The Search for the Holy Grail of Music Streaming, Part 1: Spotify

I've decided recently that I want to get a music streaming subscription. I know that I've been opposed to them in the past because they don't pay the artists well, among other reasons; however, I've seen that it might be a more cost-effective approach than buying my own music. Over the course of the next few weeks (or possibly months), I'll be posting some reviews of the different major streaming services.

First up: the giant, ubiquitous Spotify. 

When Spotify came to the US, nearly every single person I know signed up for it because it was something radical for the time: a legal way to listen to unlimited amounts of music for free (if you were OK with advertising, that is). It also allowed you to share music with your friends on social media, because, well...why shouldn't social media be involved in everything?

I remember thinking that Spotify was the greatest thing since sliced bread when I first got it. That being said, the way I listen to music has changed a lot since then. Playlists are out, albums are in. Shuffle mode is out, track order is in.

At the end of the summer, I decided to get Spotify Premium for the first time in my life at the price of 99 cents for three months. I love that Spotify has this, as some people might really want to see how well it works with them over a longer time period than thirty days. If you like it, Spotify gains you as a paying subscriber; if you don't, you're only out a dollar. I went into this with a similar mindset.

However, I knew after three days that I would never again subscribe to Spotify.

Why? It didn't work with the way I listen to music.

Spotify places its emphasis on several things that I don't like: playlists, intentional music discovery, and, worst of all, shuffle mode. The focus on playlists I get: most people these days don't listen to albums, so why focus on playing them straight through when people won't use it all that much? However, I love the album format, so I don't care for this.

Intentional music discovery is also not my cup of tea. I feel like Spotify is a streaming service that you need to know what you want to listen to before you open it. Maybe I wasn't invested in it long enough. Maybe I needed to let it do its thing for a while, and this might have changed. However, it just seemed too complicated to actually discover new music through Spotify.

The last one, however, irked me to no end. When I figured out how to listen to albums on the mobile app (which, honestly, wasn't that hard), I figured that the most prominent button on the screen would be a way to play the album in track order. However, this is what I got: a "Shuffle Play" button. 

Hey Spotify, some of us like still like track order!

Why they would do this is beyond me. Sure, I get it for playlists where shuffling allows you to get a new feel every time you listen. But for albums? You seriously expect me to ditch my traditional track order for artists like Pink Floyd, U2, Arcade Fire, and countless other bands who deliberately set their running order to convey the themes and music in the best way possible? I had to dig to find an option to play albums in their proper order, which is just not a good thing to have to look for. 

Now, my experiences with Spotify weren't all that bad. Here's some other notes on the service before I leave you:

• Spotify is available on nearly every possible operating system, including the major players like OS X, Windows, iOS, and Android. If you own a Windows Phone, Blackberry, or even Symbian (I think people still use it...), you can also get in on it. Not many other services support you, so it might be a good option for you. 
• Spotify's catalog is huge. I've found some really obscure music on there that I ended up really liking. That being said...
• Spotify still has gaps, most notably Taylor Swift and the Beatles. Now, the Beatles aren't anywhere as far as streaming goes, and most of you don't care for T-Swift all that much, so you might be able to do without them. However, for those of you who want songs that Spotify doesn't have, you'll just have to do without them. Unlike Google Play Music or Apple Music, there's no way to combine your library with theirs. 
• Spotify's mobile app is pretty decently designed. It has a very nice interface that looks good on all mobile platforms I've seen it on. However, make sure you understand how the queue works. I know I was surprised that when I added an album to the play queue it didn't start after the current album was done but right after the song I was playing. Minor, but important nonetheless. 
• College students: Spotify is $4.99/month for you instead of $9.99/month. 

Honestly, now that I think about it, Spotify wasn't as bad as I might make it out to be. It will serve most people really well with its large catalog and good mobile apps. However, for someone like me who wants to listen to albums and not playlists, I wouldn't recommend it. It just doesn't want to cooperate with the way I listen to music, so I can't use it.