Spotify coming to Canada

[Azure]

Looks like there’ll be some new competition coming for Rdio. According to Spotify’s annual account filing the streaming music service has plans to enter Canada. It should be available in the coming months, but no exact details of when. Spotify gives you instant access to live radio and the ability to stream millions of songs on any screen, any platform. In addition, the service allows you to share music with your friends via their “Spotify Social” feature. The “Premium” ad-free subscription costs $10/month in the States, probably will be the same price for us in Canada.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/08/22/sp...ice-in-canada/

About time. I know Rdio is available already, but more is better. Spotify also has an ad-supported version with unlimited playback for those people that don't want to pay the $10 per month.

[Russic]

While I agree that competition is better, it'll annoy me if some of my Rdio friends jump ship and my social experience is dampened. Just last night I had a good music recommendation from Silentsim, and when I asked for his rdio handle so I could follow him and steal from his collection he let me know that he's a Spotify user. This is one of those rare times I'd prefer there to be only one option.

The free ad supported version is a pretty great idea though... a great way to get people through the door.

[Azure]

Yeah I know what you mean. Rdio is a great, great service. Can't go wrong with unlimited listening to 18 million songs for $10 a month. But Spotify offers something too, and IIRC, they have a lot more money backing them.

Should be interesting.

[silentsim]

LOVE spotify. Been subscribing to the UK version then the US version.

The main reason i prefer it over Rdio is the apps- I just prefer the Spotify UI. (and there's tons of good spotify playlist generators out there!)

[CaramonLS]

Never used the service, but is spotify / rdio similar to Pandora?

Do you have to listen to channels or can you make your own playlists, have random ones generated based on preference, etc?

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Never used the service, but is spotify / rdio similar to Pandora?

Do you have to listen to channels or can you make your own playlists, have random ones generated based on preference, etc?

Spotify has both radio and make own playlists. It has artist radio and similar radio and can generate playlists based around this. There are also tons of playlists generators for Spotify that work wonders.

You can choose your own songs/albums at any time.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Never used the service, but is spotify / rdio similar to Pandora?

Do you have to listen to channels or can you make your own playlists, have random ones generated based on preference, etc?

Pandora is strictly a radio service. Choose an artist, and it'll play one song from them, and then play 'similar' music. With 50+ million subscribers obviously they're doing something right.

Spotify and Rdio have 'radio' features too, but if you pay the $10 you can listen to any song/artist on demand, plus you can upload all your own music, and listen to it from their cloud.

There are others like Slacker Radio, Songza, Deezer, Sony Music....but with around 20 million songs, its hard to compete with Rdio and Spotify.

Rdio has said they're growing like crazy in Canada/US, which is great, but Spotify will probably always be bigger because they have more money backing them, and can offer more features. Plus, IMO they have a better UI.

I read an article the other day that music services like Rdio, Spotify, Pandora etc, etc are single handily killing music piracy. People that would NEVER buy an album are paying money for these services.

[Azure]

Spotify also has the ad-supported mobile version for Android and iOS. It is unlimited with the ads from what I recall.

Pandora was great while it was still available in Canada. Due to our stupid regulations, they started banning Canadian users a few years ago. There are workarounds, but nothing for mobile.

[Azure]

Actually, the 'free' version of Spotify, gives you the radio feature on Android and iOS. So very similar to Pandora.

If you want to listen to artists/songs on demand, you have to subscribe.

[fundmark19]

With spotify can you download the songs to your device like rdio so that you can listen to them off the grid?

[Azure]

You mean offline mode? I think they have that as well.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by Azure

You mean offline mode? I think they have that as well.

Yes Spotify has offline mode

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Azure

Rdio has said they're growing like crazy in Canada/US, which is great, but Spotify will probably always be bigger because they have more money backing them, and can offer more features. Plus, IMO they have a better UI.

Bigger is a loaded term though - both services have exclusives, so it's not a simple case of "go with the bigger library".

I'm not sure where things are at right now, since I let my Rdio subscription expire last summer, but I remember back then you could only get Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on Rdio, for example (not that it mattered since Rdio was the only one available at the time)

Coming to Canada also means the Spotify library will have holes punched in it much the way Rdio does too, I'm willing to bet - not all their content from other countries will make it to the Canadian edition. So you'll still be stuck with playlists from other users that are missing tracks.

----

On a tangential note, I wish both of these services would start to build out professionally curated and DJ'ed "stations". I'm utterly unable to ditch XM streaming because of specialty channels like BB King's Bluesville. Sure, I could listen to user assembled playlists of blues music on Rdio, but it would be missing the extra value that the DJ's on that station add. Even more mainstream genre's like alternative would benefit from guys like Alan Cross producing shows, who are students of the music.

I've tried the "artist radio" feature in Rdio, and it looks like Spotify has something similar, but I find them about as useful as iTunes Genius playlists, which is to say almost useless - there's no flow, thematic content, or insight into why the tracklist was put together the way it was, like a decent DJ could.

It seems like such a no-brainer, given that they have enormous libraries at their disposal, but they don't seem to be moving in the production direction at all, unless it's something that's changed that I've not heard about.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by Azure

Pandora was great while it was still available in Canada. Due to our stupid regulations, they started banning Canadian users a few years ago. There are workarounds, but nothing for mobile.

Onavo.

Your welcome.

[BlackRedGold25]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Onavo.

Your welcome.

This works incredibly well. I just set it up and had Pandora working in about two minutes.

[photon]

Wait, what? This is a free app that runs your data through their servers thereby being essentially a VPN?

Lol...

[BlackRedGold25]

I just discovered a huge issue with Onavo. I couldn't turn the service off. Had to finally remove its setting profile to stop using it.

[MickMcGeough]

Wake me when someone's streaming lossless...

ETA: Yes, I'll still totally use the free version.

[fundmark19]

Thanks for Onavo I am checking it out. I hate not having pandora outside of my house

Wow it really is that easy! My wife will be happy now we can stream pandora in the car

[Galakanokis]

My work has their proxy server setup in the US set it is great for getting access to these US only apps and subscriptions. Google music, voice and spotify etc.

Marketenabler on my phone makes it easy to grab the associated apps from the play store as well. Spotify is pretty cool so far, just signed up yesterday actually.