[Closed] I can't believe I've only just got round to using Spotify....

Wait... why scribble them down?

Because I've got it running in the background on my laptop whilst reading nonsense on here and monitoring the playlist on my phone - I could just add each song I like, but for now I'm just noting artists to go and check out their albums

Just star the songs on your phone which is synced to what your mac is playing?

I love spotify. Ace bit of kit 😀

It is rather superb, we tend to listen to it more than the radio these days,Mrs complains about there being too much talking and not enough music.

Cant get my head around the app but then im used to deezer

I've just signed up to Premium too, I had never used it until last week. I am liking it so far, seems easy enough to use.

Spotify + sonos (other wireless speaker set ups are available I'm sure) + app on phone has got us listening to way more music.

I think I've listened to more (new to me) music in the last two nights, than I did all last year

I've been using it since it was invite only, i think its the only time i've been ahead of the curve!

Currently a few weeks into their 3months premium subscription for 99p offer.

I'm torn. It's been fun hunting around but I've mostly been playing stuff from my youth that I never owned or had on cassette/vinyl. I just don't know if I'm ready to pay for access for basically ever. I can't get my head around the concept that if I find an album I like through spotify that I currently don't own I've got to keep on paying for it to the end of my days to be able to play it. My head is still wedded to the old fashioned music buying model. I'm also a creature of habit with a pretty big physical (now ripped into itunes) music collection and I know deep down I'll use spotify to play stuff I already own 90% of the time once I've got over the novelty.

You aren't paying to listen to that album the rest of your life. You are listening to any album you at any time anywhere in the world.

I easily purchased 3 or 4 albums a month when cds were the norm most of them sit in a box and are never played or listened to on spotify.

Streaming allows your tastes to wander as you please without tying you to past listening. But you can go back whenever you want.

Unless you want to listen to the beatles. But i can't see that lasting much longer I think they might slip into history they don't wise up.

Just a tip, go into settings and enable the higher quality streaming.

Unless you want to listen to the beatles.

Think AC/DC is more of a loss IMHO.

Love it... You can also leave your phone plugged into whatever method you use for multiroom, and use another device on the same account to control the tunes remotely.

I've just discovered the true power of OK Google and that works great in the car...OK Google, play something by Royksopp will open the app, search and then play what it chooses. You may have to finish with 'using Spotify' but either it's learnt my preferred music player or made an assumption if I don't specify the app.

I'm torn. It's been fun hunting around but I've mostly been playing stuff from my youth that I never owned or had on cassette/vinyl. I just don't know if I'm ready to pay for access for basically ever. I can't get my head around the concept that if I find an album I like through spotify that I currently don't own I've got to keep on paying for it to the end of my days to be able to play it. My head is still wedded to the old fashioned music buying model. I'm also a creature of habit with a pretty big physical (now ripped into itunes) music collection and I know deep down I'll use spotify to play stuff I already own 90% of the time once I've got over the novelty.

You aren't paying to listen to that album the rest of your life. You are listening to any album you at any time anywhere in the world.

I easily purchased 3 or 4 albums a month when cds were the norm most of them sit in a box and are never played or listened to on spotify.

Streaming allows your tastes to wander as you please without tying you to past listening. But you can go back whenever you want.

I signed up to it with the intention of listening to as many albums that I have considered buying but not bought, and creating a list of the albums I would like to own. Once the three months is up I intend to cancel it as like others I don't want to pay £9.99 per month.

I do like that I am able to download music to my phone for offline listening though, that's very handy for work.

EXACTLY what sadexpunk said. to the last word.

I cant justify a google music sub or spotify sub when I dont buy music to equal or more value already.

Sure thats fair enough. I don't have a tv licence (no tv) so that covers it and i spend way more on cbips and booze so there are better savings else where for me 🙂

I easily purchased 3 or 4 albums a month when cds were the norm most of them sit in a box and are never played or listened to on spotify.

I guess this is our difference and why like Stoner and co I'd struggle to justify it at full price - I probably don't tend to buy 3 or 4 albums a year any more let alone a month so a subscription would represent quite a marked increase in music spending.

As an aside - is there any way to modify your past listening based recommendations? Putting it on in the background playing family friendly christmas dross has seriously effected my apparent musical taste - I keep being recommended Bing Crosby !

Loving the "I'm not really that into music so I can't really justify it" comments 🙂

Probably the same reason why I don't have a season ticket for Rangers.

I got a load of Spotify credit for birthday and Christmas presents. Thing is I tend to want to get my money's worth so listen to all manner of stuff that I wouldn't normally. I mean it is incredible I can listen to almost anything in the world ever recorded for a measly tenner! However deep down I think I'd just prefer to listen to the music I've already bought. My music tastes haven't changed all that much and I've got a pretty good selection.

Loving the "I'm not really that into music so I can't really justify it" comments

A closer analogy than yours is that I watch Worcester Warriors matches with my son (for our sins) but not enough to justify a season ticket.

Loving the "I'm not really that into music so I can't really justify it" comments

so, ive got my own music collection thats ripped to portable HD, connected to music system, for when i want something specific. but 99% of the time im happy with that eclectic mixture that 6 music brings.

oh, if the comment wasnt aimed at me/stoner, then sorry, ignore all that 😀

everyone listens to music, everyone buys albums. Its a matter of quantity.
A closer analogy than yours is that I watch Worcester Warriors matches with my son (for our sins) but not enough to justify a season ticket.

