Spotify vs iTunes: Pay forever music and value
Pay forever music, ugh. Spotify vs iTunes is a comparison I never tired of making. When you pay $10 a month for Spotify et al, you get convenience with the big assumptions being you’re a.) always connected and b.) not paying for data by the bit (i.e. no cap). Tenuous and likely expensive, eh?
Not really if you believe of Today’s iPhone…
iTunes completely changed the way we listened to music (legally), however, cheaper services like … Spotify have increased significantly in popularity and make paying for albums and downloads seem ridiculous. Although some listeners still enjoy feeling like they “own” the music, value for money, iTunes is nowhere near as economical as using Spotify — Today’s iPhone
So, what do you “own” after a year of paying ($120) for Spotify? Absolutely nothing. Pay for a month or a lifetime, the balance sheet is the same.
With purchased music, you can copy it onto every device you own. Burn it to CDs (!!!) and give ‘em away. Email it to acquaintances. In a nutshell, you get to choose and choice is a good thing™.
Never discount logic
Furthermore, what is the convenience of Spotify all about?
With purchased (CD, iTunes, etc.) music, you have to be organized enough to manage your music on your devices. You must have the presence of mind to get up and/or get ready early enough to take care of little details like music.
Then, failing that, realize that successfully leaving the house without your music means it wasn’t important in the first place — listen to something else or turn on the radio or read or, whatever else you do, get over it.
Otherwise, Spotify starts looking like it offers “value” and you find yourself at the end of another year with nothing in the assets column.
Car loans, credit card debt, the lottery, pay forever music — variations on a theme. Do the math and organize yourself accordingly.
And, the younger you start, the richer your life will be. End of sermon…
What’s your take?
Related posts:
— Free Music: ’66 Must-Have Sensual Classics’ at AmazonMP3
— iTunes Visualizers: SoundSpectrum updates G-Force, Aeon
— Review: MusicTube: YouTube music without YouTube
— Free Audiobook: Get Brandon Sanderson’s ‘Legion’
— PandoraJam 2.1 Beta: Recording is back!
To add balance, I think you have to say that iTunes itself seems to charge a significant premium over physical CDs, and that the actual artists only receive a tiny fraction of the income generated by either music source.
Also, to make a iTunes v Spotify choice:
1. Your country needs to be blessed for Spotify, LastFM, iTunes etc
2. You must know exactly what music you will like, forever
The hidden but major value of music radio (and by extension Spotify etc) is the exposure to “new music” from others (DJs, “friends”, crowd). Part of the reason online music streams gained a foothold was the greedy manipulation of playlists, whereas your subscription (hopefully) gives you access to real ideas.
iTunes has failed to crack this with Ping and Genius, and the iTunes Store window seems to mirror the airwave radio playlist fault.
The more open your choice, the richer your life can be …
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