Friday, February 20, 2009

And what has Spotify ever done for us?

If there's ever an internet music play that appears too good to be true, it's Spotify, which has taken over the world of The Word in the last week or so. Effectively, the Spotify player means you can stream music from the world's biggest jukebox, stocked with tracks provided with the blessing of the record labels.

What's the catch? Your listening will be peppered with advertising. If you pay a monthly fee you don't have to put up with that. At the moment they're rolling it out a bit at a time and you have to be invited to take part. You could try following this link to a playlist I've set up and see how you get on. You might even be able to add things. Please don't add whole albums. It quickly becomes tiresome if people do that.

15 comments:

  1. Now this is something worth sharing. I haven't as yet been bothered by advertising. perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I've tried dragging a song into your playlist, but it didn't want to know (Van Morrison - The Back Room, from The Bang Masters)

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  2. Just dipped into the Word's Infinite Playlist. A-ha's Scoundrel Days - a shimmering sonic cathedral if ever I heard it. Plus a fantastic live version of Stay on These Roads sung angelically by the godlike Morten Harket. Probably the best 'boy band' in the world ever.

    I'll go and lie down now...

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  3. Sorry for the double post but this really is the best thing since, well, iTunes. In the last hour I've listened to everything from The Associates' 'Party Fears Two' to The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's 'Death Cab for Cutie' to the fantastically nostalgic theme from 'Charlie and Lola'. I fear it must indeed be too good to be true, as so far I've found the ratio of ads to music more than tolerable. No doubt in due course it will end up like ITV's Champions League coverage...

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  4. This is indeed a musical goldmine. Thirty years ago people would've laughed at the possibility of this. Think it's going to be long night......

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  5. The next big thing? You mean you can listen to music for free? There'll be a black President next.

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  6. I'm enjoying it while I can. I'm sure it will eventually be f*cked up by the big boys. It would be just perfect if you could share and edit playlists with others (I've tried dragging songs into David's and The Word playlists, but to no avail.

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  7. I and a good friend used to post CDs we'd made to each other of songs we thought we'd like. Now we can just drop them on each other's playlist. Incredible.

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  8. I don't think it's likely to be messed up by the mythical big boys. For a start they've obviously been the quickest to adopt this and also they're not that big anymore. I think the thing that will be most difficult to deal with is widespread popularity. The current speed at which it responds is amazing.

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  9. I *heart* spotify. Now if only there was an iPhone version.

    But then that would compete (and likely win) against iTunes and Apple presumably don't want that.

    Wonde how they'll play it?

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  10. I believe there is an iphone version in the pipeline http://tinyurl.com/d4t4mk

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  11. I've been accepted without an invitation. Seems it has now been opened up to anyone in the UK, Really enjoying it so far - very few adverts.

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  12. "Not available in your country yet [NL]." Aaaaaargh!!!!

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  13. Just tried to link to the playlist but Spotify can't find it!

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  14. Tried the link again, and it's there! Excellent playlist.

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  15. Your playlist has got Eclection on it. Not heard them for years. And I see they've got other tracks on there too. But only the Mark 2 version of Please (sung I think by Dorris Henderson) not the Kerrilee Male version, which I prefer though haven't heard for years.

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