I get that, but if you're picking up fewer than 10 bits of new music a year, isn't it fairly obvious that unlimited access to music is probably a bit of a waste? 🙂

However, if the reason someone was only picking up a few new bits of music a year was because of cost...then spotify can represent excellent value for money.

stuff i wouldnt choose on spotify

That's obviously a good reason. Like not wanting to buy a Rangers season ticket because you support Celtic 🙂

[quote=Stoner said]EXACTLY what sadexpunk said. to the last word.

With all those grammatical errors Stoner ? Malvernista standards are slipping.

Well, I've been bombarded with the 99p for 3 month offer and this thread might have tipped me into signing up!

I think it's quite a reasonable price for what you get.

99p for 3 months, sod it, I'll give it a go, I have already set myself a reminder to cancel if I don't use it.

I'm happy to rent movies, music and cars. Spotify is great for catching up with stuff you've lost/have no way of playing anymore which is why I originally subscribed. But I've listened to so much great stuff I'd never have bought, but I've very happy to have 'found' on Spotify. And the Shazam-Spotify link is great too. Worth a tenner a month to me. Use it everywhere.

Use it everywhere

Now, I know [i]that's[/i] not true, Al! One reason why it's not compelling for me is the shockingly bad mobile signal we get locally. And with you being the other side of Mordor I can only assume your mobile signal is even worse...

downloading music was mentioned earlier (from Spotify) - does that mean you can record anything that you listen to? And keep it? Can you not just build up a huge collection and then cancel membership? I assume not or it seems a rubbish model?

Now, I know that's not true, Al! One reason why it's not compelling for me is the shockingly bad mobile signal we get locally.

But that's the beauty of premium! Offline storage on all your devices.

It also means that if I add a few songs/albums while on my laptop at home (for example), it will automatically update and store offline on my mobile and work laptop.

Can you not just build up a huge collection and then cancel membership? I assume not or it seems a rubbish model?

You are listening to any album you want at any time anywhere in the world.

However - this is also not true. You can listen to any album any time anywhere in the world only if you are in a wifi zone or have good mobile signal(and data plan); or if you had a premonition about the album you would want to listen to ahead of time and downloaded it in readiness.

Now, I know that's not true, Al! One reason why it's not compelling for me is the shockingly bad mobile signal we get locally. And with you being the other side of Mordor I can only assume your mobile signal is even worse...

Offline mode 🙂

Think AC/DC is more of a loss IMHO.

And Bob Seger 🙁

Spotify is the best tenner a month I spend. Sold all my CDs. (Almost) every album I could ever want at my finger tips. Custom playlists for whatever mood your in (90s dance hell made the drive to Morzine hilarious).

Do it.

i do have a free spotify account (that ive never really used, signed up when it started out of curiosity), so this conversation has just made me re-check it, see if its tempting to use it. i need to know more info tho to see whether it could enrich my life 🙂

firstly, like i said, i use a squeezebox through my hifi for my 6 music fix. when my music was on my laptop it accessed it over wifi through logitech server. now my musics on a portable HD i never use the server, just switch on the squeezebox, it finds wifi and plays 6 music. i now use a chromebook, so no server at all.
i believe the squeezebox has a spotify app, but id like to know the best way of playing spotify content over wifi through my speakers.

ive got spotify on my chromebook, i could also get the app on my android phone, and like i say, could have it on my squeezebox. at home itd work best on my chromebook. just type something in and it plays through speakers. how could i make that work?

will spotify play dab radio, so i default back to 6 music when im not playing albums etc.

there are alternatives to spotify (google? amazon?), im pretty well committed to google/gmail/android/chromebook, so would a google music type thing be a better option for me? or does spotify do this type of thing better than the rest?

i have a limited data plan so would never constantly stream from my phone when out of wifi range. is that the only way i could access spotify content in the car, unlimited data and need a good connection? or is this where people use 'offline content'?

like i say, i have a chromebook, so my content is pretty much 'in the cloud', hardly any HD space on that or my phone. am i stuffed for offline content then?

what does the £9.99 sub get me that free doesnt (i think theres ads on the free version isnt there. what else?)

thanks. like i say, im a bit ignorant on how to use it cos im happy enough with just 6 music and my own collection, but im interested to see if it could seamlessly play stuff through my hifi.

It's just getting rid of ads, and streaming at slightly higher quality. Oh, and I think Free accounts can only play a track a limited number of times a month.

The ads do tend to grate a bit in between movements of a classical concerto...

Free version of spotify:

you can't download stuff to play offline.
You can only play in shuffle mode.
Adverts

there might be more differences, but these are the main ones that I notice.

I've had a premium account for a number of years now and think, for me, it's worth a tenner a month. One of the things I like about it is you can go off piste and listen to stuff you wouldn't consider buying , if you could even find it.
Mongolian throat singing anyone?

I think i've got the best deal. Started using spotify when it was invite only, but after a while they put a limit on the amount you could listen to. I then signed up for spotify unlimited,at £4.99 per month, which has unlimited play and no adverts. They have removed that option now, but because i was already subscribed to it, they have to honour it.

ok, how are you all listening to spotify? whats your setup and how do you control it?

Too expensive for me. I listen to Soundcloud for free music, 5 live radio for sports. I spend £20-30 per year on music.

currently hammering my 1 year free Deezer I got with my new sonos speaker (which was 20% off thankyou very much)

much the same as spotify and I'm liking the similar artists thingy, sync a load up to the phone and i'm good to hit the work gym (no signal as its in a basement)

For me so far, it's not about VFM for content I can 'own' as long as I'm subscribed - it's about finding music that I wouldn't have found otherwise.

If I really like an album, I would still consider buying it from Amazon.

Just a thought regarding offline content - if you were to download from Spotify to a particular device and then turn off all data connections, how would said device/Spotify know if you were still a subscriber?