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I would kill to be able to go to the party Spotify will undoubtedly throw tonight. There wasn't one thing in the entire presentation that was even intriguing,

I would kill to be able to go to the party Spotify will undoubtedly throw tonight. There wasn't one thing in the entire presentation that was even intriguing, let alone in innovative. The reason I loved my iPod is because I didn't have to listen to the radio. And now Apple is making that the killer feature? RADIO? Like it's freaking 2002? Other than that and artist communication (which I would maybe care about for one artist), Apple Music is Spotify. Their solution for finding what you want to listen to? "I like rock and alternative" (whatever that means). This has been done a dozen times, and rarely well. Spotify has been iterating exact same concept for years and has all of my friends listening to it, as well as all of my playlists. People tell me Rdio is similar, but I've never had reason to use it. The only way Apple wins is if the power of something being the Apple default is truly that strong. Having Siri integration is literally the only thing that Apple has a leg up on any of the other music services on. And then they call it "revolutionary" and throw it in a "ONE MORE THING!" slot? That's pretty bad. And I'm an Apple fanboy.

JonFish85 11y ago
"The only way this wins is if the power of something being the Apple default is truly that strong." For something like this, yeah, Apple default is probably that strong. Considering that it'll button right into all of their hardware (laptop, iPad, iPhone), I could see it being a fairly significant thing for them. It's one less app to have to use, one less payment interface to deal with, and integrate with whatever music the user already has. Not to mention that Apple probably has a lot more clout in the bargaining arena with the record labels than Spotify does, and a LOT more cash to throw around.
- austenallred 11y ago
  > For something like this, yeah, Apple default is probably that strong. I would generally agree; for the vast majority of people the "notes" app works just fine, no need to install evernote or simplenote or whatever. But in this instance, Apple is expecting you to shell out $10/month. I think that likely kills most of the inertia of, "Well, it's on my phone, I don't need another app." I could be wrong, though. Regardless, I'm not cancelling my Spotify subscription anytime soon.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >But in this instance, Apple is expecting you to shell out $10/month. Spotify asks for that too. And unlike Spotify, Apple already has your payment details. You don't even need to enter your password with this thumb thing.
- dperfect 11y ago
  I've been an avid Rhapsody user since the early days. One thing that still annoys me about Rhapsody on iOS devices is that if the app has been closed or backgrounded (not playing music) for long enough, hitting the "play" button in control center (or bluetooth devices) often goes back to playing from iTunes - which I don't use. The ideal solution would be Apple fixing that - allowing for a user-defined default player. I'm sad to say it, but if that doesn't become a reality, I may be tempted to switch to Apple's streaming service for that one reason alone.
  - NathanKP 11y ago
    That's the exact reason they designed it that way. Apple is intended to be a walled garden rather than a true equal platform for the app devs. As much as I like Apple hardware I hate their mobile OS because of this approach of building special integrations for their built in apps that you can't even remove, while denying other app devs access to the full range of device integration, except if you go through their limited API's.
realityking 11y ago
They have one thing I'm missing from Spotify: music videos. I was all excited about the "video in Spotify" announcement, only to discover they meant podcasts and TV shows. Maybe this announcement causes some movement.
listic 11y ago
To be fair "ONE MORE THING!" slot was always for the most important thing of the moment. .
sfeng 11y ago
Just to provide an alternative view, I listen to Spotify in my house, but in the car I almost always listen to XM. There is something attractive about not needing to think about what is going to play.
coldtea 11y ago
>I would kill to be able to go to the party Spotify will undoubtedly throw tonight. Yeah, a new service that offers a larger selection for the same price, and will be preinstalled to the majority of their customers phones, and free for 3 months will sure be a great cause for celebration... >The reason I loved my iPod is because I didn't have to listen to the radio. And one reason iPod et al. got boring and people turned to places like Spotify is because it's not radio (that is, it's not a shared social experience). That's why stuff like Spotify playlists (curated music) got hundreds of thousands of subscribers. And DJs haven't died, they just took it outside radio, and into arenas, because modern radio has both annoying ads and marketing-oriented programming, something that this announcement is not meant to share. If done right it could be big, and things can come and go in circles. Heck, there are millions of hipster kids out there buying vinyl, which wasn't even in fashion when they were born.
- mercer 11y ago
  Indeed. While Apple's execution may be lacking (I don't know if it is), I think it's much more likely that the Spotify people are a bit nervous right now.
  - austenallred 11y ago
    My point was that Spotify people are probably a lot less nervous today than they were yesterday. Apple could have completely crushed the company in one fell swoop. Now it looks like they only maybe did that. Regardless, the marketing behind it was atrocious, relative to standard Apple marketing. The entire "one last thing" of the keynote was, in a word, cringeworthy.
makeitsuckless 11y ago
Spotify is horrible. The UI suck, the interface sucks, there is no decent way of organizing my favorite music, discovery is meh (although the only thing that has actually been improving instead of getting worse). And killing the apps has completely reduced the usefulness to streaming all the music available, but only if you know exactly what you want or are satisfied with bland prefab playlists. The only reason I listen to Spotify is because there is no decent alternative with a sufficient catalog. Like many, I've been dying for a better alternative. I don't know if Apple Music will be it, but I do remember what the iPod and iTunes did to the MP3 player.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
markque 11y ago
Spotify will be holding a wake tonight, and if I were shareholder I would be offloading ASAP.

