When I first wrote about my Spotify Premium sign-up, back in Spotify: Week One, I had intended to do a quick update on how that was panning out each week until I had decided which way to go on a more permanent sign-up. As you’ve seen, that’s not really panned out.
I like Spotify. I like how fantastic it is for finding new music, being able to delve into recommendations you’ve had without a massive outlay. Several times over the last few weeks someone has said they like an album and I’ve been listening to it within minutes. That, to me, is excellent and almost certainly a game-changer.
The problem is that I don’t actually use it all that much. Several restrictions (that are outside Spotify’s control) make it less valuable to me:
- Not being able to use it in the background. This is a killer for me. I only use Spotify on my iPhone and not being able to switch out to Notes or Tweetie is a real problem, as I do that all the time. I don’t like having to plan my usage of these other apps around the music I’m listening to and vice-versa.
- Lack of decent 3G signal. I work in the city centre with a decent enough 3G signal, but still can’t get a good enough signal to stream an entire album. Typically, I’ve made it half-way through an album before having to pause to let the data catch-up. That’s not very useful.
Like I say, for these issues, Spotify is not to blame but I don’t feel I can live with them just now. I’m somewhat sad to say that I have not continued my Premium subscription, but may try it again in the future (if I Jailbreak, for example).