A couple of weeks ago I profiled Spotify, one of the newest streaming music services available in the United States. With news last month that the Swedish service has passed the 2.5 million paid subscriber mark worldwide (10 million registered users) and is opening up their API to App developers; I’m starting to wonder if it’s catching on here in the states like it is in other music loving countries? I’ve decided to put all my eggs in one basket and integrate Spotify into how I share music online, but have you? Are you using some other service like Rdio or Rhapsody (which has now aside from Germany and the UK, fully swallowed up Napster), or are you still slinging digital greenbacks to purchase your music from iTunes or emusic? Have you dipped a toe into Google music or the Amazon cloud? Let’s hear from you! Share with us how you are experiencing your music and tell us why!
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2011.
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Ethan, I’ve pretty much given up on trying to understand these new file swapping and sharing sites. I was a Napster adherent way back in the digital dark ages when phones were used for calls and Jobs had yet to unveil the iPod. I heard about Spotify a few months ago, but the whole sign-up/ get an invite from a friend was pretty cryptic. I submitted a request, hoping to check it out. I got back a resounding silence. They must be able to discern all the way from Stockholm that I’m no longer hipster opinion leading material. Meantime, I now rely on the commercial laden Pandora to pipe music in my home or turn to my vast iTunes catalog. I’m Ok with that. I mean, honestly, has anyone made an album better than Houses of the Holy in the past 15 years?