In praise of Spotify

Posted by: bluedog on 10 August 2014

Spotify is often cited as the nemesis of the recorded music industry, and there is no doubt that their business model will have to be reassessed.  But from a music lover's pov the streaming service is great for discovering new delights and rediscovering old favourites.  Even the free version is reasonably tolerable.

 

I still use my brilliant LP12/Naim system for serious listening, but if I have an 'admin' session in the office I often use Spotify on my MacBook played Bluetooth through a Bose Soundlink with the results that sounds like a very high quality portable radio.  The 'build a statioon' function is a great way to explore the archives: yesterday I built a station based on Gene Ammons and got a stream of tracks mostly exactly to my taste for modern jazz.

Posted on: 10 August 2014 by Dustysox
Originally Posted by bluedog:

Spotify is often cited as the nemesis of the recorded music industry, and there is no doubt that their business model will have to be reassessed.  But from a music lover's pov the streaming service is great for discovering new delights and rediscovering old favourites.  Even the free version is reasonably tolerable.

 

I still use my brilliant LP12/Naim system for serious listening, but if I have an 'admin' session in the office I often use Spotify on my MacBook played Bluetooth through a Bose Soundlink with the results that sounds like a very high quality portable radio.  The 'build a statioon' function is a great way to explore the archives: yesterday I built a station based on Gene Ammons and got a stream of tracks mostly exactly to my taste for modern jazz.

Well said blue dog.

 

Spotify has certainly changed  the way we now listen to music. Quboz  now thrown into the mix. Times are a changing, as you say it's great to listen to new stuff and also to play tracks offline. Most useful when on a boring aeroplane!!!!

 

And the quality whilst not Hi Res is still perfectly adequate.

Posted on: 10 August 2014 by dave4jazz

Another vote for Spotify. The Premium service is reasonably priced at £9.99/mth. and 320kbps streaming is fine for general purpose listening. If I like what I hear then I'll buy the CD, often second hand, and rip it to a lossless format.

 

Dave

Posted on: 10 August 2014 by Stephen Tate

I use Spotify too and think it's great. If the music industry is suffering because of it then they should go back to the old way and release everything back on vinyl again. Their loss IMHO, stop ripping people off, simple.