Free music via Spotify

Spotify client screenshot

So I downloaded the Windows Spotify client in Fedora 11 and installed it. This was pretty seamless. I had already setup an account so logged in and it was up and running with no problems. Sound was perfect, well as perfect as it can get with 128K sound and there were no GUI glitches.

Spotify is quite a pleasant experience. If you are an audiophile then you are the type to bitch and moan about sound quality and scoff and how highly compressed it sounds at the upper end of the bass, or something like that. However I have cheap pair of speakers attached to the computer and will never notice the difference. They have a nice enough bass to feel the music. So the 128K encoded stream makes no difference to me.

The interface is quirky but usable. It links in information about artists and lists their albums and and compilations a particular song has been included on. Which in turn makes discovering new bands a great experience.

The only minor irritation is the adverts but then you have to remember this is a free service. However the adverts don't disrupt your song. Generally adverts are played at the end of songs but not every song. I listened to Depeche Mode's Violator album and I only heard two adverts. See that link I just added there? That will take you straight to the album in Spotify, how cool is that? This shows one of the great features, you can easily share your discoveries. Also within the Spotify client you can setup your own playlists which are stored and kept for you. These playlists can also be shared with friends.

Now one of the biggest complaints I can see, not from me but from 90% of the idiots that unfortunately inhabit our planet, is the fact you can't keep the music. Duh! It is a free service which is there all the time. Although I suppose the criticism could come from the fact you can actually pay for a subscription at £9.99/month to get a higher bit rate and advert free experience. With this you would have thought you could keep what you listen to. But to be fair this is the fault of the strange beings that run music companies that still havn't caught up with the rest of the modern world yet and not the people who run Spotify.

So now I am using it what are my impressions? Well quite positive really. It's great and I have discovered some new bands to investigate as well as learn some new facts about bands I already know.

Spotify Pros

• Very useful if you are always on the internet.
  


• Access to own playlists wherever you are. Create a playlist at home then when at a mates house you can login to spotify and get access to your playlist


• Massive archive of various music styles
  


• Easy sharing of songs, if you find something you can add to colaborative
  playlist or send me link.
  


• Works in Linux (via WINE though)...that was the deciding factor
  otherwise I wouldnt be using it

Spotify Cons:

• not permanently stored so you can't take music with you


• low bitrate (128K) unless you pay subscription, even then you still cant
  store the music. 


• Some bands not signed, AC/DC, metallica (but who cares about a
  bunch of money grabbing dinosaurs)


• Interface could do with improvement but it is beta software