I use it pretty much every day and love it. Sure, it's another thing that sucks money from my credit card each month but it's so worth it for me. I have multiple heavy metal lists which I listen to while in the gym working out or outside on a run training session. Love ability to set up my own music collections of lists, follow others, discover new bands, and explore other genres of rock and metal. Plus, I like the suggestions, mixes, stations, and playlists Spotify suggests based on my listening habits. Regular radio sucks nowadays. Too many commercials, they play lousy music in NYC, and it's the same tunes over and over. I'd rather pay to listen to what I like and avoid all the garbage out there. read more

I first discovered Spotify in 2008, shortly after it launched in Sweden. As someone who jumped on board early, I was hooked by the idea of streaming music without downloading files or clogging up my hard drive. Back then, Spotify felt next level with a clean interface, a growing library, and a sense of discovery that spoke to the music geek in me. Its invite-only vibe made it feel like a secret club, which was thrilling. By 2011, when it reached the US Spotify had about 10 million users worldwide. Fast-forward to 2024, and that number's ballooned to over 600 million monthly active users, with around 250 million paying for subscriptions. Its rise came from smart moves like Facebook sharing and a freemium model that reeled in users with free, with ad-supported access. In the early days, I spent hours building playlists and even digging up new artists through Spotify's recommendation system. The desktop app was my still good, too. But by 2019, I started to drift. The ads on the free version got annoying, and I wasn't sold on paying for Premium. I also began exploring other services like Rdio and later Apple Music, drawn to better sound quality or a different feel. Spotify's heavy push toward curated playlists over full albums started feeling restrictive, like it was steering my listening instead of letting me wander, so I drifted away. Around 2023, I decided to give Spotify another chance. The app had changed a lot, indeed the mobile version was slicker with features that added a fun, personal touch. The podcast selection had grown massively, with Spotify pouring around $1 billion into the space by 2023 to lock in big names like The Joe Rogan Experience. I liked the offline mode for travel and how seamlessly it synced across my phone and laptop. True that picking songs that felt like they were pulled straight from my brain was cool sometimes, and I even tried Premium for a while, enjoying no ads and better sound quality. But eventually, it started to feel like too much stuff and choppy playbacks at times. The interface, while sharp, was crowded with podcast ads, audiobooks, and algorithm-heavy playlists that sometimes hid the stuff I wanted. The constant notifications and upsell nudges wore me down. By mid-2024, I was looking for something simpler. That's when I found AusialsPlay, an open-source podcast app. It's refreshingly clean, lightweight, and all about podcasts. No ads, no algorithms pushing stuff I didn't ask for, and solid features like custom playlists and offline downloads. It's now my main app for podcasts, while I dip into Spotify now and then for music. Spotify's massive its 2024 revenue hit over 13 billion, and it's still pretty much the top dog in music streaming. For a lot of people, its big library and features are a draw. But for me, the clutter and commercial vibe has taken the edge off so I'm gone again. Bottom line: Sure, it's a nice resource, but I'm happier with a no-frills, open-source option that respects my time and lets me listen my way. read more

Spotify - Last screen grab before installing - Mass Media Near Me - London, XGL

Tip: I recommend doing a trial before committing to a Spotify subscription. In the past, I was able to get three months for $9.99. The price has changed to $12.69 for the same trial period. I am a music person. When I transitioned from being an iTunes person on an iPhone to owning a Google Pixel phone, I needed to find a music service that worked for me. I tried Spotify and it wasn't for me. Sure, many of my favourite musicians and bands release their albums on this platform. I'll tune in when I'm desperate. I need to sacrifice listing to an ad before I get to stream my music. I have a free account. I did a trial for three months. I paid $9.99 for this period. I then cancelled. The ads go away and you get commercial-free music, which was nice. I don't like the fact that you have to listen to songs in a playlist sequentially with a free account. The back button is disabled when you have the current song playing, which is annoying. Instead, you have to back out of the song screen and get back to the playlist to select the song that you want. The user experience is painful in this regard. It's basic functionality does not merit shelling out for. With a free account, you watch or listen to an ad to get thirty minutes of commercial-free music. It's great if you have a lot of patience. It works for me because I am occasionally on this app. I do get offers here and there to return to Spotify. I ended up going with Google Music because I could import my iTunes music. Google Music is now YouTube music. I love it. I have the option of either listening to songs or switching to the video version. You can't do that in Spotify. I can also be in a playlist, and go back and forth between songs. I'm happy with it. If you love Spotify, carry one. It didn't work for me and that's okay. (147) read more

