The new dilemma: Where to get yer groove on?
So, I’ve been using Spotify for almost a week now. And as you may have gathered from previous outbursts from yours truly, I’m not exactly falling flat on my ass in awe.
In fact, push comes to shove and gun to head, I prefer Grooveshark.
Now, Grooveshark technically isn’t legal. At the very least, the legality of using Grooveshark is very muddled. Grooveshark does, however, have a much better interface (it runs in your browser and doesn’t force you to install software), its “share” function is better, and best of all, it doesn’t nag you incessantly about how “piracy is so last year.”
(Seriously. One of the audio ads just told me that. It also told me that Spotify gives “money to musicians” when you use it, which really is a flat-out lie, because I’ll bet 99% of the Spotify cash goes directly into the pockets of the Big Four.)
Here’s the thing, though. Privacy issues aside, I quite like how Spotify integrates seamlessly with Facebook. So far, I have not experienced being overrun with “this-doofus-is-listening-to-that” updates to the point where I think it’s excessive.
And while “collaborative playlists” have a long way to go before they’re really useful, it’s still a really neat idea. I’m not too sure if Grooveshark has a similar ability, but I haven’t found it.
Also, the selection on both networks varies greatly. On Grooveshark, I can upload my own music if I want. But I can’t listen to Pink Floyd, The Chemical Brothers or The Smashing Pumpkins, because they don’t want to be part of the fun, and Grooveshark has to respect that.
On Spotify, the Pumpkins-collection is nothing short of awesome, but I get interrupted every so often to hear from other artists I couldn’t give less of a fuck about and how I’m “helping music” by sucking record company industry cock.
What to do? I’m this close from giving Spotify the finger and going back to using Grooveshark for all my streaming listening pleasure. The only thing keeping me from doing so, as stupid as this may sound, is the Facebook-integration and the fact that I can easily check out what my friends are listening to without having to ask them.
(I know Grooveshark can technically do that too, but it’s not plugged in to the extent that Spotify is, and I know most of my friends don’t give enough of a shit to even create a Grooveshark user, let alone sync it up to their Facebooks.)
And also this weird feeling like I’m not done playing with it. It helps to have a buddy, in this case +Thomas Arnt, who is just as obsessed with this new toy as I am.
(Image credit: some jack-off on DeviantArt.)
