Spotify - anyone heard of it?

a lot of ppl refer to the iPod Touch as the iPhone w/o the phone

I suppose the point is it needs a net connection, right? Checked and my Nokia is not available with Spotify. At least not yet.

I don't know much about Spotify, but I do know you can get online on an iPod Touch via wifi

It seems like iPod Touch is the thing. Looks like fancy tool after all. A bit expensive, but then, the alternative to Spotify for me would be to get an iPod Classic, which is even more expensive, and then spend a year or two, plus 3-4 external HDs, transferring my entire CD collection onto it.

Wait, an iPod Touch is also a phone but an iPod Classic is more expensive? Also, why is your enire CD collection not yet digitised? I threw out like 800 CDs recently because they're worse than useless.

Seriously, get a high-capacity MP3 player, get an external hard drive, rip all your CDs at 256-320 kbps (you only have to do it once) and enjoy life. Everything I have ever owned is always with me and I've got backups at home.

Wait, an iPod Touch is also a phone but an iPod Classic is more expensive?

Here an iPod classic seems to cost around 200 NOK (roughly 35$) more than an iPod Touch (which is not a phone). Remember the iPod Classic is of very solid material, plus it has enormous capacity.

Oh, I see what you mean. Per Gb though the Classic wins hands down.

Still a bit sceptic towards the idea of transforming a few thousand CDs into mp3 though. Would take some time....

Which is why having Spotify on the player, and only adding the files not on Spotify, would save a considerably amount of time.

It takes time, but it's your music, you own it, it will never be taken away, and no ads.

Back in the day it took me several weeks to convert my music, but I didn't have music databases to autopopulate track names, and I had to burn all the MP3s to CD-Rs (part of what I chucked out recently was ~150 CD-Rs full of CD-to-MP3 rips). You don't have to worry about any of that now.

I know I'm evangelising, but really, it's a no-brainer imo.

Still a bit sceptic towards the idea of transforming a few thousand CDs into mp3 though. Would take some time....

This + same dilemma with vinyl = being a lazy fuck and only listening to Spotify or new stuff I download.

There must be millions of people in the world with yards of vinyl doing nothing but being part of a
collection.

Somehow people opting for iPod/iPhone + Spotify over digitising what they already own saddens me, and it shouldn't really - ultimately the important thing is being able to hear the music - but I think what happens is the non-available-on-Spotify stuff gets forgotten.

Anyway, Spotify is also worth it for, like, for instance, being able to have El De Barge's self titled solo debut on the player. It was deleted ages ago from all kinds of commercial purchase and I have also not been able in any possible way to find it on Pirate Bay or similar.

There must be millions of people in the world with yards of vinyl doing nothing but being part of a
collection.

I hardly have any vinyl at all. It was all about casettes for me, but I rebought most of the ones I actually liked on CD.

but I think what happens is the non-available-on-Spotify stuff gets forgotten.

There is no danger of me ever forgetting about The Beatles or Pink Floyd. Or Travis for that matter. :)

We'll always need someone to remember Travis.

Anyway, Spotify is also worth it for, like, for instance, being able to have El De Barge's self titled solo debut on the player. It was deleted ages ago from all kinds of commercial purchase and I have also not been able in any possible way to find it on Pirate Bay or similar.

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Saturday, 18 December 2010 12:20 (46 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ah, yeah, you want a network connection for stuff like that.

onimo I've got four milk crates of vinyl under the stairs, no way am I ripping all of that. Completely reasonable.

The concept of Arcade Fire is quite interesting. They are not available on commercial download nor Spotify, yet their album topped a lot of chart this summer. Or maybe exactly that was why? People had to buy the album, as the songs weren't available alone.

onimo I've got four milk crates of vinyl under the stairs, no way am I ripping all of that. Completely reasonable.

I see "reasonable" as "it's acceptable that I can't be arsed right now as there's things to do and loads on Spotify anyway" but a small part of me feels really bad that I've got boxes of 7" singles that haven't seen a turntable since they were in my last house 9 years ago.

Then again how easy was it to click on the wee green button and cue up a wee drunken 10 Beefheart song playlist in memory? Greatness of spotify/youtube/grooveshark instant access right there.

xp yeah, I don't even know where my turntable is anymore. Only really hanging onto the vinyl because I loved it so much. CDs were always a bit cheap-looking and sad, and cassettes were disgusting savages.

cassettes were disgusting savages

true but then for teenage me they were the gateway to everything I'd never heard and couldn't afford. I've still got 80's c90 playlists in my head from long lost tapes friends gave me to an extent that it's sometimes jarring when the wrong song comes on next when I play an old song on spotify.

Ah yeah, I should draw a distinction between home dubs/mix tapes and pre-recorded dog turds.

Like my first ever introductions to e.g. Bauhaus or Big Black or Minutemen were on tapes friends made me - usually put together from piles of 7" or 12" singles or even from bits of tapes they had. These tapes got played to death so that in my head that's the order those songs should be in. It's strange to think my kids will never see/hear/treasure music in the same way (I'm sure they'll still love music but their voyages of discovery will be alien to me - much more alien than mine were to my dad's).

xp gettin all nostalgic :)

This is getting WAY off track now (and probably the most predictable cassette comment in history) but it was the most fun ever making mix tapes for friends because you had to pack it all into two collections of 44 minutes that started and ended well. Loved that.

cassettes were disgusting savages

I have no problem agreeing today, but for clumsy me, they were more solid than vinyl, and didn't break as easily. :)

I switched directly from tapes to CD in 87-88 though.

