I’ve had an account with Rdio for about 5 month now.
I’m obsessed.
I don’t have an emotional connection to Rdio. I’ve just concluded it’s the best after a lot of experimentation.
My online listening progression has gone like this:
Napster -> iTunes -> AmazonMP3 -> Grooveshark -> Rdio ->Spotify -> Rdio
In the all-you-can-listen streaming buffet, Spotify currently stands in the spotlight.
When Spotify was slowly being rolled out in the US, I didn’t understand the hype. Rdio was already present and available in the US. Europe had a lot of Spotify subscribers, but so what? The same service was available in the US with Rdio.
Regardless, Spotify made a big splash. Suddenly, my Facebook Newsfeed was flooded with everything my friends were listening too – 100% from Spotify.
Already an Rdio subscriber, but wanting to see if Spotify was better, I gave it a test run.
A day later, it was back to Rdio full-time.
Why I don’t like Spotify:
1. It’s terrible at recommending music, probably because it doesn’t. I can see what’s new and what my Facebook friends are listening to, but that’s it. If I want to discover new music, I have to do grunt work (Read this Spotify).
Music is an obsession of mine, specifically finding new music to listen to. I’m an audio hunter/gatherer.
Rdio does a great job with recommendations, along with letting me easily refresh them.
2. It’s missing people. Only being able to see what your Facebook friends are listening to is so limiting. Rdio lets you connect with Facebook friends, people you follow on Twitter, four different email providers, etc. But you can also search Influencers, Suggested Users, Top Listeners, and people New on Rdio.
This is the giant fault of Spotify. It’s adequate for just playing music, which probably what most people only want. But for music discovery, it’s awful.
With Spotify, I never would have found the amazing playlist below, which Adrianne composed of songs including Snaps, Claps, and Whistles.
The only feature that Spotify out performs Rdio with is speed. Their desktop app is faster than Rdio’s web app. But that’s it as far as I’m aware.
If you’re on Rdio, find me here. If you’ve only given Spotify a chance, but love discovering new music – consider Rdio.