JonFish85 11y ago

"The only way this wins is if the power of something being the Apple default is truly that strong." For something like this, yeah, Apple default is probably that strong. Considering that it'll button right into all of their hardware (laptop, iPad, iPhone), I could see it being a fairly significant thing for them. It's one less app to have to use, one less payment interface to deal with, and integrate with whatever music the user already has. Not to mention that Apple probably has a lot more clout in the bargaining arena with the record labels than Spotify does, and a LOT more cash to throw around.

austenallred 11y ago
> For something like this, yeah, Apple default is probably that strong. I would generally agree; for the vast majority of people the "notes" app works just fine, no need to install evernote or simplenote or whatever. But in this instance, Apple is expecting you to shell out $10/month. I think that likely kills most of the inertia of, "Well, it's on my phone, I don't need another app." I could be wrong, though. Regardless, I'm not cancelling my Spotify subscription anytime soon.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >But in this instance, Apple is expecting you to shell out $10/month. Spotify asks for that too. And unlike Spotify, Apple already has your payment details. You don't even need to enter your password with this thumb thing.
dperfect 11y ago
I've been an avid Rhapsody user since the early days. One thing that still annoys me about Rhapsody on iOS devices is that if the app has been closed or backgrounded (not playing music) for long enough, hitting the "play" button in control center (or bluetooth devices) often goes back to playing from iTunes - which I don't use. The ideal solution would be Apple fixing that - allowing for a user-defined default player. I'm sad to say it, but if that doesn't become a reality, I may be tempted to switch to Apple's streaming service for that one reason alone.
- NathanKP 11y ago
  That's the exact reason they designed it that way. Apple is intended to be a walled garden rather than a true equal platform for the app devs. As much as I like Apple hardware I hate their mobile OS because of this approach of building special integrations for their built in apps that you can't even remove, while denying other app devs access to the full range of device integration, except if you go through their limited API's.

realityking 11y ago

They have one thing I'm missing from Spotify: music videos. I was all excited about the "video in Spotify" announcement, only to discover they meant podcasts and TV shows. Maybe this announcement causes some movement.

listic 11y ago

To be fair "ONE MORE THING!" slot was always for the most important thing of the moment. .

sfeng 11y ago

Just to provide an alternative view, I listen to Spotify in my house, but in the car I almost always listen to XM. There is something attractive about not needing to think about what is going to play.

coldtea 11y ago

>I would kill to be able to go to the party Spotify will undoubtedly throw tonight. Yeah, a new service that offers a larger selection for the same price, and will be preinstalled to the majority of their customers phones, and free for 3 months will sure be a great cause for celebration... >The reason I loved my iPod is because I didn't have to listen to the radio. And one reason iPod et al. got boring and people turned to places like Spotify is because it's not radio (that is, it's not a shared social experience). That's why stuff like Spotify playlists (curated music) got hundreds of thousands of subscribers. And DJs haven't died, they just took it outside radio, and into arenas, because modern radio has both annoying ads and marketing-oriented programming, something that this announcement is not meant to share. If done right it could be big, and things can come and go in circles. Heck, there are millions of hipster kids out there buying vinyl, which wasn't even in fashion when they were born.

mercer 11y ago
Indeed. While Apple's execution may be lacking (I don't know if it is), I think it's much more likely that the Spotify people are a bit nervous right now.
- austenallred 11y ago
  My point was that Spotify people are probably a lot less nervous today than they were yesterday. Apple could have completely crushed the company in one fell swoop. Now it looks like they only maybe did that. Regardless, the marketing behind it was atrocious, relative to standard Apple marketing. The entire "one last thing" of the keynote was, in a word, cringeworthy.

makeitsuckless 11y ago

Spotify is horrible. The UI suck, the interface sucks, there is no decent way of organizing my favorite music, discovery is meh (although the only thing that has actually been improving instead of getting worse). And killing the apps has completely reduced the usefulness to streaming all the music available, but only if you know exactly what you want or are satisfied with bland prefab playlists. The only reason I listen to Spotify is because there is no decent alternative with a sufficient catalog. Like many, I've been dying for a better alternative. I don't know if Apple Music will be it, but I do remember what the iPod and iTunes did to the MP3 player.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

markque 11y ago

Spotify will be holding a wake tonight, and if I were shareholder I would be offloading ASAP.