Spotify

[ucanseetheend]

I find this great software and the free service good with a huge library of classical music available

https://www.spotify.com/uk/

Oh and I'm not advertising

[Lion-of-Vienna]

Agreed - up to a point. The sound quality is good, better than the Naxos Music Library. The catalogue of available music is large. As a Haydn lover I found the complete Dorati symphonies and operas as well as many other symphony sets that I was keen to hear (Hogwood, Beecham, Jochum etc). There are also more Bruckner and Mahler cycles than you would ever be able to listen to.

But the adverts!!! I can just about put up with them between the movements of a symphony but it becomes very disconcerting when listening to something continuous like an opera and an advert suddenly pops up, sometimes in the middle of a note.

My other moans are that the search facility is a bit hit and miss and it is not easy to keep up with new recordings as they are added. Finally they have a tendency to cut the recording before the end of a track, often losing as much as the last 10seconds of the performance.

But of course it's free and for that we must be very grateful.

[johncorrigan]

But the adverts!!! I can just about put up with them between the movements of a symphony but it becomes very disconcerting when listening to something continuous like an opera and an advert suddenly pops up, sometimes in the middle of a note.

Us folks on the World Board have been enjoying Spotify for the last couple of years. I gave up on the adverts about three or four months ago deciding that a fiver a month was a reasonable investment for the amount of use I gave it and to get rid of the drivel.

It has allowed us to share playlists, have cooperative playlists and to send tracks to each other. Previously we used Youtube with its limitations and lack of options. There's just so much in there - songs you never thought you'd hear again seem to turn up.

On the downside we have tended to report that we avoid our own record collections as there is so much on Spotify, but I have to say that its been a great boon to my listening pleasure. There's so much in there - a great tool.

[amateur51]

Us folks on the World Board have been enjoying Spotify for the last couple of years. I gave up on the adverts about three or four months ago deciding that a fiver a month was a reasonable investment for the amount of use I gave it and to get rid of the drivel.

On the downside we have tended to report that we avoid our own record collections as there is so much on Spotify, but I have to say that its been a great boon to my listening pleasure. There's so much in there - a great tool.

I completely agree, johncorrigan!

A small amount of money very well spent

[johnb]

Yes, Spotify is an invaluable resource - these is such a wealth of recordings available that I sometimes wonder "what is the point of buying these CD when they available on Spotify". At the very least it enables me to explore repertoire and recordings which I otherwise wouldn't buy.

I subscribe to the Premium package - mainly because I can then stream Spotify to my audio system via Squeezebox and, of course, it gives access to the higher quality audio (320 kbps vs 160 kbps OGG).

One extremely important thing when using Spotify is to ensure that volume normalisation is switched OFF: untick Preferences/Playback: Set the same volume for all tracks.

There are a few grumbles though:

Spotify's own search facility is very poor indeed and sometimes misses the very recording that you are trying to find. (The Squeezebox Third Party Spotify plugin has a much better search facility.)

Sometimes the CDs (or albums) aren't accurately tagged - which makes searching even more hit and miss.

Up to earlier this year the situation was that only around 25% of CDs were actually available at the higher 320 kbps quality (and there was no indication which were and which were not). Since then things have dramatically improved and (from what I've seen) the vast majority of CDs are now at the higher quality.

When a continuous work is split into tracks - Spotify inserts a short silence between the tracks and (as far as I can tell) does a quick fade in to the following track.

I've read that sometimes a couple of seconds can be missed at the start of an album if the music starts immediately but I haven't experienced it.

These are relatively minor niggles.

[ucanseetheend]

When a continuous work is split into tracks - Spotify inserts a short silence between the tracks and (as far as I can tell) does a quick fade in to the following track.

I've read that sometimes a couple of seconds can be missed at the start of an album if the music starts immediately but I haven't experienced it.

These are relatively minor niggles.

