In my previous Branch thread, many of you said you left iTunes for Spotify, or have considered leaving. Why so? Also, have you heard that Apple may offer music streaming like Spotify in the future? If so, would you consider switching back to iTunes?

Maybe in the future, sure. But Spotify is:
--right here, right now
--I run into precious few songs or artists I can't get on it.
--Well-priced. I would need to legally purchase 1 album a month to keep up
--Finally fixing login problems. Mostly. Kinda. :/
--Shares my playlists between desktop and mobile without my doing anything
--I get to snoop on what my friends are listening to (granted: sometimes a really bad idea)

If Apple can match it, provide the same level of service for the same price point, and incentivize me to be un-lazy enough to switch my subscription (Buy/integrate Pandora's algorithm for picking music, for example)? Maybe.

I'm also very wary of Apple owning and controlling access to everything. It's increasingly unhealthy.

The value proposition is just to good for me not to use Spotify. The ability to listen to a massive range of music and discover new music for a fixed monthly price of $12 is awesome.

@Andrew

Well said. I am a technology writer and have not used iTunes for awhile now, so it's hard for me to view Spotify through the eyes of a regular user. While subscription music has been around for quite some time now, it seems like Spotify is the first interaction with it that many listeners have had.

In many ways, Spotify is what listeners rebelled against the major labels to get. So it makes me ask, is this the music utopia that they hoped for? Or, does each new generation of listeners set new (and increasingly unrealistic) expections for how good any one service should be?

The future of music is here. Now the market gets to vote for which way of listening makes sense to them. Will that be Spotify or will Apple continue to win?

The content-availability is the killer for my part.
At least here in Norway.

The old fashion method is to buy every single song or album you wan't to listen to. I know people who consume music like this, but it's not me.

With Spotify, i can listen to any kind of songs i want to. Which differs from day-to-day.

iTunes with streaming could or could not be better.
It could or could not be released.
We're just gonna have to wait and see.

@Simon -

There's certainly something to be said for that. I'm worried about the next round of iOS/OSX updates because I have this worrying feeling that Apple isn't really feeling the pressure from competitors. I enjoy Apple products, but I've enjoyed them because they worked hard to make a product that fit me (as a consumer, not personally) better.

Spotify gives an affordable, flexible option without being tied to a specific platform. You don't have the connotation of the Zune Music Service being a Microsoft product, or Google Play which is getting more and more closely tied in with Android. Spotify doesn't care what phone or computer you or your friends have. It might be iTunes biggest threat near-term.

Yes.

Between Spotify Premium allowing mobile, the ability to listen to the entire catalogue and, most importantly, the power of seeing recommendations from friends I open iTunes only to buy CD's when they have early access.

I think a larger question needs to be asked. Have you given up listening to albums? Neither service allows for the traditional album elements--the liner notes, multiple pages of cover art, ect. I would probably stick with iTunes because they at least tried the iTunes LP service.

I haven't given up on iTunes yet due to limitations of Spotify. Spotify Premium is great; however, when I run out of service and wifi (which happens in the South), I then have to switch back to music I own and purchased through iTunes.

@DJ Sam Soul

That question lands outside of this discussion. I have created a new Branch where that conversation can take place.

branch.com

I would love to hear your view on the main question: Would you give up iTunes for Spotify? If so, why?

@Lee - Living where I do, I often forget that cellular data service is not ubiquitous. Offline playlists are an option... but they take forever to sync.

Another topic for another day, but I find that fact troubling.

@Lee - You can also take advantage of Offline Playlists using Spotify, so even if you don't have signal or WiFi, you still have your songs.

@Chad - yeah, it's just always too late when I realize it. Offline is great for if I'm planning ahead, like flying, but when I'm driving somewhere it's usually too late. And I don't want to lose the space on my phone saving them all.

@Lee - Are there other limitations beyond connection issues that prevent you from making the switch to Spotify?

@ Chad - What is your stance on iTunes and Spotify? Have you embraced music streaming or do you still listen to your MP3s?

