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I dont get why people use spotify instead of listening to free online radios from anywhere in the world. As a bonus, its like travelling. There are ads, but the

I dont get why people use spotify instead of listening to free online radios from anywhere in the world. As a bonus, its like travelling. There are ads, but they target other people than you so its not even annoying (you will not be influenced to buy a car at a dealership in another country). Note that if you are the kind who likes targeted ads, this does not apply to you.

stronglikedan 8y ago
I use Spotify because I like their discovery service, large library, and the fact that they are simply the best client I've found for multi-device listening (going from office to car to headphone to home stereo seamlessly). I pay for Spotify because their service offers great value and ad ad-free, skip-free experience.
- rebane2001 8y ago
  I hate the Spotify client overall, but the multi-device integration stuff is done so well If I'm listening to music, I don't have to think what device I am doing it from, I can just grab my phone, laptop or tablet to navigate/change songs and it works just like magic
jowsie 8y ago
Because Spotify lets me choose which song I want to listen to.
fiveoak 8y ago
Any kind of ads are annoying to me and well worth the couple of $/month alone, but I also like being able to skip songs I don't like and having in general a better set of songs that I actually enjoy
penagwin 8y ago
Radio stations at least around the midwest here in the US only seem to play ~20 different songs, and it gets really repetitive, really fast, just ask anybody working retail. Plus the genre's are rather limited, it's usually one or two pop stations (with 90% song overlap), one or two country, maybe NPR or something in a podcast format, etc. Meanwhile all of the ads. Personally I'm on the student plan, and for what I like the listen to it's a steal for 5$ (and free hulu?) Any of the alternatives, deezer, apple music, etc would likely work too, but I can't imagine only using fm radio stations.
- Retric 8y ago
  Most radio stations are crap, but the world is a huge place. Listen to say WFMU out of NYC and you will hear a very wide selection of odd stuff.
  - NikolaeVarius 8y ago
    And most of that odd stuff is also crap. I value the ability to discover music that is relevant to my tastes.
    - Retric 8y ago
      I find novelty to be it’s own reward. However, that’s literally just 1 of ~100,000 radio stations out there. Spotify is decent, but if you want to try something else their really are great options.
- webninja 8y ago
  Yeah haha, many of the Top 40 stations literally only rotate 40 songs at a time.
00deadbeef 8y ago
Because radio is a totally different experience to having playlists of songs that I like and want to listen to
blcArmadillo 8y ago
I saw this on HN awhile ago and thought it was pretty cool: http://radio.garden/live/guarda/altitude/ http://radio.garden/live/guarda/altitude/ It's a globe you can move around and tune into radio stations all around the world just like you're talking about.
skiw 8y ago
Radio doesn't play music I like, doesn't let me choose the song I want, doesn't let me pay for a subscription to remove adverts, doesn't let me use playlists, doesn't let me play part of a song or rewind a song or skip a song. I understand the appeal of something like live radio, but it definitely doesn't fall into the category of replacement for a music library or streaming.
moonshinefe 8y ago
That seems rather disingenuous. You don't know why people like to customize their music experience instead of listening to radio which they have no control over which songs play? Really?
Jhndb 8y ago
I don't want ads while listening to music, and I want all my thousands of weird songs I've added over the years on all my devices wherever I go
softawre 8y ago
I'm the kind that doesn't like to listen to ANY ads.
webninja 8y ago
My favorite online radio is http:/radio.garden It was once highly upvoted on HN.

stronglikedan 8y ago

I use Spotify because I like their discovery service, large library, and the fact that they are simply the best client I've found for multi-device listening (going from office to car to headphone to home stereo seamlessly). I pay for Spotify because their service offers great value and ad ad-free, skip-free experience.

rebane2001 8y ago
I hate the Spotify client overall, but the multi-device integration stuff is done so well If I'm listening to music, I don't have to think what device I am doing it from, I can just grab my phone, laptop or tablet to navigate/change songs and it works just like magic

jowsie 8y ago

Because Spotify lets me choose which song I want to listen to.

fiveoak 8y ago

Any kind of ads are annoying to me and well worth the couple of $/month alone, but I also like being able to skip songs I don't like and having in general a better set of songs that I actually enjoy

penagwin 8y ago

Radio stations at least around the midwest here in the US only seem to play ~20 different songs, and it gets really repetitive, really fast, just ask anybody working retail. Plus the genre's are rather limited, it's usually one or two pop stations (with 90% song overlap), one or two country, maybe NPR or something in a podcast format, etc. Meanwhile all of the ads. Personally I'm on the student plan, and for what I like the listen to it's a steal for 5$ (and free hulu?) Any of the alternatives, deezer, apple music, etc would likely work too, but I can't imagine only using fm radio stations.

Retric 8y ago
Most radio stations are crap, but the world is a huge place. Listen to say WFMU out of NYC and you will hear a very wide selection of odd stuff.
- NikolaeVarius 8y ago
  And most of that odd stuff is also crap. I value the ability to discover music that is relevant to my tastes.
  - Retric 8y ago
    I find novelty to be it’s own reward. However, that’s literally just 1 of ~100,000 radio stations out there. Spotify is decent, but if you want to try something else their really are great options.
webninja 8y ago
Yeah haha, many of the Top 40 stations literally only rotate 40 songs at a time.

00deadbeef 8y ago

Because radio is a totally different experience to having playlists of songs that I like and want to listen to

blcArmadillo 8y ago

I saw this on HN awhile ago and thought it was pretty cool: http://radio.garden/live/guarda/altitude/ http://radio.garden/live/guarda/altitude/ It's a globe you can move around and tune into radio stations all around the world just like you're talking about.

skiw 8y ago

Radio doesn't play music I like, doesn't let me choose the song I want, doesn't let me pay for a subscription to remove adverts, doesn't let me use playlists, doesn't let me play part of a song or rewind a song or skip a song. I understand the appeal of something like live radio, but it definitely doesn't fall into the category of replacement for a music library or streaming.

moonshinefe 8y ago

That seems rather disingenuous. You don't know why people like to customize their music experience instead of listening to radio which they have no control over which songs play? Really?

Jhndb 8y ago

I don't want ads while listening to music, and I want all my thousands of weird songs I've added over the years on all my devices wherever I go

softawre 8y ago

I'm the kind that doesn't like to listen to ANY ads.

webninja 8y ago

My favorite online radio is http:/radio.garden It was once highly upvoted on HN.