News & Rumours: Playstation 4/ Orbis *spin*

[deathindustrial]

But It's really free (and the ads are short and quite rare surprisingly) so I take it.

It is only free if you consider your personal privacy worth nothing.

Based on how the desktop client works and warnings when you setup the PS4 app, you are giving numerous 3rd parties direct details about what you listen to, when you listen to it, your personal information (i.e. PSN details) and anything else they can glean based on the environment the app runs in (network details, other devices on the network, etc.). So you have to trust Spotify and every single 3rd party they choose to partner with (and so on down the chain). For many folks it may be an OK tradeoff but it is definitely not free and extremely different animal than terrestrial radio (for example).

 

[(((interference)))]

Remove CC info from your account and get PS+ and PSN wallet points via prepaid cards. I do it that way.

I did that once with XBL, but then MS said I couldn't get back on Live (I had bought a 1 year subscription card) before paying them the $10 owed to them for the month they tried to bill me for.

 

[(((interference)))]

Sorry but that's complete rubbish. Without Spotify I would never even have heard some of the great non-commercial music I loved in the last year or so.

Or maybe you miss Taylor Swift. You can still get her stuff on iTunes.

Yeah, Spotify is great, best $10 I spend a month by far.

If only the greedy media companies would allow a Spotify-type service for movies and TV that would be the holy grail of entertainment consumption (Netflix isn't the same as it's only a relatively small curated selection).

I haven't tried the app yet but this is a great addition - means I don't have to put audio files on a USB or insert CDs, or fumble about with finding songs on YouTube if I want to play music through my surround setup anymore

 

[bgroovy]

I agree though I have different reasons.

No "add album to library" support for the PS4 client. Navigation is cumbersome, you can't even browse through tracks of an album without interrupting playback (which causes a pause for each track in the playlist). Doesn't appear to have any "browse by label" support. The new release list is too slow to navigate to be of any use for music discovery.

The ad frequency was closer to 15 minutes from my initial listen with all ads being for Playstation. The app said I had to close the game I was playing to get back into it (to change the album I was playing) but then that didn't actually happen so I am not sure what the deal is there.

Just for comparison, I tried the Spotify web client again and it is pretty much as lame as it always has been, definitely wants to limit music discovery and funnel you to what Spotify wants you to listen to. It also requires a ridiculous number of 3rd party services to run and also gave me a certificate pinning error in Firefox.

I think their library is just as good as any other service at this point but the interface and discovery approach, yuck.

You can control what plays on the PS4 through the Spotify app on a phone or tablet, if that's better.

 

[deathindustrial]

You can control what plays on the PS4 through the Spotify app on a phone or tablet, if that's better.

Not sure I see requiring a second device to efficiently use the PS4 Spotify app as a positive feature.

On an unrelated note, Funimation launched on the PS4 yesterday here in Canada. Maybe I'll finally get a chance to finish up "Trigun" (Netflix rudely dropped the series when I was part way through).

 

[London Geezer]

It makes a lot of sense actually. I play all my Spotify music on my iPhone, and now I can just control it on the phone but let it play on the PS4. Though I haven't tried it yet.

Before I'd have to plug either my Mac or my iPhone to the stereo through an audio jack and do it from there.

 

[deathindustrial]

It makes a lot of sense actually. I play all my Spotify music on my iPhone, and now I can just control it on the phone but let it play on the PS4.

So your PS4 is a $400 dongle for your iPhone?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So your PS4 is a $400 dongle for your iPhone?

That's being unreasonable. Everybody wanting to run Spotify on their PS4 already has a mobile, and every PS4 is already connected to the audio system where the mobile isn't. Synergy between devices is a Good Thing. That's not to say the PS4 can be excused having a low-fat interface and lack of features, but seamless integration with mobiles and their inherently better interfaces (hmm, OnQ will likely argue with me on that one given DS4's touchpad ) is to be commended.

 

[Shortbread]

So your PS4 is a $400 dongle for your iPhone?

This is very flawed logic. Pretty much your statement makes all DLNA compliant devices or any other Media Management, Distribution and Control hardware seem irrelevant.

I guess my $6K LCD is an expensive dongle for my Samsung Galaxy when going through my YouTube playlist. Damn it!! :teardrops:

 

[deathindustrial]

This is very flawed logic. Pretty much your statement makes all DLNA compliant devices or any other Media Management, Distribution and Control hardware seem irrelevant.

My phone has a 5" screen. My TV has 47" screen and via the PS4 a physical controller better suited for text entry than a small touch screen. What makes no sense is requiring a proprietary app on a second device with lesser specs (as far as screen size and controller options) to make use of an app on the better suited primary device. I don't need a phone to navigate through Netflix, Crunchy Roll, Funimation, etc. nor should I.

In this situation, the PS4 is the equivalent of a DLNA client talking to a Spotify DLNA server except because the Spotify PS4 app is so lame, you need a second client to control the first client. That's not a feature, that's poor design.

