Through The Lens pointed to Spotify, which is a an online "radio" service which seems to work even better than Pandora. You can choose music and sequence, and it does not seem to be limited to some countries unlike Pandora (last I checked). I wonder how they got around all those legal barriers? Or if they really have. For a while there I could use Pandora in UK, but that was blocked later.
So far, I'm impressed. Right now I'm listening to a CD I'd heard about but never had a chance to hear, a 1994 collection of covers of songs of one of favorite Danish bands in the seventies. I'd never expected to find a reasonably rare Danish item in a second after my first search.
Update: it seems that Spotify, refreshingly, is started in Europe or UK. And not yet available in North America. See comments for more info.
Well, it's not available in Canada, for one.
ReplyDeleteOr the United States.
ReplyDeleteBert said...
ReplyDelete"Well, it's not available in Canada, for one."
and Steve said...
"Or the United States."
I happen to really enjoy Jango.com, myself: FREE; lyrics; share songs w/friends; view vids; read bios; learn about new artists; a GREAT selection... LOVE it!! :-)
So, did you pay for the Premium version, or did you manage to sign up with the free, advertiser supported version? In some countries the Free sign-up currently requires an invitation code.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, Spotify is completely legal. Artists (record companies) get paid based on play counts.
People in the U.S. of A. are reportedly using Spotify through proxy servers. Of course, the service (or similar) is bound to be officially available there very soon.
Spotify has also introduced a very cool iPhone app (YouTube demo). It will be interesting to see if Apple will feature it in the App Store, given that it directly competes with their iTMS service.
TechCrunch has been tracking the events around Spotify.
TechCrunch talks about the differences in the Premium and Free versions here. Apparently, the Premium version streams in higher quality (in addition to getting rid of the ads, of course).
ReplyDeleteIn its paid version, Spotify is the only “Celestial jukebox” service that provides CD quality streaming, they say.
So far I'm using the free version.
ReplyDeleteThough I find the fees reasonable.
I don't listen to normal radio, because it is very distracting, in a good way if I like it, and in a bad way if I don't. Some people can relegate a radio (or TV) to the background of their mind, I can't.
I also have the free version. If you use the service daily, the fees are certainly reasonable, and it is worth your while to get rid of the ads. Otherwise probably not.
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for sound quality so I might upgrade later. Especially as I mostly only listen to classical music where you can easily tell the difference.
While this model is clearly the future of music listening, and while Spotify is the thing right now, so far these services have come and gone. I would like to see things settle down a little before I start paying for anything.
BTW, apparently Blogger doesn't recognize (allow) the "spotify:" scheme name in hyperlinks, which is used in direct links to Spotify tracks and albums. However, as a workaround, you can use the "http://open.spotify.com/" prefix, like this:
Sibelius: Kullervo Symphony Etc.
it seems that Spotify, refreshingly, is started in Europe or UK.
ReplyDeleteSpotify originates from Sweden. Nowadays it is headquartered in the UK, but research and dev is still done in Sweden, I understand.