Spotify - i've seen the future

[cheadle hulme]

Anyone tried this yet? It started this week and has attracted the wrath of several record companies.

I downloaded it last night and must say it works rather well. Its like having the worlds biggest CD collection and you can play whole albums at a time.

Don't know how long it will last, but its great at the moment!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/11/digitalmusic-downloads

 

[barq]

They've been quite conscientious about licensing all the music, but unfortunately not all the labels want to play ball. So aside from the gaps in their catalogue that causes, I think the service is really good.

Currently Windows and Macs are supported. For linux people the software works well under Wine (I'm using Ubuntu 8.04LTS). Spotify have simple instructions on their website.

Not sure about their long term income stream. The adverts aren't that intrusive so I don't know how many people will pay to go ad-free (99p/day, £9.99/month). But that rather fits the dotcom model:

1. Give stuff away for free.
2. ?
3. Profit!

 

[cheadle hulme]

I've not had an advert yet or not noticed one. I've listened to most of New Orders back cat this morning...

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i've seen the future

it's spotify

an itunes killer, the ipod could be history within years…

a free library of music, legal, as easy to use as itunes; imagine if the itunes store let you play any track for free, full length, albums too.

pandora radio functionality is in there too.

and for a few quid you can have it ad free.

if you like itunes, or free music, you must try it.

 

[MePower]

Buy a nokia xpress music phone, you get unlimited tracks for the term of the contract, all free. You get to keep them after the contract too. Looks like a lot of companies are going down this free music route.

 

[Macka]

it's spotify

an itunes killer, the ipod could be history within years…

a free library of music, legal, as easy to use as itunes; imagine if the itunes store let you play any track for free, full length, albums too.

pandora radio functionality is in there too.

and for a few quid you can have it ad free.

if you like itunes, or free music, you must try it.

Are you a member? Can you invite me? please?

 

[montage]

Taken a look and spotif looks really good!
Though can't upload it onto my ipod which is annoying, infact I am unsure if it can be uploaded onto any mp3 player.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Taken a look and spotif looks really good!
Though can't upload it onto my ipod which is annoying, infact I am unsure if it can be uploaded onto any mp3 player.

there are ways…

something like audio hijack, or if you can record from line in, just plug your headphone socket into line in and record from there.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Are you a member? Can you invite me? please?

i think anyone can sign up, i have no special privileges. i just signed up and downloaded the app.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Is my reel to reel portable tape machine out of date then?

Christ, it'll be the Betamax next!

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Well that looked interesting. Then I got the dreaded "This product is not available in your country yet."

can you sign up but not download? there might be a way around that

 

[alecstilleyedye]

They've been quite conscientious about licensing all the music, but unfortunately not all the labels want to play ball. So aside from the gaps in their catalogue that causes, I think the service is really good.

Currently Windows and Macs are supported. For linux people the software works well under Wine (I'm using Ubuntu 8.04LTS). Spotify have simple instructions on their website.

Not sure about their long term income stream. The adverts aren't that intrusive so I don't know how many people will pay to go ad-free (99p/day, £9.99/month). But that rather fits the dotcom model:

1. Give stuff away for free.
2. ?
3. Profit!

i think advertising will pay for the service. music is a fantastic demographic delineator. ads can be really well targetted, with the clicky option allowing the advertiser to push the message further while the music plays on.

 

[barq]

Well that looked interesting. Then I got the dreaded "This product is not available in your country yet."

Oh that's annoying. Can you use a UK based VPN or proxy service (google is your friend) to make your IP address appear to come from the UK? That might get the account started - but whether they check the location of your IP when streaming the music is another matter... Otherwise it is a question of waiting until they make it more widely available.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I've just bought a mint Revox A77 Pro reel to reel. Mrs. Mort is furious, but it's going in the living room. It's a thing of beauty...

Lovely - I can go along with that. Expect I'd get the same from Mrs 3BM!

 

[barq]

As it uses a combination of streaming and P2P file sharing you may find you are doing a fair bit of uploading. The software doesn't seem to have any controls to limit this. Spotify likes to live in the system tray when you close it you may need to double check what it is up to. Not necessarily a problem but just something to be aware of if your ISP has usage limits.