What's your choice and why? Let's discuss!

My impression of Spotify when I tried it about a year ago is that its design is centered around making it easy and comfortable for iTunes users to make the switch. Like iTunes, Spotify is an app. It transfers your iTunes music collection and your playlists. Personally, I found the Spotify UI ugly, cluttered and uninspired. Rdio, in comparison, makes no attempt to appease users coming from iTunes. Instead, it attempts to create the ideal listening experience based on the assumption of unlimited access to a large universe of music. Without any pixels wasted on iTunes converts, Rdio's desktop UI is cleaner and more focused. It's also browser/Flash based, which some might find off-putting (but which i actually don't mind).

Also, I found Rdio's iOS clients to be much nicer than Spotify's. At the time I was comparing the two, Spotify did not even have an iPad client! (It probably has one by now.)

Whoa! I just discovered that Rdio now has a native Mac app! It's pretty much the same UI as the browser-hosted one, but with some nice OS integration points like support for built-in media keys and Notification Center (on Mountain Lion).

I invited John Scalo to this branch. I know he uses Spotify, so he can add some balance to my Rdio-biased opinions. :-)

Thanks for the thorough explanation Steve. Now that I recall, I used Rdio once back in the day and remember not liking the UI at the time. However, I've heard that the team has made significant improvements. I'm currently a free Spotify user but always looking into new and better clients.

Do you use Rdio's subscription service and does it offer similar or more features than Spotify might give you?

Glad to see you invited another person! The more thoughts the better.

When I initially compared Spotify and Rdio I found that it was harder to find music with Rdio. Spotify has a ton of advanced searching features and going from track to artist to album is very fluid. Also at the time Spotify had higher quality streaming. Now I'm a paying Spotify customer and haven't looked back.

Unlike Spotify, Rdio doesn't have a free, ad-supported option. They have a free option, but it is really a limited trial, rather than something you could use long term. It has a $4.99/month plan (which I wouldn't bother with) and a $9.99/month plan. The mobile apps are only available with the $9.99/month plan, so that's what I'm on.

Just checked out Spotify's iPad app. If you're looking for a free streaming service, Spotify is definitely the way to go. Rdio doesn't let you use its mobile apps until you get to the $9.99/month tier. With Spotify, at least you Pandora-like "Radio" streaming with the mobile apps.

Just my 2 cents on this, having spent probably a little *too* much time evaluating both.

Spotify has the drop on breadth of music in the UK for sure (at least for now). The social aspect of Rdio seems better handled and is less in your face.

UI wise, both could use some work. The new Rdio looks like it hasn't been finished yet, whilst the spotify UI is just a little dated with some odd UX quirks.

The best solution for me personally was to run either through my Sonos system, at least theres a common UI for everything and the integration is seamless.

I find the services themselves to be largely comparable. I ended up choosing Rdio because it didn't force me to link my Facebook account, which as far as I know Spotify still makes you do.

The music libraries are comparable - each has a few things the other doesn't, but they still both have most everything I usually need. It's really the Facebook thing that pushed me over into the Rdio camp instead of sitting on the fence.

Here's a nice breakdown pitting them against each other (including Grooveshark and Pandora, too): thenextweb.com

Rdio's free service is very interesting, too. It's ad-free, but it's limited - you only get a certain number of hours per month. But here's the cool part: the number of hours you get per month varies based on your usage.

From FastCompany (fastcompany.com

CEO Drew Larner "calls the allotment "dynamic," and adds that the company will track how much usage it takes to convert a free user to a paying customer. That means if a freemium user barely takes advantage of the offer from month to month, Rdio is less likely to limit usage--there's still the opportunity for he or she to get addicted to the service. But if a user continues to max out usage each and every month, it's clear that user is not so likely to become a paying customer."

I have used Spotify very casually, and only have the free version. I find that I still end up buying albums instead of using these types of services because I'm afraid of overall content selection. My question is, how has everyone's experience been along these lines? Have you been happy with the overall selection of music to choose from? Have you adopted one of these streaming services as a full time replacement to iTunes or the like?

Rdio's free service is a joke. The only cool part is that you dont have to listen to ads, but their "dynamic allotment" is just frustrating. If you are supposed to have an allotment from the 1st to the 30th of the month they will cut off the ability to listen to anything for the last couple days hoping to "market" to you the "advantages" of being a paid user. Then after two or three months, they yank all ability to listen unless you pay them.

I would have no issues with this if they came right out and said they were going to do this when you sign up or even when you contact them to ask about it.

Here is a support comment I posted on rdio in january 2012:
help.rdio.com

It seems that if you want free streaming Spotify is it.