Read on Geeks.com
I left both my 1TB hard drive filled with music and my iPod at home this morning. On the drive in to work, I had to resort to listening to CDs! I got to work and wondered what I would listen to, and decided to do a little streaming with Pandora Radio on my phone. There are a lot of choices out there competing for your attention in the “streamosphere”. Undoubtedly the two top contenders are Pandora and Spotify. They’ve got a lot of similarities, but they’re also very different.
Pandora is an online streaming radio site with 150 million users that’s actually been around for quite some time (since 2000) compared to the relative newcomer Spotify. You can stream Pandora online in your browser, or you can download the app to your computer or mobile device. With Pandora, you can create your own streaming “stations” based on an artist, song, or even genre. Pandora’s musical algorithm quickly puts together a station with a wide variety of artists and songs similar to what you’ve indicated you’d like to base the station on.
The Pandora algorithm is surprisingly accurate and relevant and matches well with what you tell it you like. The algorithm is based on the Music Genome Project, a ten year ongoing analysis and catalog of music ranging from the latest pop gems, back to the hits of the Renaissance. When a song plays, you can give it a thumbs up or down, and the algorithm will get more dialed in to what you like. You can also skip the song if you don’t like it, but only for a limited number of times in the free version of Pandora.
Pandora has nearly a million songs in its database, and allows user to stream for free in an ad based version. I’ve found the ads infrequent, and not that much of a distraction. I like the accuracy of the Pandora algorithm, and don’t often find myself skipping songs in my stations. I make sure to give thumbs up and down when I can, to keep getting good results. When I do skip, I’m usually not bothered by the limit in the free version. I have quite a number of stations set up, and find myself most often using the “QuickMix” function, which pulls from all of your channels. I like the variety, and once again, the relevancy of the musical choices.
Spotify has gotten a lot of notice over the last couple of years. It was first available in Europe only, but launched in the US in 2011. Spotify has streaming rights to nearly 18 million tracks, so it has a much bigger catalog than Pandora. The biggest distinction is that Spotify music is available on demand. You can select an artist or album and stream it for free in your web browser or on a mobile device with ads. To listen without ads, you have to upgrade to the Premium account for $9.99 a month. That’s the main drawback to Spotify.
Spotify is very socially integrated, allowing the creation of playlists, and sharing of playlists, albums, and songs. Spotify is Facebook oriented, requiring users to link Facebook accounts with their Spotify accounts. If you do so, you’re also authorizing frictionless sharing, so your friends on Facebook will see what you’re listening to. From experience, you’ll see that your friends will like and comment on the popular stuff you listen to, but might give you some grief for some of your guilty musical pleasures! This is a drawback for a lot of users.
Spotify has nearly 10 million users, with 3 million of those being paying users. Spotify is also bigger globally than Pandora, and is available in 13 countries. Pandora’s license only applies to US operation.
In 2012, Spotify launched a free radio feature in the US, currently for use on iPad and iPhone, and taking a chunk out of Pandora’s pie. Pandora might be sweating a bit, but it’s going to take Spotify some time to get where Pandora is, if they can manage to take that market. I would imagine Spotify could have some success cannibalizing those users like me who use BOTH services. Plus there’s the lure of the much larger catalog. Time will tell to see how Pandora adjusts to this challenge.
So which is the winner? It depends on what you want to do. If you like a lot of variety, Pandora is the way to go, more like a radio station. Spotify is a bit more like having your music collection online – they don’t have EVERY artist and EVERY album, but I’ve usually found most of what I’m looking for. I think both Pandora and Spotify are winners, and I’d recommend using both, as they both have free versions available.
For me, I’m starting to use Pandora streaming on my phone more and more. I like the “QuickMix” function, and the accuracy of the songs in the stations. I like the ability to skip songs I don’t like, and the thumbs up and thumbs down function. I don’t find myself using it on my computer at home, unless I’m mowing the lawn or doing yard work and I’m streaming on my phone.
I’m considering upgrading to Spotify premium so I can pretty much have my music collection available on my phone for less than the price of an average CD a month. I like to be able to go to specific artists and albums, and I like the size of the catalog. I’ve got a lot of artist “best of” playlists on Spotify, and a lot of mixed playlists as well. I don’t mind that on Facebook you might see some of my guilty pleasure listens, like my affinity for 80′s pop music.
Trends are showing that teens prefer streaming to downloading and even buying music online. Obviously CD sales are down. With the increase in use of mobile devices, it’s getting more and more convenient to stream music. The music industry as a whole has failed to adequately adapt to the digital revolution. If you put it out there in digital format, people will find a way to get it for free.