Being a premium member is the way to go here. And it applies to members of the family too. I consistently use Spotify every single day on my phone and PC and have built an extensive library from their database. Every year I am in the top percentile of users and lean toward Classic Rock, soft rock, Christian, soul/funk and Yacht rock. My fave band is always the Doobie Brothers. Recommend it only if you can foot the bill for premium service. Rock on! read more

Now that it's been nearly 10 years since I started subscribing to Spotify and there's almost never a day that goes by that I don't use this service, I figured it's high time I write a review. My appreciation for music goes well beyond just enjoying a catchy tune. It feeds my soul! And because of the need for it in my life, I've always been in pursuit of finding easier and more practical ways to listen on the go. Not surprisingly, I was one of the first in line to get an iPod back in the early 2000s. This ingenious invention which stored extensive music collections on a small portable device was truly a game changer. While the introduction of Spotify didn't match the impact of the iPod, it's still a pretty awesome thing. Nowadays, traditional radio is insufferable to me because it requires sitting through lengthy commercial breaks and inane DJ chatter just to hear mostly bad music. Even satellite radio, which I briefly subscribed to some years ago, can't be personalized enough to justify the cost. Spotify has spoiled me to the extent that I have no desire to listen to music that I'm paying for without being in complete control of the playlist. My only complaint is that Spotify doesn't offer everything released by any artist at any given time. Behind the scenes issues with licensing agreements can result in certain songs or even whole albums suddenly disappearing or possibly never being available in the first place. For that reason it can't totally replace owning music in a physical form. But, for the most part, it serves it's purpose well. read more

Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006. As of June 2024, Spotify is one of the largest providers of music streaming services, with over 626 million monthly active users comprised of 246 million paying subscribers. My friend gave me a three month subscription for Mother's Day. I had to tell him it wasn't something I would use and could he add the three months to his subscription or get his money returned. I'm not sure what he did but I don't hesitate to let friends know I appreciate the thought but I really hate when they waste their money. I've been through many times when I didn't know if I was going to have a roof over my head. Any waste disturbs me and I definitely feel awful getting gifts period. I've got enough music and movies to last the rest of my life. There's only so many hours and days in a lifetime to watch and listen! Plus I grew up when radio and television were free! I still get angry that the luxury I grew up enjoying costs almost $200 a month including WiFi. You can keep Spotify! read more

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How did the late "Little Nicky" Scarfo once put it? "I'm like a turtle-- I'm slow, but I get to where I gotta get to eventually." As I noted in another review (way back when), my "progression" as far as music-in-cars went was from a used car with AM radio and no A/C, to a used car with AM/FM radio, to a car with a cassette player, to a car with a CD player (the best), to a car with a "free trial" of Sirius Radio, and when the "trial" ended (after about 2 months), it was back to where I started with AM/FM radio. It's been a long, long time since I relied on terrestrial radio in my car for my listening pleasure, and I thought I'd be ok with it, but...I'm not. It was really horrible back in the day, and now, it is...for the most part, anyway...much worse. I belatedly thought about getting Spotify, but I'm pretty much of a brain-addled dope (at least when it comes to modern technology-- talk to me about old movies and Australian soap operas and tyrannical mob bosses and I'm a GENIUS!!!). I asked my old friend, also a dope but much more advanced and experimental when it comes to the new technology. He made sure I could access his "personalized" playlist (60% Ramones songs) but never got around to actually helping me set up the Spotify service. Then again, he's a supreme narcissist focused primarily on his own concerns (he's a good guy overall and a friend from way back, but it is what it is), so that didn't come as a big surprise. Thankfully, a co-worker (aka the new Godfather of Lunch) employed where I work is a young technical whiz, and he was gracious and patient enough to set me up with Spotify in my car. And I was just like a kid let loose in the candy store with no restrictions on his gluttony. Naturally, I put on my own "personalized" list old favorites by the Stooges, the Stones, Lou Reed, MC5, the Dolls, Black Sabbath, Hendrix...even a few Ramones songs. Sometimes I'd add a song that was reverberating around in my memory, only to realize it wasn't at all as special as I had remembered it as being and remove it from the list post-haste. At this point, I have approx. 25 hours of music stored that I can play anytime I'm in the car, which makes the long commute back and forth to work at least a little more bearable, as well as errands/appointments/shopping/etc. etc. I like to think my musical tastes are eclectic, so in addition to the old favorites, I have (random sampling) ..."George Jackson" by Dylan, "Diana" by the late "Skip" Spence, "JPP McStep B. Blues" by Jefferson Airplane (written by Spence before he left Airplane to form Moby Grape; Spence was a tortured musical genius), "The Old Main Drag" by the Pogues, "True Lover's Farewell" by Custer LaRue of Baltimore (I highly recommend seeking her work out), "Jail Bait" by Andre Williams (serious subject, but I dare anyone not to laugh aloud while listening to his artless "musical examination" of this transgressive topic, 1950s style), Husker Du, Michael Jackson (wasn't a fan, but his "Human Nature" is 1 of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard), "Ballad of the Hip Death Goddess" by Ultimate Spinach (highly, highly recommended), "Patriot Game" by the Clancy Brothers, "I Can't Win" by the Monacles (a highly recommended "garage band" masterpiece), the Kerry Boys, Sandy Denny, Os Mutantes, Dolly Parton ("Jolene" is another beautifully sad song)....etc... In other words, there's a ton of music available. Was I unable to find some songs? Yeah. "Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Live at the Lyceum" wasn't available (it has a very creepy, stream-of-consciousness take on their own "So Alone" that I always liked, but then the CD itself was hard to come by, so its unavailability on Spotify isn't all that unfathomable), and I couldn't find the soundtrack for a William Smith biker movie called "Angels Die Hard" (not kidding about this-- I have the CD and it has some great songs on it, including "Kern County Line" by a group called East-West Pipeline). Perhaps ironically, the harder-edged songs don't necessarily reproduce all that well, and often sound muddy. I'm no fan of Marilyn Manson, but I always liked "Wrapped in Plastic." Unfortunately, on Spotify, it sounds like a grinding, grating mess (which I think is probably how critics described it in its original format). I added it to my playlist, then removed it from my playlist. The softer, more melodic songs play much better, much clearer. Like reviewer Michael N., I prefer owning "hard copies" of the music (as well as of movies and books), but...so far, anyway...I find Spotify preferable to lugging a CD "boom box" player around in my car, and don't have much cause for complaint. Occasionally, I'll switch off and return to terrestrial AM/FM radio, but that's usually only for a few specific shows (most of them on NPR or college stations), and I'm back on Spotify pretty quickly. I do wish they still made cars with CD players in them, but...since they don't...I have come to appreciate Spotify a great deal. read more

