Spotify is a broken service that shouldn’t even be around, and that’s especially true on the PlayStation 4.
On the computer, it seems to be fairly decent. You search for an album, add it to your music collection, and you’re ready to listen. Sure, Rdio does it better, but Spotify is a good enough match for your average music lover.
However, the PlayStation 4 version of this music service isn’t decent. It’s horrible. The interface is a joke, and it’s nearly impossible to view your music library. If you want to listen to a specific song or album, you need to search for it. I mean, what the hell?
Now, I know Spotify promotes this whole playlist thing more so than albums, which I never really understood, as playlists kind of suck… but the PS4 application doesn’t even have playlists. It’s pure song by song, and very little to no real control functions or menus. Hell, the main Your Music tab is literally a sliding list of songs, with no sorting or anything at all useful. (it does have random mood things though, which is basically a crap shoot of songs, you know; like the radio?)
That said, if you’re devoted enough to this crappy service, you’re more than welcome to install the Spotify application onto your phone or tablet, launch it up, and then remotely control your music. This is cool, I guess; but the fact you’d have to do this to even gain any level of control over your music library is simply ludicrous. This shouldn’t be a requirement. It really shouldn’t.
The only real plus side to this whole PlayStation / Spotify partnership, is the fact that new customers will receive two months of premium service absolutely free of charge, assuming of course you were a Music Unlimited subscriber. This is cool, but after those two months expire, you’re expected to pay a hefty monthly price of $10 just so you can access your music library in good quality, and without those annoying ads. Considering as how the original Music Unlimited service, which included a full and proper application that had dozens of features and functions (vs Spotify’s 3 features, give or take), was available for only $5 per month… I can’t help but to wonder as to why I would pay twice the original rate for a service that offers significantly less? I mean, it just doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Spotify Premium is $10, as is Rdio. Rdio is simply the better service for PC and mobile listeners. The interface is better, it has a larger music library (debatable, depending on region), is available in more countries, defaults to albums, rather than playlists or individual tracks… Spotify would make sense if it were some type of online radio service, and I suppose it’s worth the $10 subscription as a custom radio network… but as a music streaming service? Rdio is top dog. There’s just no comparison.
So, while it’s really fantastic that PlayStation fans can now bring their Spotify collection (more or less) with them to their favourite PlayStation console of choice… but there’s just no real value added here. It’s more money, has a really limited interface, and is all around a significant downgrade over Sony’s older Music Unlimited platform.
Shame on you, Sony. You partnered with something that had some serious potential, and ended up creating something truly horrendous.
Really should have picked Rdio, or even stuck with your own Music Unlimited offering. Spotify, at least as a music service on PlayStation consoles, is a waste of money.