launched in the U.S. Napster threw in the towel and merged with Rhapsody. Now, after 10 or so years, Rhapsody has about 1 million subscribers, about 40% of which came from the Napster merger. Spotify after about 3 years has 2.5 million subscribers.

If you really can't stand the ads (and who wants a condom ad between movements of a Beethoven symphony?) you can pay $5 a month for computer streaming only, and for $10 a month you can also have it on multiple mobile devices and save tracks for offline listening. I'm now a premium subscriber and I have tracks saved on my Kindle Fire and iPod Touch.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Pete C

[alocispepraluger102]

The Napster name was eventually bought for a legal streaming service similar to Spotify. When Spotify launched in the U.S. Napster threw in the towel and merged with Rhapsody. Now, after 10 or so years, Rhapsody has about 1 million subscribers, about 40% of which came from the Napster merger. Spotify after about 3 years has 2.5 million subscribers.

If you really can't stand the ads (and who wants a condom ad between movements of a Beethoven symphony?) you can pay $5 a month for computer streaming only, and for $10 a month you can also have it on multiple mobile devices and save tracks for offline listening. I'm now a premium subscriber and I have tracks saved on my Kindle Fire and iPod Touch.

thanks--i wasn't aware of the awesome $5/month computer only option. that's a deal.

[Pete C]

And if you want to get rid of the commercials on Pandora, and a higher streaming bitrate, it's $3 a month.

[Shawn]

And if you want to get rid of the commercials on Pandora, and a higher streaming bitrate, it's $3 a month.

Pandora doesn't let you stream entire albums though, right?

[Pete C]

And if you want to get rid of the commercials on Pandora, and a higher streaming bitrate, it's $3 a month.

Pandora doesn't let you stream entire albums though, right?

No, it's still the "music genome" generating "random" music based on your preferences. I was just pointing a way to get around the commercials and get better audio. Pandora has always worked nicely for me, and I've discovered a lot of music through it.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Pete C