For mobility and customization there's nothing better than Spotify as the service provides access to approximately 60% of recorded music catalogs from Sony Music, Warner and Universal etc. And I suppose, having the ability to request a playlist featuring every song with "Gorilla" in the lyrics is quite fun as a party trick. Unfortunately, the farther we get away from the "album era" where artists routinely crafted cohesive, thematically integrated works of 10+ songs, the randomness of Spotify works especially hard for bands who have no such artistic aspirations and are limited to one or two decent songs. And stop me before I launch into a monologue on the lunacy of leasing versus owning music. All that said, the sound quality is what precludes a five star rating. Sometimes pristine, sometimes muddy the service is equally random when it comes to reproducing music. Whatever. It works on a long trip but I always bring a case of CD's just in case. Sometimes it just pays to own rather than rent. Four stars. read more

The selection of music and podcasts are good, but the customer service is about the worst I have experienced. They have Premium plans which include audio books and Basic plans which do not. However, they have some type of discriminatory practice where they hide Basic plans from some users. I had Basic Duo and wanted to upgrade to Basic Family. I could not find it from their website, and found a post on reddit suggesting that you had to first choose Premium Family and then "downgrade" it to Basic Family. I chose Premium Family and got stuck there. Customer service was absolutely unhelpful. They wasted about 2 hours of my time with no resolution. They just kept saying that Basic Family was not an option for me. Then, when I tried to add my family member, it said they were ineligible because it is an international cell phone, even though the person lives in my house. So I gave up and wanted to switch back to the Basic Duo plan that I originally had. You guessed it, nowhere to be found. Another hour wasted chatting with Customer no-service. If you have any alternative like Amazon Music or Apple Music, I would recommend them instead of Spotify. read more

By the gods grace. the advertisements. Musically was better than this, and it wasn't even a music app. Not a worth it app. Honestly, just get one month of the free premium trial, download every song and make a new app and put the songs on there just for yourself, spotify sucks. I once got 7 ads in a row. DAMN spotify what is going my wrapped should've been "43,000 hours listening to ads" rather than actual music. I was also okay with this because AT LEAST I could see the lyrics to some songs I really love BUT THEY TOOK THAT AWAY TOO? YOU HAVE TO PAY TO SEE THE LYRICS WHAT?????? HOOLIGANS RIPPING ME OFF. SPOTIFY IS TURNING INTO APPLE MUSIC, PRETTY SOON THEY'LL START LIMITING HOW MUCH MUSIC YOU CAN LISTEN TO PER WEEK, APPLE AND SPOTIFY COLLAB??? read more

