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The desktop application is crafty enough to have me consider subscribing: If you lower your OS-wide volume to 0 during a grating audio ad, the ad is paused and

by frou_dh 16y ago

The desktop application is crafty enough to have me consider subscribing: If you lower your OS-wide volume to 0 during a grating audio ad, the ad is paused and resumes when you bump your volume up again. Physically taking off your headphones to let ads run gets old! Perhaps the discerning cheapskate puts an analogue volume dial in the chain.

barredo 16y ago
The main reason for people subscribing to Spotify here in Europe is the mobile app. Which is great, the Desktop app is also great, I can bear the ads. But really, 10€/mo (120€ year) is cheap for the quantity of music-hours it provides. The main reason for people not subscribing is they accommodated to not paying for music #1, and #2 the lack of big (and not so big) names in the catalog (Beatles, Metallica, Rammstein, etc) Overall Spotify is a great service and I wish them best of luck. And I hope they start making money before Apple start eating their business through the iTunes-on-the-cloud which is sort of a dukenukem3d that never comes.
- growt 16y ago
  #3 that spotify is not available in their country
  - andrewl-hn 16y ago
    That's why I have a paid account - it includes so-called "travel mode" - an ability to stream data from abroad granted that all payments are made withing countries of availability.
    - growt 16y ago
      so do I. Also: I live in the tate modern museum ;)
    - poloniculmov 16y ago
      How are you doing that? Do you have a bank account in an country in which Spotify operates?
pierrefar 16y ago
Yes a very annoying app. Also consider that it forces updates and that when the app is running and you want to click on a list item, it suddenly inserts an ad which you up clicking anyway. They may think they have me by the balls, but they're not installed on my computer any more. Ironically, we were all outraged at this kind of behaviour in the late 90s when it was called adware. Now, magically, it's a good thing.
- ElliotH 16y ago
  Well the ads are there to support the unlimited free music they're giving you, so you can't complain too much. On the adware front - the app doesn't auto-run, doesn't self install, is easy to uninstall and doesn't show ads when it isn't running. So it bares little resemblance to the adware of the 90s. With all that said though - I shouldn't imagine they care very much about having non-paying customers 'by the balls' I would expect they care much more about those that pay.
  - pierrefar 16y ago
    All good points. My argument is based on user experience. Both spotify and the 90s adware are on the wrong side of the line separating "understandably has ads" and "annoyingly has ads". No doubt that spotify is closer to the line compared to 90s adware.
JonnieCache 16y ago
I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Next time a spotify ad comes on, set your volume to zero. It stops. Now hit the spotify play button. It starts the ad again, muted. Now just remember to hit the unmute button when the ad finishes, (watch for the growl notification.) Keep this one quiet though, lest spotify find out ;)
unicornporn 16y ago
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by frou_dh 16y ago

barredo 16y ago

The main reason for people subscribing to Spotify here in Europe is the mobile app. Which is great, the Desktop app is also great, I can bear the ads. But really, 10€/mo (120€ year) is cheap for the quantity of music-hours it provides. The main reason for people not subscribing is they accommodated to not paying for music #1, and #2 the lack of big (and not so big) names in the catalog (Beatles, Metallica, Rammstein, etc) Overall Spotify is a great service and I wish them best of luck. And I hope they start making money before Apple start eating their business through the iTunes-on-the-cloud which is sort of a dukenukem3d that never comes.

growt 16y ago
#3 that spotify is not available in their country
- andrewl-hn 16y ago
  That's why I have a paid account - it includes so-called "travel mode" - an ability to stream data from abroad granted that all payments are made withing countries of availability.
  - growt 16y ago
    so do I. Also: I live in the tate modern museum ;)
  - poloniculmov 16y ago
    How are you doing that? Do you have a bank account in an country in which Spotify operates?

pierrefar 16y ago

Yes a very annoying app. Also consider that it forces updates and that when the app is running and you want to click on a list item, it suddenly inserts an ad which you up clicking anyway. They may think they have me by the balls, but they're not installed on my computer any more. Ironically, we were all outraged at this kind of behaviour in the late 90s when it was called adware. Now, magically, it's a good thing.

ElliotH 16y ago
Well the ads are there to support the unlimited free music they're giving you, so you can't complain too much. On the adware front - the app doesn't auto-run, doesn't self install, is easy to uninstall and doesn't show ads when it isn't running. So it bares little resemblance to the adware of the 90s. With all that said though - I shouldn't imagine they care very much about having non-paying customers 'by the balls' I would expect they care much more about those that pay.
- pierrefar 16y ago
  All good points. My argument is based on user experience. Both spotify and the 90s adware are on the wrong side of the line separating "understandably has ads" and "annoyingly has ads". No doubt that spotify is closer to the line compared to 90s adware.

JonnieCache 16y ago

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Next time a spotify ad comes on, set your volume to zero. It stops. Now hit the spotify play button. It starts the ad again, muted. Now just remember to hit the unmute button when the ad finishes, (watch for the growl notification.) Keep this one quiet though, lest spotify find out ;)

unicornporn 16y ago

http://smutefy.inacho.es/ http://smutefy.inacho.es/