Time running out for Spotify?

[mbrickman]

So after a long wait, Spotify finally release a new beta for android and guess what? It won't work on WiFi only devices (e.g. tablets without 3g phone chips and presumably media players). I have been in software development for over 30 years and am staggered that something can be designated beta with such a glaring fault.  Surely this must have been noticed by the development team.  Don't they own any tablets?  

The android community have been very patient with Spotify, but then again, Spotify has had a virtual monopoly in the UK so there has been little choice.  It is only a matter of time before the record companies do deals with other on-demand streaming providers (Rhapsody, Google?, Sky?) in the UK and can offer a similar choice of tracks.  Then we will see who can do android properly as the only service differentiator will be the quality of the mobile apps.

Spotify - you have been warned!

[Afront]

Instead of going off on a rant, it might help to know what device you're having problems on. I have an Asus Transformer Prime (a wifi-only tablet) and the new preview works just fine.

[Spyke]

---

@mbrickman wrote:

... but then again, Spotify has had a virtual monopoly in the UK so there has been little choice.

---

Why do people still believe this? Napster was running a perfectly acceptable legal streaming service in the UK for years and years before Spotify and continued to do so until they were bought and relaunched by Rhapsody a few weeks ago. What's more, Napster's android app was excellent, caching the last 100 and next 10 songs automatically to tide you over if you lost connectivity. (That functionality died with the Rhapsody takeover at the end of March, sadly.)

However, yes, I hope Spotify pushes forward with landscape mode at least, and quickly solves the offline issue. While Rhapsody have just destroyed much that was great about Napster they do at least have a good Android app that is properly optimised for tablets, and it's definitely the main thing that is currently keeping me with Napster. If Spotify sort this out I will switch over, as the catalogue and sound quality are better, and the desktop software is now far better than Rhapsody/Napster's new offering.

However, it's a race, as the Rhapsody devs could haul their service up to Spotify's level fairly quickly, and already have some advantages in hand, such as web client.

Spyke

[mbrickman]

As it happens, I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (GT-p7310) running ICS (4.0.4) with the latest AKOP ROM (build 32).  However this problem affects various users - see the 'You are Offline' thread.  The issue appears to be have been correctly diagnosed by maxh2003 (message 102 of the thread) who can reproduce the problem at will.  In fact it is the lack of IMEI rather than 3g that causes the problem.  Your Asus may have an IMEI even though it has no 3g.

This was not intended as a rant, just a nudge in the right direction for anyone at Spotify who is listening.  I have been a contented PC subscriber for a couple of years and want Spotify to continue to flourish.  However the market is moving on and mobile is the future for consuming streaming services.  Spotify cannot afford to take its eye off the ball.  The net is littered with former market leaders who got complacent (MySpace, Yahoo, AltaVista etc).  In my opinion, what Spotify needs is an outstanding android (an iOS) app.  And then they need to make it even better.

(Of course I am available as a Software Design Consultant at very reasonable rates )