Spotify No More Limits
If you’re a casual web user of Rdio or Spotify, chances are you’ve hit against their limits on occasion. Aside from not getting to do ‘on demand’ listening, you get ads and time limits as well as some other minor limits. This week both services set aside limits for web users and now offer unlimited use of their radio services.
According to BI:
Spotify announced that it removed time limits for its Web version today. Previously, the streaming service would restrict your listening time for a few hours a month after a six-month grace period.
Now that cap has been completely eradicated. Sadly, you’ll still have to listen to the occasional annoying advertisement, but this still should satisfy Spotify’s millions of fans.
Rdio is doing something similar, according to Digital Trends:
Before now, Rdio offered users a free, ad-supported service, but only for a limited amount of time. Now those restrictions have been lifted, giving music fans unlimited, free access to its entire library of some 20 millions tracks.
There is a catch, but it’s a small one. Just as with Spotify’s recently announced unlimited-listening service for Web, Rdio users will have to put up with “short and sweet” ads comprising “a mix of new feature announcements, messages from partner brands, notifications about exclusive content, and other helpful tips.”
Of course mobile and tablet users still have limits, but those have recently been loosened as well. In fact, the number of reasons to keep paying $9.99 per month are dwindling. However, for some they are significant and include:
– On-demand listening (free use is ‘shuffle only’)
– Offline mode
– High quality streams
– Playlists online or offline.
What do you think? Does Spotify or Rdio present a compelling reason to pay for use?
Critics think this is a strike against Beats Music, a new streaming service dropping next week.
A subscription service made by Dr. Dre and record producer Jimmy Iovine, leaked screenshots show that Beats has an impressive level of personalization, and Spotify may want to do whatever it can to keep its users.
At the end of last year, Spotify raised $250 million to continue an international expansion. But dropping the biggest complaint about the app — no more time limits — could mean Daniel Ek has a lot more in store this year.
Read more at Business Insider.