Yes,I wanted to listen and record(oops) my favourite Enigma Variations the LSO with Monteux, but they do split all the variations and its really frustrating when its not a continuous piece.

[ucanseetheend]

One extremely important thing when using Spotify is to ensure that volume normalisation is switched OFF: untick Preferences/Playback: Set the same value for all tracks.

I think you mean " set the same volume for all tracks"
Why is it extremely important? surely a matter of personal preference with the sound.

[johnb]

I think you mean " set the same volume for all tracks"

Whoops - thanks for pointing that out - now corrected

Why is it extremely important? surely a matter of personal preference with the sound.

Well, I guess that everything can be expressed as personal preferences. However, Spotify with volume normalisation enabled sounds absolutely dreadful IMO and it removes the relative dynamic levels between, say, a quiet slow movement and a movement where the full orchestral forces are employed fff.

[ucanseetheend]

Whoops - thanks for pointing that out - now corrected



Well, I guess that everything can be expressed as personal preferences. However, Spotify with volume normalisation enabled sounds absolutely dreadful IMO and it removes the relative dynamic levels between, say, a quiet slow movement and a movement where the full orchestral forces are employed fff.

Actually I just listened with that box unchecked and it was awful sound. low amplification and couldnt hear the various parts of the orchestra, Dreadful.

[johnb]

Actually I just listened with that box unchecked and it was awful sound. low amplification and couldnt hear the various parts of the orchestra, Dreadful.

Well, if you enjoy the compression and normalisation that is employed on all pop music (but not on classical recordings) then you will be in a seventh heaven with Spotify normalisation.

For the rest of us who value maintaining the full dynamic range of recordings and not having the sound screwed up with processing - switching off Spotify's normalisation is infinitely to be preferred.

As you said - it's about personal preferences

[Byas'd Opinion]

Am I right in thinking that you need to have a Facebook account before you can sign up for Spotify?

And is there any way I can see what their catalogue is like without signing up?

[ucanseetheend]

For the rest of us .....

I am on my own?I think not . and it all depends on what equipment you are listening to any recording. Many of us haven't got the "top end" expensive audio.

[Globaltruth]

Am I right in thinking that you need to have a Facebook account before you can sign up for Spotify?

And is there any way I can see what their catalogue is like without signing up?

No you don't need FB, but, yes, I think you do need to register before you can search.

[gradus]

I too switched to the Premium service and am very pleased with it. i agree that their search facility is very poor and disappointingly, often fails to find a recording that is available but one learns to search by work, artist, orchestra etc to get round this. The gaps between tracks can annoying too, especially in opera and I have asked them to sort it out - perhaps other users have done likewise?
johnb thanks for the tip about volume normalisation, I'll give it a try.

[Globaltruth]

I too switched to the Premium service and am very pleased with it. i agree that their search facility is very poor and disappointingly, often fails to find a recording that is available but one learns to search by work, artist, orchestra etc to get round this. The gaps between tracks can annoying too, especially in opera and I have asked them to sort it out - perhaps other users have done likewise?
johnb thanks for the tip about volume normalisation, I'll give it a try.

I also use the premium service and think it is good value. I would like to know how the artists on there get recompensed - the details, as opposed to the general concept (they get paid every time a track is paid). I have heard rumblings that this payment is very low and that certain distributors have withdrawn their catalogues.


There are several shortcomings in the richness of the Spotiy user experience. I suspect this is an intentional design strategy - to keep the software as simple as possible, given the number of different platforms it runs on and the overriding need for speed in finding and loading a track. However Spotify have recently, and perhaps inevitably, announced Spotify 'apps'. and at some point I'll wade through the hype and verbiage and see if there is anything there of value which may help improve search, create playlists and also provide an automated switch-on and switch-off service.

Like johnb I also use Logitech Squeezecentre and have recently bought iPeng which does a lot of the above for Squeezecentre and associated players and runs on an iPhone. A very sweet little application but sometimes I want to listen to Spotify direct...