Can’t even seek through songs.

  • Rayspekt
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    1832 years ago

    Well, if you don’t pay with money, you’re paying with your attention. Do you think they create this huge service just for funsies?

    Tbf, out of all media streaming services across movies, series, and music, Spotify has the highes bang-for-your-buck. It’s still like Netflix at that time when there was only Netflix and you could watch almost everything on one platform. I still buy records that I like on physical media like vinyl, but Spotify is such a great deal for convenient listening to all music out there.

    • Blackout
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      2 years ago

      Man these people forget the days when a month of Spotify would afford you 1 CD. I remember cause I would spend half my paycheck on music. I’m just sitting here happy for services like Spotify and YouTube in my life. I remember a time when music and information was much harder to obtain (even illegally).

      • @thejml@lemm.ee
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        272 years ago

        But if you bought the CD you actually owned something. Stop paying for the services and you have nothing if all you used was spotify/YouTube/pandora. I gave up on paying for streaming years ago and spend the same amount monthly on purchasing music. I get CDs, either new or used. I’ve amassed a collection and I don’t need Internet or monthly charges to play them.

        • 𝓢𝓮𝓮𝓙𝓪𝔂𝓔𝓶𝓶
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          372 years ago

          But I don’t want to own it. I don’t want to amass a collection of CDs taking up space somewhere. Been there, done that. I have a large collection of ripped mp3s from CDs I bought in the 90s and early 2000s (I’ve long since disposed of the physical media). I haven’t clicked on a single one of them in years, I just keep them for nostalgia sake and because they take relatively little space.

          I just occasionally want to listen to music sans commercials or annoying DJs wasting my time. For the cost of 1 CD a month my entire family can listen to almost anything they desire, at any time, without hassles (on Pandora in our case but I assume the economics are similar).

          Same thing with movies, honestly. I watch them once and move on. There’s a small handful I like enough to rewatch and I do own those.

          I get the whole, we don’t own anything anymore, argument and I mostly agree with it (see my massive Steam library). I just want both options to be viable. Streaming for ephemeral entertainment and actual ownership for the things I choose to keep.

        • Blackout
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          192 years ago

          We all have our preferences and I enjoy the quantity of music I can get in a heartbeat. It really sucked when you were 16 and spent $15 on a CD that sucked because there was no way to hear it ahead of time.

          • @thejml@lemm.ee
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            22 years ago

            My rule was always “buy it if there are at least 3 songs I know & like”. Only really had a few disappoint. I used to hang out at used CD stores though. I got so many for $2.50 or $5. Even a few gems for $1.

        • Rayspekt
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          42 years ago

          Valid point, but commuting with my turntable to listen to my sick vinyls on the go is a pain in the ass. Also moving sucks ass when you have a metric fuckton of sensitive vinyl to move. Owning stuff also has its downsides. Also no way I’m digitizing my vinyls and cutting them and shit to listen to them on the go, ain’t nobody got time fo dat.

          I gave up on CDs roughly 15 years ago because I don’t like the format compared to vinyl (small album art, plasticy jewelcases, …).

      • @small44@lemmy.world
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        122 years ago

        You owned the music when you buy it. With multiple backups the risks of losing it it very minimal but with spotify or other streaming services, if you have to reduce your expenses you completely lose the access to the music till you pay again. Spotify always grey out songs too so even when you pay you may not have access to the some of the music you want to listen to

      • Rayspekt
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        72 years ago

        I feel you, the value from Spotify is enormous. I can sift through ten different bands in no time just because I decided that I want to look up a new genre that I may or may not be totally into by the end.

          • Blackout
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            22 years ago

            I was 16 before Napster existed. It didn’t come out til I was 19. You guys are so ignorant and self centered. Claim you care about the artists but you want it all for free and when Spotify makes things difficult on you your solution is to pirate everything. We pirated when music was far more expensive than it was now. Software cost $1000s and there wasn’t a $60 monthly option. People actually lived on minimum wage back then and it was $4.25/hr.

      • Kayn
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        222 years ago

        Surely you have a better explanation for why Spotify isn’t giving you the full service for free.

      • Rayspekt
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        152 years ago

        Yeah don’t use it if you don’t want to, idc. But you might accept the thought that there are people that think the deal Spotify puts on the table is good.

      • @porkins@sh.itjust.works
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        -32 years ago

        Spotify is not profitable nor ever has been. It accrued $4B in additional debt last year. The business is subject to high royalty fees. As a competitor, I just leave free Spotify running all day on mute since they lose money from every subscriber. The royalties are the same whether they make money or not on the customer. It is wise of them to more aggressively convert people to paid plans, but I’m sure that their margins are razor thin.

    • @AcornCarnage@lemmy.world
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      242 years ago

      I know not everyone will agree, but I think YouTube premium is the better bang-for-buck service. $3 more per month than Spotify and includes YouTube Music premium and YouTube Premium. So all the music and ad-free YouTube.

        • BraveSirZaphod
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          242 years ago

          Only so long as Google decides to continue serving content for free to people who contribute nothing to their bottom line, which isn’t guaranteed to last.

          • Jaysyn
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            12 years ago

            Anyone that thinks Google’s WebDRM is going to stop with ads is a fool.

            • BraveSirZaphod
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              02 years ago

              Ultimately, there’s no real way to get around the fact that operating huge platforms like YouTube that serve hundreds of millions of people every day comes with very significant costs, and someone has to pay them. Either users pay them directly, advertisers pay them in exchange for ad space, or investors pay them in exchange for the ability to control the platform for whatever purpose they want.

              Given that, I’m personally pretty happy to settle on direct subscription fees. For the sheer amount of content you get, I don’t think it’s really that unreasonable, though I am of course speaking as someone in a position where I can afford them.

        • Kayn
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          202 years ago

          *with free tools from thankless efforts.

        • @Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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          102 years ago

          An argument could easily be made for Spotify as well. There are plenty of options for streaming music for free to your device with download support. Just about anything can be done for free if people are willing.

        • @Empricorn@feddit.nl
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          32 years ago

          Sure, for now. YouTube is cracking down on ad-blockers, don’t think they’ll let those free tools work forever…

      • @SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net
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        2 years ago

        YouTube is basically the same price as Spotify in my country (only 12 cents more actually), so even more bang for my buck, specially for family plans.

      • @CO_Chewie@sh.itjust.works
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        32 years ago

        I’m currently in a three month trial due to the value (music streaming and ad free you tube), but coming from Pandora YT Music’s radio algorithm sucks sooooo bad. One of my first plays was a foo fighters album and now all the stations I create have alt/grunge in them. It’s making it really hard to consider staying.

      • @shectabeni@sh.itjust.works
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        22 years ago

        Surprising to see any suggestions on here for YouTube Premium. I have been lucky enough to be on a family plan for years and it’s honestly great. Sometimes, it’s just easier not to deal with having to hack around things to make them usable.

        • @AcornCarnage@lemmy.world
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          22 years ago

          Family is one of the biggest reasons. A huge part of it for me was minimizing at least SOME of the ads my kids would be exposed to.

      • @Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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        02 years ago

        I did not agree when I had both premium, I did not agree when I had YT light and Spotify premium, and I do not agree today.

        Context: I only use YT for its main service; streaming video. I never tried YT music because I already had music streaming set up in a way that worked for me.

        • @AcornCarnage@lemmy.world
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          12 years ago

          I mean, if you are paying for two services but don’t use one by choice, sure I can see the value not being there.

      • @poopkins@lemmy.world
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        12 years ago

        I need 48-bit 96kHz raw PWM otherwise my ears can’t tolerate it. I can hear the difference in the waveforms.