Entertainment For Lively Minds
the times they are a changin' #144
Posted by Chris G on 23 September 2009 - 10:39am.
So has anyone listened to something on spotify instead of buying the cd or downloading tracks? Anyone ( I sort of mean people round here not those raised in paddling pool of "free" goodies in recent years) stopped buy stuff at all. Just wondered how after a few months spotify it has effected the massive's listening.
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Just in case that was referring to me...
...can I point out that the stuff you get free is often the stuff you wouldn't desperately want. Nobody's beating my door down to give me a Beatles box set, for instance.
sorry DH
I meant the average word reader who is use to buying records etc as opposed to younger demographics who had stopped buying music before it was made legally "free" on spotify. It wasn't about press freebies etc it was more about how much effect spotify was having on the habits of Word readers.
I've not bought much recently and have been listening to spotify instead just wondering about other people.
Spotify
is more to me like a giant jukebox. I didn't stop buying albums because I can listen to the songs from them on a jukebox and I see no need to now because I can play them through my computer. There isn't (yet) a way I can play spotify in my car or indeed through my music centre.
Which brings me to my other point - why is playing music through a computer seen as such a great thing? The built in speakers on my 2008 model laptop make songs sound like a 1970s tranny* - fine if you want music on in the background but not for decent audio quality. I also can't see the point of buying expensive speakers for a computer when I have a perfectly good stereo system in another room.
(I haven't read the pointless miracles of modern technology thread, so apologies if these points have been made there already).
*for younger members of the massive, that's a transistor radio, not a transvestite
I agree
It's fine if you're at work - although it's blocked for us - but at home, I've got good speakers, so yes, why would I want to hear music through my PC?
Same goes for watching TV on a computer. You don't sit inches from the TV screen in your living room, so why would does anyone think it's a good idea to sit inches from your computer screen to do it? It gives me a terrible headache and it can't be good for you.
i've been looking at
linking my hifi permenantly to the mp3 etc on my computer system. I can already just put a line out from my laptop and you can stream very easy with cheap kit. It won't be long when media servers are common place in the home although more people may just stream everything from outside sources.
They just need switching on
Media servers are already very common indeed in homes. iTunes streams if the sharing option is ticked (I don't mean the new iTunes9 family sharing thing either). Huge numbers of Acer desktops, for example, have had a media server running by default for a number of years. The later versions of MS Media Player have a built in server. What most homes don't have is a client plugged into their hi-fi. As these can be very very cheap these days (I got my most recent, audio only, one nearly 2 years ago for about £40) I don't really understand why.
Not so
If you have Spotify premium and the iPhone application it is perfectly possible to listen to music from Spotify in your car. Create some offline playlists of albums you want to hear or stream over 3g, hook up the iPhone/iPod Touch to an FM transmitter/Aux in and off you go.
I thinkit might have changed my habits
Spotify and downloads mean that I haven't bought a CD for years - all my music expenditure is now on vinyl and gig tickets.
I will buy
when the physical product is clearly worth it (Fabs' mono set). Otherwise, I must admit I am still very much in Spotify mode, even at the expense of i-Tunes. It's just circumstances really - with two young kids my music listening tends to be done in the computer room, and I tend to spend time on the web (on here in particular) while listening.
If I read a thread on an artist I'm not that familiar with or a track I've not played in years it's great to be able to proceed straight to Spotify and listen to it there and then. A recent example was Sheev's thread on Van's Wavelength album. At the moment I'm finding the trade-off between this instant gratification and compromised sound quality quite acceptable. Even I wouldn't listen on a laptop, but a pretty bog standard pair of PC speakers does the job ok I find. In the unlikely event of me coming into some cash in the near future I'll upgrade but for now it's fine.
It has changed what I buy
I use Spotify to investigate new albums that I've heard of, or read reviews of that previously I might have just bought or downloaded from Emusic but, on listening to them decided that I didn't want them. A good example of this would be the Decemberists latest one that I was quite looking forward to only to. I also turn some of the streams into MP3s and shove the albums on my ipod until they either turn up on Emusic or I get round to buying them in real life shop (I always seem to have HMV tokens in my wallet that can't be used online).
I think overall it hasn't changed how much I spend on CDs and downloads but it has changed what I actually buy.
I find it useful on occasion - no more
If I hear about an artist or some music in the same way I always did - friends, magazines--- sorry, Word, radio, etc - I'll sometimes go on Spotify to check it out. But only before buying or downloading.
I have to 'own' the music - partly the collector bug, partly to listen to it on the move.
I don't really enjoy using Spotify for its 'Spotifiness' - searching it for all manner of things or actually using it as a means to listen to music. Never.
And I don't know why. I feel it ought to be a great thing, but it doesn't float my boat for some reason.
Nor mine
It has undoubtedly better quality playback than Last.fm, but I prefer the latter for its ability to throw new and exciting sounds at you - which often leads to direct purchasing; admittedly usually on download nowadays.
I also find that a number of searches on Spotify are currently fruitless, although I appreciate that that will undoubtedly change as the catalogue gets bigger.
I'm damned if I know how either of them stays in business, mind!