We've had Spotify premium for 10 days now -- they still have not figured out how to stop sending us ads. I've told them to refund our money and I'll move on to Apple but instead they just keep sending useless emails. -- My advice, start with Apple or Pandora. Or Spotify for Spotty service. read more

Nimat Haque, Scrum Master at Spotify, The COVID shot does not prevent infection or transmission there was no evidence that it ever did read more

Spotify - Nimat Haque, Scrum Master at Spotify, The COVID shot does not prevent infection or transmission there was no evidence that it ever did - Mass Media Near Me - London, XGL

Quite good. I have the premium account and my own playlists slap. wish it was easier to find new music

Spotify is a London-based music service that's going to take the world by storm. I downloaded it this morning and can't get enough. Buhbye iTunes. Spotify is free download to a quick-loading slick looking site which works like a giant remote iTunes. Just search for the song you want and click play, it streams so quickly and smoothly even with my crappy 2Mbps line that it makes me wonder if they've not just hidden all the songs somewhere in my hard-drive before I could even think of them. When you've had 20 mins or so of playing songs (which you put into a queue) you'll hear a 20 second advert to help pay for all this music. It's not annoying enough to ruin things. If you've used Hulu you'll know what I mean. I'm so impressed with the depth of obscure remixes I'm now listening to. It's a goldmine for electro. It's a bit like Limewire but actually user friendly and legit. And still free! 4 stars for now. Some big name artists aren't onboard yet (Floyd, Metallica) and I think it needs some recommendation software to help you find new things. I'm getting hooked but until I can get this on my iPhone as well I'm stuck with iTunes. Maybes I'll just put in some dodgy patch to record everything that plays. I know it was made in Sweden but I'm still passionate that the best thing in music right now is once again from London. :::: Sorry this sounds like an advert. It's just I really like this so far. :::: read more

In this day and age there are several streaming services available offering "free" streaming with limited advertisements (yeah, right). I started off back in the dark ages with Rhapsody on my PC, but after I entered the smart phone age about six years ago, I tried several services before opting with Spotify. No service is absolutely free without a catch, usually in the form of advertisements, and I found myself deleting Apps left and right, as I found most of them to be clunky, less than user friendly, and advertisement heavy. When I tried Spotify, I liked the ease of creating playlists, the library of music was close to perfect, and with little to no buffering wait time. The catch on most of these streaming sites is to pay a fee to listen without interruption. After using Spotify for several months, I chose to pay the $9.99 flat fee to listens as much as I want, as long as I want, and to create as many playlists I want. Of course recently we've heard in the news that Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify, and Prince has since followed (though he has always been uptight when it comes to sharing his music library) and while I totally understand they are protecting their "art" and their earnings, I also find it ironic that the sharing of music is nothing new, before burning CD's , there was the copying of albums to Cassette tapes, Now Itunes is offering their version of "Spotify", they offered a 3 month free trial,and after that 3 months the user would be paying $9.99... I thought about doing it for a moment, but then came to the conclusion...Why would I leave something that isn't broken, to pay the same monthly subscription fee just because it's offered by Apple? Spotify continues to supply me with entertainment, unless that changes, I'm with them to stay. read more

I would give them zero starts if I could. They've been fraudulently charging my credit card every month. I have NEVER heard of them before and somehow they got a hold of my credit card. It's impossible to get a hold of them by phone. Here is my email correspondence with them: ME: Hello, My credit card is being charged $9.99 for a subscription I do not have with Spotify. I would really appreciate a call or email from someone who can help me resolve this matter. I would also really appreciate the contact information (phone number) of the account subscriber that is using my credit card without my permission. SPOTIFY: Hey there, Thanks for getting in touch. I couldn't seem to find an account with the email address you emailed us with. To locate your account, please can you let us know all your email addresses. Umm, really???! Well obviously my email isn't associated with an account, I've never ever heard of you before. I don't have a subscription! I strongly advise against the use of any of their services. read more

Spotify how could you do this to us?! From 1st May 2011 Spotify slashed our streaming limits and announced that the free music service will now be "subject to more stringent usage allowances". Basically for my fellow cheapskates out there, it's sign up to a premium or unlimited account or say goodbye to listening to your playlist's on repeat, with a cap of five times the maximum play for any one song. Spotify bigwigs have stressed that there focus remains on providing a free service in order to combat music piracy. However, with a reassurance that the paid for unlimited and premium memberships remain unchanged and constant pressure from the music industry to charge for all music; can Spotify really live up to its aims? These days most people expect to be able to go online and have access to free music. If legislation continues to cut and limit all of the legal ways of doing so then it is only a matter of time before people turn towards the illegal sector. I regret, with a sad sad smiley, it seems the beginning of the end for legal free music. read more