One thing I don't miss is home splicing kits.

Tape salad. :)

When I digitised my collection around 5 yeard ago, it was awesome! Just plonking down with a bunch of CDs, slowly going through and listening to all these CDs while by computer whirred away was an incredible way to find music that I'd forgotten about. 900 CDs will only take you a month or so, and it'll be great fun. I'm envious!

I'm redigitising my collection at the moment, mainly because I've found that I can hear the difference between 128 and 320kbps, especially for reggae. I'm taking my time, not regarding it as a chore, and enjoying rediscovering some great music.

On the difference between 128 and 320 kbps, it's no so much on headphones - but through the computer speakers. Some reggae albums sound like a thin version of themselves on 128.

They should put Autumn Almanac's words on the side of buses: There is probably no God...get a high-capacity MP3 player, get an external hard drive, rip all your CDs at 256-320 kbps (you only have to do it once) and enjoy life

Oh and geir, knowing how much you like sound quality, try and rip your CDs in Lossless format (there's a setting in the preferences of iTunes to do it). It'll take up a lot more space, so check that you've got the hard disk for it (I'm guessing you'd be buying a new drive to put all this music on anyway). And being lossless, it'll be pristine CD quality, rather than losing some sound information. Some people can't hear the difference, others (lke myself) can, so if you've got a decent sound system or decent headphones, go lossless.

(when I say computer speakers, referring to harman kardon soundsticks btw)

talking about the difference between 128 and 320 in 2010?! So there is a reason for all these shitty rips floating around then. :)

I've living with them for far too long, sure. But for a variety of reasons I'm not into file-sharing, so haven't contaminated the delicate ear-drums of others.

you're a disgusting savages.

Oh and geir, knowing how much you like sound quality, try and rip your CDs in Lossless format (there's a setting in the preferences of iTunes to do it). It'll take up a lot more space, so check that you've got the hard disk for it (I'm guessing you'd be buying a new drive to put all this music on anyway). And being lossless, it'll be pristine CD quality, rather than losing some sound information. Some people can't hear the difference, others (lke myself) can, so if you've got a decent sound system or decent headphones, go lossless.

I will be keeping the CDs for home use anyway, and through earphones, 256/320 doesn't make all that much difference from lossless. If I go lossless, even an iPod Classic will only have space for a small minority of the tracks I want to have in it.

talking about the difference between 128 and 320 in 2010?! So there is a reason for all these shitty rips floating around then. :)

Actually I have a bit of fear regarding 128. Spotify is already the most popular way of enjoying music legally these days, at least among the kids. So one can imagine a lot of people have already gotten more or less addicted to it.

Now, of course, the fact that people are addicted to Spotify would make it natural for them to exploit that to make more people actually pay for it. And, well, if that happens that is fine ($15 a month for almost all the music in the world isn't exactly a ripoff), but I fear the kids will continue preferring the free version even if they slowly make it less user-friendly. So, imagine Spotify moving the sound quality of their free version down to 128, and the kids still being content with that. Then you'll have a generation of music listeners who have grown up on REALLY horrible sound quality. I suppose they'll be as crazy as those 60-something who still refuse to listen to music in stereo....

Another deal is those old 80s/early 90s CDs I have that are simply recorded much lower than today's CDs. Sure, actually this means better sound quality, as they are less compressed. But with the ear-protection limits on most of today's gear, those old tracks will sound way too tame. Those CDs sound just fine on my current portable CD, but I have understood that mp3 players usually have an even lower limit than portable CDs can have.

Of course the solution is always to use Audacity to turn up the sound of those lowly recorded mp3, so it's not like there is no solution.

Btw. I have just started with the long transfer job. Starting with stuff that is not available on Spotify. So nice to have those Beatles-tracks in my Spotify 60s year playlists where they belong. :)

I don't use spotify but I assumed it uses a low bitrate to stream. Anyway, even if people listen lossless, they might still be using budget equipment which isn't ideal for a lot of music. Due to the convenience culture there's already a generation of young people listening to mp3s of varying quality on audio equipment which is shit. The way we listen to music effects how we produce music and that really messes with me...How different music would be if everyone was listening to music on audiophile grade setups.

A lot of recent music is definitely being mastered to sound good on mp3 players (i.e. heavily compressed), but my impression is that the dynamic range compression craze has calmed slightly down the past couple years compared to its peak around 2006-2007.

ugh, there's music from a few years ago that's so horribly compressed that it's actually hard to listen to. That whole compression thing was just bloody ridiculous.

yuge collection

interNET connection

jonathan from spotify's verbal tics are infuriating

subscribe

is kidbrooke village sited on or near that gloriously dystopian estate I've occasionally walked/driven past

yknow with the matchstick and all

What thread was this revive meant to be on?

really want someone to write a little plug-in that hooks up to spotify and lets you correct the track titles and artist credits they've ballsed up before scrobbling to last.fm

Had to delete and re-install the app; it was constantly freezing on me, maybe due to the vast number of playlists (also kept forgetting and re-loading the newer ones). Seems OK again now, though.