At work, I am currently in a music drought. I recently subscribed to Spotify and I am somewhat disappointed with the “radio” aspect of their application. The recommendations are few and far between and very “mainstream.” I was hoping for an experience somewhat like last.fm…but with unlimited listening and somewhat tolerable ads. Oh well. Spotify, I want to love you, I want to love you even more because you’re Swedish….surprise me! Dorah recently introduced me to Qobuz. I must admit, I find their design quite catchy; I like the typo choice for the headers (the capitals framed in a bar is something that always attracts me like tinfoil in a bird’s nest), yet, they lose points with the use of Times New Roman (works when the font is small, doesn’t work when the font is big). They seem to be having a typography crisis. I also enjoy how site maps (see bottom of Qobuz) are becoming more and more stylized and less of an afterthought…. but that’s just me. Okay, wait, at a third glace, it seems pretty amateur.
In any case, people are making a big fuss over Spotify (potentially) publishing an iPhone App, I heard some rumor (must be confirmed) about last.fm merging with iTunes (maybe that will correct the problem that is otherwise known as “Genius”), and Deezer made a huge design change…perhaps in attempt to catch up with the others. But if I could create a metaphor with social network sites, Deezer was my Friendster… sorry Deezer. I was very disappointed when one day, I could listen to my bands in your database and the next day, they were still in your database but the play button was seemingly “blocked.” If you had given me an explanation, I would have forgiven you.
Anyway, this article is more “Sarah whining” than a veritable analysis….because I have a lot of of other things that I should be analyzing at the moment. But here’s a taste of web radio as of September 2009 (and sorry record companies, I haven’t purchased a CD in about 5 years):
The war of the music (radio) sites…
At work, I am currently in a music drought. I recently subscribed to Spotify and I am somewhat disappointed with the “radio” aspect of their application. The recommendations are few and far between and very “mainstream.” I was hoping for an experience somewhat like last.fm…but with unlimited listening and somewhat tolerable ads. Oh well. Spotify, I want to love you, I want to love you even more because you’re Swedish….surprise me! Dorah recently introduced me to Qobuz. I must admit, I find their design quite catchy; I like the typo choice for the headers (the capitals framed in a bar is something that always attracts me like tinfoil in a bird’s nest), yet, they lose points with the use of Times New Roman (works when the font is small, doesn’t work when the font is big). They seem to be having a typography crisis. I also enjoy how site maps (see bottom of Qobuz) are becoming more and more stylized and less of an afterthought…. but that’s just me. Okay, wait, at a third glace, it seems pretty amateur.
In any case, people are making a big fuss over Spotify (potentially) publishing an iPhone App, I heard some rumor (must be confirmed) about last.fm merging with iTunes (maybe that will correct the problem that is otherwise known as “Genius”), and Deezer made a huge design change…perhaps in attempt to catch up with the others. But if I could create a metaphor with social network sites, Deezer was my Friendster… sorry Deezer. I was very disappointed when one day, I could listen to my bands in your database and the next day, they were still in your database but the play button was seemingly “blocked.” If you had given me an explanation, I would have forgiven you.
Anyway, this article is more “Sarah whining” than a veritable analysis….because I have a lot of of other things that I should be analyzing at the moment. But here’s a taste of web radio as of September 2009 (and sorry record companies, I haven’t purchased a CD in about 5 years):
Spotify
Last Fm
iTunes
Deezer
Qubuz