Dear Grooveshark-
A while ago, I wrote a brief blog post about the split music library. While it didn’t delve deeply into the core problem I wanted to address (my bad, I’m hoping this will help to explain what it is I really wanted to get at), the fact remained that I had a problem. My music was everywhere. The way I picture it is like having a very messy closet. I had songs strewn everywhere. I had the same song twice in a few places, and organizing my entire music library feels impossible.
And then I met Spotify.
Don’t get me wrong, Spotify is not perfect. I’m incredibly frustrated with a few things - for example, I have yet to figure out if it’s possible to push my own personal library to any other device that I have Spotify on (I’m guessing it’s not possible). Instead, I found myself having to recreate my library using Spotify’s catalog so I could get to my library elsewhere. Not cool, especially when I’m used to being able to just log into Grooveshark and find everything there.
(Plus, they don’t have Asian Kung Fu Generation)
But the big reason why I’m moving onto Spotify completely is best explained when we take a look at what I really do with my music:
Which brings us to this moment. I’m sorry, Grooveshark, I like you a lot and I like where you’re going, but it’s time for me to move on. I’m trying to unify my music as much as possible and make it accessible to me anywhere and everywhere... that means I have to pick an app that will get me there.
For right now, it’s Spotify.
I’ll be by even after I move over since there’re a few songs left over, but for now... so long.
A while ago, I wrote a brief blog post about the split music library. While it didn’t delve deeply into the core problem I wanted to address (my bad, I’m hoping this will help to explain what it is I really wanted to get at), the fact remained that I had a problem. My music was everywhere. The way I picture it is like having a very messy closet. I had songs strewn everywhere. I had the same song twice in a few places, and organizing my entire music library feels impossible.
And then I met Spotify.
Don’t get me wrong, Spotify is not perfect. I’m incredibly frustrated with a few things - for example, I have yet to figure out if it’s possible to push my own personal library to any other device that I have Spotify on (I’m guessing it’s not possible). Instead, I found myself having to recreate my library using Spotify’s catalog so I could get to my library elsewhere. Not cool, especially when I’m used to being able to just log into Grooveshark and find everything there.
(Plus, they don’t have Asian Kung Fu Generation)
But the big reason why I’m moving onto Spotify completely is best explained when we take a look at what I really do with my music:
- Listen to a song/playlist: I really like the visualization of the playlist in Grooveshark. It’s nice to know when my playlist ends, but that really matters to me when I’m actively listening to my song or playlist (versus having it on in the background while I do something else), which is pretty rare for me.
- Search for new songs: The way I really discover music is through Last.FM’s recommended radio. When I find a song I really like... unfortunately I check Spotify first. If it’s not there, I check Grooveshark second. This is because Spotify stores the majority of my music (and my personal library if I’m on my home device). Grooveshark is usually better for choices like Japanese music.
- Music organization: I’m a little crazy about organization of my music. The way I view it is this:
- My personal library: this is everything I’ve collected over the years that is stored locally on my device. Some of it I listen to still, some of it collects dust
- The supplements: This is every other song that I have. It doesn’t exist on my device, but it’s associated with an account that I have with either Grooveshark, Last.FM, or Spotify.
- Earworms: my current addictions. They can be either a supplement or in my personal library. I play them over and over.
So that’s the first level of organization. And then there are my playlists. Like my earworms, what I would like for my playlists to do is be able to contain music from both the supplements and my library. Trouble is, I can’t do that on Grooveshark because that would mean having to import my entire library. While having access to everything wherever I go is nice, I’m not sure I want to invest the time on doing that. Spotify on the other hand imported my playlists from iTunes directly, and I was able to add on my songs there. But even that’s not a perfect experience, because the task that I perform the most often is...
- Play music on my phone: About 50-90% of my music consumption is done on my beautiful Samsung Focus. Like Grooveshark, Spotify’s mobile app requires having a paid account, but unfortunately, there isn’t a Grooveshark app on Windows Phone. Actually, the only devices I had a Grooveshark app on were my Palm devices, but that’s another story (sob). I can’t justify paying for both a Spotify and Grooveshark premium account when Spotify fits my mobile needs.
Which brings us to this moment. I’m sorry, Grooveshark, I like you a lot and I like where you’re going, but it’s time for me to move on. I’m trying to unify my music as much as possible and make it accessible to me anywhere and everywhere... that means I have to pick an app that will get me there.
For right now, it’s Spotify.
I’ll be by even after I move over since there’re a few songs left over, but for now... so long.