@Kyle - Not at all. I love using Spotify Premium, it's saved me a ton of money, but I just can't completely commit right now. We need complete coverage, everywhere. But that's a topic for another day.

@Lee

Could you go into more detail about why you can't completely commit? Is this also an issue of coverage? Or, is this something more?

@Kyle - It's mostly a coverage issue. I can't commit knowing that I can't access it wherever and whenever I want to, unlike my downloaded iTunes music.

@leesnewton I agree with that coverage issue point. I also want to mention the impact of ownership. As a DJ who spent years converting around 2,000 vinyl, cds, and cassettes into digital albums, there is a sense of "these are my crates." Spotify does not own them, and I do not need internet coverage to listen to them. The concept of "crates" has come into play, and it will probably never be resolved by cloud services. Even the iCloud concept scares me in terms of functionality. My records are very important to me. Wanna see my crates?

I think Spotify solves a very big problem. Curious listeners have a very low-barrier to try new music and hardcore vets of music curating have a place to sample entire albums before purchasing. Also, Spotify loves your local music files. It will import them and play them.

iTunes becomes nothing more than a place to buy music you can't find on Spotify.

Forgot to mention in my last post, Spotify allows you to store cached copies of songs on your desktop or mobile device, so coverage becomes less of an issue.

Surprised to hear people saying Offline Playlists take forever to sync - I find that they sync to my Android phone pretty quickly, even over 3G, and are the single-greatest thing about the Spotify experience, allowing me to have a sense of "my music" that I can listen to on a plane or train etc., without actually subscribing to the buy-to-own model.

Spotify is a hugely generous service from a consumer point of view. Why pay per track when you can have unlimited access to all your music for a flat monthly fee, on- and off-line? iTunes provides better compensation to the labels and artists, but that's another story for another Branch.

@Tom Hoare The great thing about syncing over 3g is that as you're playing a song, it's actually downloading the track to your device. Love that.

But you're right, Spotify is incredibly generous and the incentives are growing for artists. digitalmusicnews.com

Why even mention iTunes in the same context as Spotify? With Spotify, as premium subscriber, for a ridiculous low monthly fee, you practically have the modern Western music history on whatever device you prefer, within arm's length. Me, for instance, appreciate the possibility of organizing my whole "musical me" in playlists, starring tracks and so on. With iTunes? I don't think so. Guess what? Just got an e-mail from Apple iTunes promoting "iTunes Festival" with live performances for 30 days. Guess Spotify loses that battle.

True, but I happen to know that Spotify is looking to increase its presence in the live events marketplace. The iTunes Festival is a great series, though.

Another great thing about Spotify is the way that third-party apps are so seamlessly integrated into the UI; from music-discovery apps like Last.FM and We Are Hunted, to social apps like Swarm.FM that turn the Spotify platform into a music social network, to service apps like This Is My Jam or Songkick Concerts - they're all sewn into the fabric of the Spotify program so neatly and so cohesively, in a way that completely outshines iTunes' integration with apps.

That's another winner. But I have to confess, I'm still waiting for THE app, that allows "limitless" connection, within your preferences, to people where the sharing of your tastes, dislikes, hopes etc is used much like this, Branch.

Hmm.

It sounds like the new Apple system will challenge Spotify. bits.blogs.nytimes.com

This is compelling for a few reasons:
1. It shows that Apple is paying attention to Amazon and continuing to build their ecosystem.
2. Developing tastes based off of your existing library could be really powerful — add in the Open Graph and it grows stronger.
3. Apple needs to shake up iTunes.

If it is powerful enough would it bring y'all back to iTunes?

@Nation Hahn, There are plenty of radio apps. Surely apple doesn't think we need another one, even with all that content.

Personally, I don't see this as that much of a threat to Spotify - from what I've read it seems too similar to a service like Pandora or Rdio, a 'personalised radio service' as opposed to a streaming content library like Spotify. Nonetheless, Apple are pretty much the Death Star in the digital music field - if they want to do something, they'll do it - so they could well make this work.

Why wouldn't Apple want to take over radio? It would help cement iTune's central role in music. If it was built into the iPod/iPhone/Mac universe it would have a powerful leg up.