 

[Shortbread]

My phone has a 5" screen. My TV has 47" screen and via the PS4 a physical controller better suited for text entry than a small touch screen. What makes no sense is requiring a proprietary app on a second device with lesser specs (as far as screen size and controller options) to make use of an app on the better suited primary device. I don't need a phone to navigate through Netflix, Crunchy Roll, Funimation, etc. nor should I.

But that's your personal choice! Just like it's ones personal choice of using his/her phone on doing so.

In this situation, the PS4 is the equivalent of a DLNA client talking to a Spotify DLNA server except because the Spotify PS4 app is so lame, you need a second client to control the first client. That's not a feature, that's poor design.

Spotify is a streaming music service - so it would require its own app on accessing those services. Like any other streaming service-app (Netflix, Hulu, etc...). If it's poorly implemented, shouldn't that fall back on the app provider, not the end-users hardware manufacture? Or is the new thing of blaming poor apps on the end-users hardware of choice?

 

[joker454]

So your PS4 is a $400 dongle for your iPhone?

I'll simplify it for you, as I've been using Spotify for about 4 years or so now having signed up for it on launch day. I use Spotify on 3 devices, my laptop, my phone and my gaming pc. All are the same account. My phone gets used to listen on the go and of course to listen in my car when I'm driving. My laptop uses it so I can hear tunes when I'm in my office working on my laptop, chillin outside on my hammock browsing websites, doing my workout in the garage, etc. My gaming pc uses it when I feel like blasting tunes all around the house since that pc is hooked up to the home theater setup and hence gets the best sound.

So I get to enjoy all 20+ million or so Spotify songs at 320kbps quality just about anywhere, anytime under any situation I can think of all for $10/mt, or cheaper in my case because me and my wife are on the family plan so it's just $15 total or $7.50 for each of us.

 

[chris1515]

Spotify is the single best feature to be added to the PS4 so far. It's a bit like being able to rip discs to your 360 only without any of the hassles and it has a huge library! I'm chuffed with it.

I'll simplify it for you, as I've been using Spotify for about 4 years or so now having signed up for it on launch day. I use Spotify on 3 devices, my laptop, my phone and my gaming pc. All are the same account. My phone gets used to listen on the go and of course to listen in my car when I'm driving. My laptop uses it so I can hear tunes when I'm in my office working on my laptop, chillin outside on my hammock browsing websites, doing my workout in the garage, etc. My gaming pc uses it when I feel like blasting tunes all around the house since that pc is hooked up to the home theater setup and hence gets the best sound.

So I get to enjoy all 20+ million or so Spotify songs at 320kbps quality just about anywhere, anytime under any situation I can think of all for $10/mt, or cheaper in my case because me and my wife are on the family plan so it's just $15 total or $7.50 for each of us.

Same thing!

 

[deathindustrial]

So I get to enjoy all 20+ million or so Spotify songs at 320kbps quality just about anywhere, anytime under any situation I can think of all for $10/mt, or cheaper in my case because me and my wife are on the family plan so it's just $15 total or $7.50 for each of us.

You are conflating your appreciation of a streaming service with the implementation of a specific app.

I feel the same way about rdio but even their Roku client is more complete than Spotify's PS4 client. When I noted this I got the response "use your phone" thus the dongle comment from me.

 

[deathindustrial]

Spotify is a streaming music service - so it would require its own app on accessing those services. Like any other streaming service-app (Netflix, Hulu, etc...). If it's poorly implemented, shouldn't that fall back on the app provider, not the end-users hardware manufacture? Or is the new thing of blaming poor apps on the end-users hardware of choice?

Uh what? I was dissing the Spotify app, not the PS4 or Sony.

Is "dongle" a go word now?

=)

 

[joker454]

You are conflating your appreciation of a streaming service with the implementation of a specific app.

I feel the same way about rdio but even their Roku client is more complete than Spotify's PS4 client. When I noted this I got the response "use your phone" thus the dongle comment from me.

Oh I gotcha, I went back further and saw your earlier post. So you are knocking the app as being incomplete or slow presumably compared to the desktop app. Ok, well it is rev 1.0 I'm sure it'll get better. Ultimately any app is better than having to rely on the web browser though! I wonder if the app is written by Spotify or by Sony, and who is responsible for maintaining it.

 

[bgroovy]

My phone has a 5" screen. My TV has 47" screen and via the PS4 a physical controller better suited for text entry than a small touch screen.

Most would argue that a touch screen device with an on screen keyboard is a far superior method of text entry than using a controller on a big TV screen. Using a phone app also has the advantage of letting you select and change the music without leaving your game at all. You could even have a 2nd person in the room DJing for you while you play.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Dutch woman enters Sony competition and win's giant Sackboy and lots of Sony stuff. Not sure she needs three sets of headphones either!

Seriously, what the hell are you supposed to a with a giant Sackboy!?!?!

 

[London Geezer]

eBay. Like most of the other stuff she got. Overkill much?

/jealous

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Just seen a fourth set of headphones - blimey. I keep pondering getting the 5.1 bluetooth headphones myself.