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Spotify Radio now Free on Mobile Devices

C

Casey

We knew this was coming and now it is here. Spotify has made the Spotify app free to use on iOS devices (more to come) and based around radio. Free users can only use the radio feature, which is obviously meant to compete with Pandora. I don't have an iOS device, but I have read countless reviews and I have used Spotify's PC app. What many reviews say are nearly identical to what I have been saying previously on here. The algorithm is poor. Compared to Pandora and even Slacker, it doesn't hold up. It doesn't pull up the music most relevant, it lacks much customization, and it doesn't ever seem to get better. As Glenn Peoples at billboard.biz put it for one of his tests: "It was not a complete failure, but it would be hard to do worse." http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/radio/business-matters-spotify-does-many-things-1007368952.story

Anyone tried Spotify radio or the new app? Do you think it is a game changer? Pandora stock took a hit yesterday on the announcement. I personally find it to be a very poor product. But my opinion won't matter if people find it to be "good enough" and switch to it from other stations or services. Spotify has a lot of hype behind it. If they can get a large amount of people behind this, it could impact all online services and even broadcast radio over time. Spotify has never before been free on mobile apps until now and it likely won't be capped on usage anytime soon.

Spotify radio is EchoNest powered.
 
I downloaded it but didn't get a chance to explore it much. In terms of the format offerings, I was disappointed in Spotify's offerings. However, I might like the stations if I had more time to listen to them yesterday.

I've said on other boards that I tend to get what the trades refer to as "Pandora-fatigue." I just can't listen to it for very long as it seems like I keep hearing the same artists over and over again on stations I create. I'm fully aware that you can add variety to a station, but I've never seen radio as something I should have to work at to enjoy, and that's too cumbersome (and potentially dangerous) while walking or driving. iHeartRadio's custom channels don't do much for me for most of the same reasons. I'm not sure if Spotify or Songza, which just released an ad supported model, too, will either.
 
Pandora can grow old. My main station has been doing okay, but I have added a ton of seeds to it. It doesn't seem to be able to remember the original seeds but it is not very repetitive. Spotify is not much better and possibly worse in this regard. It has very little customization capabilities in comparison. Size of the music library is irrelevant, it all comes down to the algorithm and Spotify's lacks.

iHeart's custom channel feature in my opinion is junk. Thumbs up is pretty much the only way to mold the playlist and it seems to be near useless. I have noticed an interesting observation lately too. I have an artist based on a Big Machine artist. Now suddenly Taylor Swift is playing heavily on the channel despite hardly ever playing prior to this royalty agreement. Coincidence? I hope so.
 
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