Spotify

It just recently arrived in the US... almost too good to be legal, but it is. I have been using Spotify for one and a half year, and it definitely changed my music experience. As the massive anti-pirate I am I see this as a important tool against downloading illegal.

I remember in the golden days (before 1st of May this year) when it was no limit on how many tracks you could play, now I think they got a limit on 10hours a month/max 5 plays per track. (but if you pay it's still unlimited =D)

Aside from that, what do you think of this way of paying for music?

What is it exactly?

It's a music streaming service, a media player similar to Itunes or WMP. You pay a certain amount of money each month to get access to a lot of music that you stream. You do not have the files on your computer, so it demands Internet connection. In Spotify you can save tracks in "offline mode". This, however, will take up some space on your computer.

I think it's about 13 million tracks available on Spotify right now.

These "streaming" services have appeared in recent years, such as Wimp and the Internet-based Grooveshark

I almost feel sorry for these streaming services that requirement payment since you can get mostly everything through download without paying for it. It's worse for the music industry, I'm afraid, since most people would rather just download whatever they want for free.

Movies/TV Shows world is also on the line and so is Game's, although regarding movies and games I don't mind paying for the original, as it is usually better than the free version, but my experience with music tells me it's practically the same.

I do sometimes, however, buy CDs and such. It's a contribution to the industry and from time to time I don't mind letting some money go to have the real thing.

You can use YouTube as a streaming music service as well. All you need do is register and create playlists, and as a bonus, you can play songs one off.

Vektrix wrote:You can use YouTube as a streaming music service as well. All you need do is register and create playlists, and as a bonus, you can play songs one off.

Obviously, the main difference between Youtube and Spotify is that Youtube was intended as place to watch videos, and Spotify a place where you can stream music. I find that the content on Spotify is a lot more accessible, naturally

Arkanay wrote:I almost feel sorry for these streaming services that requirement payment since you can get mostly everything through download without paying for it.

But why should you? it's like walking past a stall of apples. Just because you can take the apples without getting caught doesn't mean that you do it? Piracy is stealing. Ive heard people try to justify that by saying that the record companies are squeezing money out of people already. That is also a lie, because those who loose the money is the artists.

It's very different than passing by a stall of apples. I understand what you're trying to mean but you just cannot compare those two scenarios. Both reflect different actions, especially since one takes place in reality and another over the internet. The apple scenario calls for a physical act of theft and harming the person you're stealing from since they will no longer hold their item. By downloading a song for free you don't take it away from anyone. It's still there. You merely don't purchase the CD. It's like listening to it on YouTube whenever you want to do so.

However, you are correct on the aspect that the artists are harmed by this, since people buy records less and less now. It's tough, but we all have to get by. Still, I have no problem in downloading music for free and passing it into my MP4 rather than spend money buying something I see as secondary to my life. But like I've said before, I don't have a problem in buying CDs from time to time, if the moment calls for it.

Furthermore, you may hold to copied CDs, DVDs, etc., as long as you use them merely for your own private entertainment and not to make a profit out of them, display them on a public event, etc. I've never seen nor heard of any type of authority group making an issue out of it, only when people try to sell it and such.

Edit: Sorry for going slightly off-topic. We may go back to discuss Spotify.

I used Spotify along time ago, I think it was when you needed an invite to access it. Not sure if it's still like that.

I like the idea, because in a way its like a cleaned up youtube, music without the annoying memes. I think it's a great way to find new artists too. If I remember rightly, couldn't you friend people and check out their playlists and stuff?

On the topic of pirating, streaming apps like this are handy because most people will prefer to have the songs for keepsies so will buy a subscription or go and buy the actual song. It's a shame people download illegally because they haven't got to go and buy it to keep it for good, the only thing that might pressure them is their conscience and some people don't really understand why its an issue.

I like the concept of Spotify, but I hate the distribution limits. If you're going to offer a paid streaming service, you better make it international. Write new copyright and licensing laws if you have to, but don't dangle the service in front of me knowing I can't access it.

It's similar to hulu, which is supposedly improving a lot and is even in talks with teaming up with Apple, yet they still haven't provided international access. And then TV networks wonder why everyone torrents their shows all over the internet.

I haven't illegally downloaded music for ages. I don't need to download or listen to hundreds of songs and what I want to listen to again and again I get from iTunes.

I mainly just use Grooveshark to listen to music, because it's free and I'm cheap.