Streaming services - Spotify alternatives?
Discussion
I'm getting pretty fed up with Spotify and was wondering what the PH collectives experiences were of the alternatives.
My use case is pretty basic. Android phone, mixture of offline and online use. I have all my albums in my library, plus a few created playlists for specific themes/individual tracks. I sometimes use the Spotify playlists too, but I find them to be both a plus and a big minus.
My main issue with Spotify is the user interface - initially stuff like its crappy queue management, but also increasingly their playlists. Artist radio, made for you, Spotify curated playlists etc all shoved in your face suggesting they really don't want you just listening to something from your library...
I'm not against some of the music discovery tools but I find all the different ways they slice them overwhelming yet at the same time they can be quite repetitive. They seem to figure out something you like then assume you must want more and more of it, so I seem to end with the same artists and tracks in every playlist. On top that all the secondary guff like lyrics, videos, bios etc which are given far more prominence than is necessary.
So... what alternatives are you all using, and how do you find them to use? (particularly in comparison to Spotify)
My use case is pretty basic. Android phone, mixture of offline and online use. I have all my albums in my library, plus a few created playlists for specific themes/individual tracks. I sometimes use the Spotify playlists too, but I find them to be both a plus and a big minus.
My main issue with Spotify is the user interface - initially stuff like its crappy queue management, but also increasingly their playlists. Artist radio, made for you, Spotify curated playlists etc all shoved in your face suggesting they really don't want you just listening to something from your library...
I'm not against some of the music discovery tools but I find all the different ways they slice them overwhelming yet at the same time they can be quite repetitive. They seem to figure out something you like then assume you must want more and more of it, so I seem to end with the same artists and tracks in every playlist. On top that all the secondary guff like lyrics, videos, bios etc which are given far more prominence than is necessary.
So... what alternatives are you all using, and how do you find them to use? (particularly in comparison to Spotify)
I use Deezer. I like the fact I can rip a youtube audio and upload to my personal library which I can then stream. This is also great for stuff not available on streaming but where I own the recoding.
I don't like the fact it doesn't work well with Amazon Alexa. It used to just be annoying that it would shuffle 5 or 6 songs from a playlist i asked for and then stopped, but now the shuffle is not great and seems to shuffle to first song and then play in order that they are in my playlist. this is an Alexa issue only, works fine when using the Deezer app in my car (for example).
I don't like the fact it doesn't work well with Amazon Alexa. It used to just be annoying that it would shuffle 5 or 6 songs from a playlist i asked for and then stopped, but now the shuffle is not great and seems to shuffle to first song and then play in order that they are in my playlist. this is an Alexa issue only, works fine when using the Deezer app in my car (for example).
+1 for Deezer. I have used it for years and prefer it to Spotify. I prefer the interface over Spotify and I read that the Deezer music catalogue is over 120 million tracks and Spotify is 100 million. You can play music in high fidelity when connected to wifi on Deezer, although i'm not sure if Spotify also does this?
As mentioned, I like the fact you can rip music from elsewhere and then upload it using the Deezer PC app/website to your playlists.
As mentioned, I like the fact you can rip music from elsewhere and then upload it using the Deezer PC app/website to your playlists.
Apple Music is worth a try too. They do a serviceable Android app which isn't full of all the podcast / audio-book crap, plus you should be able to get a free trial for a while. It's all lossless quality (or better), the catalog is huge and personally I find the recommendations a lot less claustrophobic than Spotify's. Also they allegedly pay artists better than Spotify.
Also in case you aren't aware there are plenty of apps & websites out there which will help you move your Spotify library over to whichever service you pick.
Also in case you aren't aware there are plenty of apps & websites out there which will help you move your Spotify library over to whichever service you pick.
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