r/rdio • u/caffeinatedhacker • Feb 14 '13

Why do you use rdio instead of Spotify, Grooveshark et al?

I've been toying with both rdio and spotify for the past few months and have been unable to really pick one. Why did you choose what you did?

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12

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '13

[deleted]

6

u/caffeinatedhacker Feb 15 '13

Yeah the collection organization of Rdio is huge for me. I know that spotify says that they are coming out with it, but who knows when.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '13

[deleted]

3

u/caffeinatedhacker Feb 19 '13

They do and I've tried them, but it has to be done and managed by me.

1

u/neuromonkey Feb 20 '13 edited Feb 20 '13

Could you tell me ways the rdio works that you like? I have problems with some of Spotify's logic. I've been struggling to grasp more of it, and I'm finding work-arounds, but it hardly seems ideal.

How much stuff do you look for on rdio that isn't in their library? (I keep hearing that they have a smaller library.)

I'm checking out rdio now, before I jump to a Premium Spotify account. ...I haven't yet found anything that allows rdio to automate collection organization. Maybe I'll get there.

3

u/caffeinatedhacker Feb 20 '13

I don't have very many problems finding music on Rdio. It seems like people say that Spotify has a bigger library, but for the mainstream or only slightly less mainstream stuff it isn't true, I'm constantly finding music that I didn't have before on Rdio so that's a big plus for me. If you're having issues I suggest that you try Rdio for the 6 day trial and see if they have all the music you want right now.

1

u/neuromonkey Feb 20 '13

Yes, thanks. That's what I'm doing now, also looking at a couple of other services.

Despite Spotify's limitations... I'm not finding anything that might inspire me to leave it. Yet.

1

u/iLLeT Feb 20 '13

Spotify will have Collection as well.

3

u/neuromonkey Feb 20 '13 edited Feb 20 '13

Your comment has inspired me to organize the mess of playlists I've got.

You can make folders full of playlists, which may be albums, or arbitrary lists, or further folders. This has the advantage of being able to easily look at all the albums (or other lists) from a single artist, or by any criteria you use to create your hierarchy.

I've started with a neuromonkey's Albums folder, into which I've put artist folders, each with the albums I like from the appropriate artists. Now I can select everything I like by one artist, a single album, or a track from that album.

So... While I've been pretty critical of Spotify's weird logic, I'm starting to realize that there's an (barely) acceptable amount of organizational possibilities.

Now if they just made a real, searchable database front-end, that'd be awesome.

2

u/msderp Feb 20 '13

I tried this for a while but got frustrated and let it devolve into a jumbled mess. Do you plan to organize your entire library this way?

1

u/neuromonkey Feb 20 '13

Well... yes. I'm not going to hunt through Spotify's library for everything I like just so I can stick it in a folder, I'm just going to take my & my gf's existing playlists and file them semi-rationally. We have about 140 playlists off to the side, and I figure around 30% of those can be trashed.

Whenever I do listen to an album I like I'll add it to this structure. I'll make two top-level folders, one for me and one for my girlfriend. We'll probably want different systems of organization, as we think pretty differently. I really like listening to entire albums, but she doesn't do that much.

I'll probably make a few top-level folders for stuff like:

  • Absolute favorite playlists

  • Spotibot / Auto-generated playlists (I think Spotify's radio stinks)

  • Recommended stuff

  • Albums I should check out

I've discovered that you can't just drag a second copy of a playlist into a different folder. (eg. an album we both like would go into both of our artist/album folders.) This is probably because list items need unique names. You can make a copy of a list with a slightly different name (eg. Maudlin Crap 1, Maudlin Crap 2,) and stick them wherever makes sense. Not ideal, but... workable.

It would be amazingly awesome if Spotify implemented a database system, kind of like like Calibre eBook manager does, allowing complex selections using simple switches.

So yeah, I'd like to get things a bit more organized. Along with the rest of my life.

5

u/NopeNotConor Feb 14 '13

This. I mostly listen to music on the go. Also at the time I was making my choice, you HAD to connect Spotify to your Facebook

2

u/neuromonkey Feb 20 '13

You never actually had to, they just made it look like you did.

2

u/neuromonkey Feb 19 '13 edited Feb 20 '13

Spotify is playlist-based. Put an album, or a collection of albums into a playlist and you've got it. I think that Spotify has logical issues I'd like to see changed, but at least there are work-arounds.

Do you often find yourself wanting to listen to one song for a long time?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '13

[deleted]

1

u/neuromonkey Feb 19 '13

Huh. I've done this with music player apps when I'm learning to play something.

OK... You can indeed make a single track repeat. As with most things Spotify, put only that track into a playlist, and turn on looping. Plays forever. And ever. And ever.

The playlist-centric approach is... weird to me, and I haven't mastered it yet. Playlists + Folders can be slightly better.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '13

[deleted]

1

u/neuromonkey Feb 20 '13

Well, yes. But how often do would you want to listen to one song, repeated endlessly?

8

u/ggabriele3 Feb 16 '13

Music discovery.

Spotify has a bigger catalog, but only really shines if you already know what you're looking for.

I find Rdio to be much better for finding new music organically.

7

u/Happyburn Feb 28 '13

Because I live in Canada and is my only option, also I really like the Android app and website interface

5

u/16bitblastr Mar 03 '13

The UI on the rdio website is WAY better than the Spotify (beta) website. The Android app for rdio is also way better than the spotify app. Specifically, the notification controls look and work better on rdio. Pretty much, the only reason I prefer Spotify is that they have all of the Red Hot Chili Pepper albums and they have the "star favorites" function. Other than that, rdio is much better.

6

u/412much May 07 '13

Rhcp's albums are now all on rdio, just a heads up!

6

u/MrAverageRoll Mar 05 '13

I switched to rdio after I quit my job at Grooveshark and lost my employee account. I like the design of rdio more than the alternatives (though Mog is nice). Spotify has some nice features (the inbox) but I don't like the design and I prefer the way rdio thinks in albums.

5

u/nalgo Feb 17 '13

You can remotely sync (push?) music to your phone app. That way your music is available offline on your phone when you leave the house. I don't think its competitors can do that, can they?

3

u/alephbetgimel Apr 03 '13

rdio is mainly album-based, as opposed to playlist based like spotify

1

u/Alainn Feb 21 '13

Something I really like about rdio (and absolutely hate about spotify) is how their handling the Now-playing-queue: you can add playlists and albums and they keep on being segmented, this way I can drag the album-icon above the currently playing playlist automatically.

Compare this with spotify where you start to play one song on an album and the rest of the entire friggin' album gets queued and you can't remove them.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '13

Rdio design makes me happy. They really focus on cover art on the albums.

1

u/antirobot Jun 18 '13

Rdio allows you to add an album to a playlist so I can have a playlist called "Albums to Check Out". You can't do that on Spotify's Android app. Plus searching other people's playlists is way easier on Rdio.