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Post by MartinT on Jun 6, 2017 11:08:16 GMT
I'm not sure how many members use Spotify, so I thought I'd do a little poll and extoll its virtues. Spotify has two modes; 1) free use, with lo-bitrate music and adverts. I'll dismiss this one as for trial only; 2) paid-for Premium with hi-bitrate music and no adverts at £9.99 per month. There is also a Family subscription that offers Spotify on all the devices of a single family for £14.99 per month, which is what we do. Spotify offers a huge range of streaming music of all genres. It's not exhaustive, but as close as you'll get to having an 'infinite collection' at your disposal. You can create your own playlist, play others' playlists, try out the special playlists created for you based on your listening patterns, or just play an album. With Premium you can also use Spotify on a Raspberry Pi using one of several builds supporting it (like Volumio), as well as on phones and many brands of media streamer. There are downloadable clients or you can just use the website. Spotify is a Swedish company and it encodes music in hi-bitrate at 320kbps Ogg Vorbis, which is a better sounding and more efficient compressor than mp3. At this rate, it mostly sounds indistinguishable from the CD as near as dammit. I find Spotify ideal for use at work where I don't want to be carrying my CDs back-and-forth. With half decent speakers it keeps me going during the day. It's also great in the car, streaming via bluetooth from a phone. Some newer cars have the Spotify client built-in to the entertainment system. There is a special offer at the moment: 3 months of Premium for only £0.99. It would be rude not to sign up! www.spotify.com/uk/
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2017 11:33:15 GMT
I have been a user of Spotify for years, but have begun using it more prominently in the last year or so. I find it exceptional for routing out new music, giving the option to 'listen before you buy'.
Sound quality wise surprises me, on my streamer, it doesn't have the detail of a properly encoded FLAC file, but it is remarkably good.
Like you, I find myself using Spotify in the car or when I am out and about, it is so convenient and avoids having to take CD's with you or making up a USB stick.
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 6, 2017 12:49:09 GMT
Yep I have been using it since 2009 when it was recommended to me by someone who had recently tried it. The size of the catalogue constantly amazes me and my expenditure on real copies of recordings has gone up since I started, simply because I am always finding new music there.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2017 13:04:21 GMT
The size of the catalogue constantly amazes me and my expenditure on real copies of recordings has gone up since I started, simply because I am always finding new music there. Same - I find myself buying more albums than before because I have discovered so many more artists via Spotify.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 6, 2017 13:19:16 GMT
Yes, it's helped to increase my CD collection, too.
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Post by jandl100 on Jun 6, 2017 15:18:15 GMT
I think I must need a better hifi. I'm quite happy - no, make that ecstatic - using Spotify Premium as my main source. Or maybe I need a hearing aid. -- I agree with Martin, it's near as damnit to CD quality, and that is just fine by me.
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Post by John on Jun 6, 2017 16:43:56 GMT
I have gone through a whole gambit of thoughts around Spotify. Thankfully able to enjoy it again and back to using it as my second source.
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Post by jandl100 on Jun 6, 2017 16:56:59 GMT
My 'epiphany' with Spotify, when I finally laid concerns about bitrate to rest, was when I was trialling both Spot Premium and Tidal Hi-rez with a view to deciding which one to go for. I was simply flipping between windows on my laptop - Spot on one, Tidal on the other. "Hmm, no" I thought "you just don't get this level of fine detail with Spotify". Went to swap back to Spotify to confirm - and I was on Spotify already! Right. Sorted. As near as damnit a blind test. I have been 100% happy with Spotify Premium ever since.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jun 7, 2017 16:14:34 GMT
Not keen but I may be coming around seeing as YouTube didn't supply me with great stuff for Bruce Hornsby
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Post by MartinT on Jun 21, 2017 14:10:29 GMT
The new Windows 10 Spotify app is now in the Store, and very nice it is too. New Spotify App
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Post by speedysteve on Jun 21, 2017 17:04:42 GMT
I was an early adopter back when it was invitation only.
I concur with the quality statements above.
In a blind test on some stuff Marie likes she actually preferred the vocal presentation of Spotify over CD and Tidal!
I could hear what she meant but it did not do the same thing for me.
I can tell the difference. But it is close. Perhaps it's getting closer with continual improvements to the encoding etc. I do upsample to 96KHz and then feed it to WaveIO / Najda.
Depending on the material the quality can bother me. Just knowing I have a flac of something, why would I not want to play it?
With the Sennheiser ear buds or the AT noise cancelling headphones I have, Spotify is perfect.
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Post by orbscure on Jun 21, 2017 17:22:54 GMT
I'm tempted to have a dabble, especially as its £0.99 for three months of Premium... I tried Tidal and wasn't impressed with the interface (web or via Roon) and its high monthly cost, but it seems silly not to try this and see if it tickles my fancy
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Post by MartinT on Jun 21, 2017 17:25:05 GMT
There's little to lose at that introductory offer and you may just wonder how you did without it!
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Post by orbscure on Jun 21, 2017 17:31:03 GMT
Too right Martin... I've downloaded the Windows app and I'll have a play tonight...
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Post by Barrington on Jun 21, 2017 18:25:56 GMT
I wish I could stream it to my DLNA receiver , I can go via USB cable but its a pain , so I only listen through laptop speakers when I have to listen , album club etc.
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Post by The Brookmeister on Jun 21, 2017 21:03:17 GMT
Yes its fab but will be even better when it goes hi res shortly.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 21, 2017 21:14:32 GMT
I wish I could stream it to my DLNA receiver A Raspberry Pi would sort that in short order. Alternatively, something like the nice Pioneer box we bought for the kitchen, which is a Spotify device and controllable from any of our devices running Spot. Sometimes we fight for it!
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Post by jandl100 on Jun 21, 2017 21:22:18 GMT
Yes its fab but will be even better when it goes hi res shortly. Looking forward to trying that. Is there a timescale for it to happen?
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 21, 2017 21:25:20 GMT
They're testing it with some users at the moment, I think.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 22, 2017 7:36:27 GMT
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