Remember the days when the idea of a personalised radio station "just for you" seemed crazy? Yeah, so do I. Then I discovered Pandora. Oh how my life became better. Pandora really was the perfect date. She filled me with musical knowledge and useful tips, like when Dolly first got married and why Sublime only speak to spotty teenage boys (in musical terms that is!). She introduced me to fabulous new artists and she was beautifully presented; white with a pale blue tint. I understood Pandora, until she was taken away. Yes, Pandora was removed for anyone with a UK IP address and my heart weeped. I knew of FineTune and Last fm, but with their strange UED and unfriendly man colour, they were sites I just couldn't identify with. Times were dark. Then one day someone invited me to Spotify, I registered, downloaded and glanced across this crude software like shit on my shoe. For month Spotify and I did not speak, we merely bumped into each other on my computer from time to time. It was a sad and lonely period for both of us. Finally it happened, the moment when we actually had a conversation. It was a little awkward at first and really no more than an introduction from a friend. On the Yelp talk boards, I had seen people build playlists with Spotify and post them up. I wanted to find out more. Finally, I got in bed with Spotify. Like a teenage boy, it was awkward and pushy. It wanted to take over my twitter and Facebook accounts and broadcast our relationship to all. Now I don't want to air my knickers to the world. Yes, sometimes I feel the need to listen to N'Sync all day, or I feel inspired and want to enjoy the seriously sexy sounds of Phil Collins for a few hours. My friends and acquaintances do not need to know about these guilty pleasures. And so after a few teething problems, we are now in a fully functional relationship. Sometimes he is empty when I ask for something strange like Trailer Trash Tracys, and I have to stare at a blank word doc for a moment and think of the joy of a past time with Pandora. But we get over this and grow and now, I am happy. Very happy. read more

This is a strange one. On one hand, I love the service that Spotify supplies. On the other, you need to consider the concept. Imagine there was this really cool street food market stall. On the stall, there were all of the coolest food items you ever could imagine. All cooked how you like them. All with your favourite cocktail. And they are potentially free. All you have to do is endure some advertising and if you want your food and drinks while you are on the move, you pay a fixed price for delivery. The main guys who have the market stall get to be pretty well known, all take a huge salary and all have investors and shareholders in the stall. The main question is, where do the guys who operate the stall get their food and drink from? How can they legally pretty much give it away? Well those guys go to loads of local bars and restaurants and take all the produce first and then return the bar and restaurant owners $0.004 (not even a cent per menu item) for each item. Then because the investors want more profit, you promise that you will renegotiate down to maybe $0.001 per item from your suppliers. This is the Spotify business model. I believe Lady Gaga was paid £162 for ONE MILLION streams on Spotify. Who wins? Not the people with the talent (debates over the talent of Gaga, not to be discussed here!). However, I concede, YouTube is worse for artists! I'm not saying that Spotify is all bad. But squeezing the artists more and more because you and your shareholders want more dough is robbery. read more

I've been an avid iTunes user for years and had gathered together over 30gbs of music so was looking for another way to go about chilling to my favourite tunes. Enter Spotify, a subscription based streaming music system where all your current (and future) fave block rocking beats are stored in 'the cloud'. There are three different ways of chewing through your slice of the Spotify cake, Open (free, only 20 hours of streaming a month, with adverts), Unlimited (£5, unlimited streaming, no ads) and Premium (£10, as unlimited and with mobile streaming too). I opted for Premium. I really need music on the go and I couldn't imagine being limited to 20 hours a month, so it was the natural choice. I deleted my entire iTunes collection and started playing with the user friendly interface (btw, this review relates to the Mac version, although I can't imagine the windows one being much different). It is all very intuitive and you'll be sorting your playlists, starring your favourite tracks and publishing your top artists on Facebook before you know it (oh yes, just like everything else, it links to good old FB). There are millions of tracks available to stream and the vast majority of songs I searched for were found within seconds. It gives you access to so much music without having to take up very much space on your hard drive, which is ideal if you're a media hoarder like me! The one thing I will mention is although a tenner a month is nothing for unlimited music wherever you go (I just paid more than that for a Pizza), as its all streamed, make sure that your broadband/mobile provider doesn't have much in the way of download limits/charges. Bin iTunes. Love Spotify. read more

Have been using as an alternative to iTunes for past 3 years - it's a fantastic piece of software. Have heard of so many more bands!