Spotify

[Sirion]

Anyone tried Spotify yet? For those unaware of it, it is a music streaming service that is 100% legal. Over time, the plan is to get virtually all music released onto it, but for now the selection of music is limited, albeit very good nevertheless. There`s a monthly fee to use it, unless you get an invite to make a free user.

If they can get this concept truly up and running, I think it may very well be a good indicator of what the future of digital music sharing will be like. I don`t know how they`ll manage to keep it up and running, but if they can, it`s great news for all music fans. The only thing I really miss is a function to discover new artists, like pages like pandora.com has.

[eresseraca]

I use it daily... it's ridiculously good!

There's nothing out there that's better.

For those who don't know what it is, how it looks and how it is to use it. Think iTunes but with everything online instead of in your library on the HD, quality varies slightly but think around 160kbps mp3's.

100% legal and 100% good. Always works, album covers, text about the artist, tags almost always correct, finds almost everything I listen to.

It's the future that has come on a visit to my computer

[Sirion]

That`s a good explenation. I think it`s only available in Scandinavia, UK and US yet, though. Like you, I`m sure this is the model of the future, if they can finance it.

Only thing that annoys me at the moment is that they`ve obviously focused more on putting recent albums out than classics. Of course you`ll find the really classic material out there, but for a band like White Lion, the only things I can find from them is best of records and low budget albums featuring demos and early recordings that weren`t released until a couple of years ago. I find the sound quality to be slightly metallic at times, but it`s good enough for me not to miss the MP3 collection I accidentally deleted when I formatted my pc a couple of weeks back.

It won`t make me stop buying records. However, I prefer vinyls. If Spotify and iTunes [or insert mp3 purchase site of taste] can remove the market for CDs, I wouldn`t miss them a bit. Hopefully the trend that bands are releasing/re-releasing material on vinyl will hopefully keep on. though.

[eresseraca]

Yeah I agree with what you say. Not always the best and some older albums that weren't major artists back then are missing.

Sound quality is okay compared to mp3 quality, but being little of a Hifi nerd as well I keep my favorites in iTunes in Apple Lossless format when I really want to listen to high quality!

[Sirion]

Agreed. When I rip stuff I buy myself, I rip to FLAC these days (recently did a huge job ripping 560 of Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to FLAC. Never again!), but it`s definitely good for discovering new stuff.

I did find the Lumberjack Song, though , and there`s a ton of obscure artists singing in Norwegian featured, so they certainly set the bar for the future high.

[Sirion]

No interest in these kinds of things? I´m shocked, considering that this forum supposedly is made up of people interested in music.

[Tor]

Only thing that annoys me at the moment is that they`ve obviously focused more on putting recent albums out than classics

I believe the system seeks to cover as much of today's music as possible right now, and will move on to older music after a while.. I hope at least..

I just got myself Spotify today, and I am very impressed.