Opinions for WD TV Live Streamer + Spotify

[nyran20]

I'm interested in buying a Live Streaming media player only for Spotify...can anyone tell me their experiences with Spotify on WD live?  Does it have 'apps' like the desktop version does?  What do and don't you like about the WD version of Spotify that you can get with desktop Spotify?

[David]

I haven't actually used the WD Live client, but I can answer some of those for you.

Apps are currently only in the desktop version of Spotify. With the WD version, you'd be able to to search the whole catalog; you would be able to access and manage your playlists, share tracks to friends, and be able to subscribe and play their playlists as well.

[luckyhuss]

@David

I have the latest version of the WD TV Live SMP and it has got spotify on it.

Unfortunately, unlike you said, I can not listen to music with the "free" account.

It says that Premium account is required. Even "Unlimited" account won't work.

Do you know why is this so ? I would have expected at least the "Unlimited" account would have worked.

I've got Deezer app too on it and there with the "free" account, I can listen to music (with ads).

[Headfx]

I have WD TV Live and a Spotify premium account.  The Spotify client will show me my playlists, but only list a tiny portion of the songs in my longer playlists.... one of my desktop playlists has over 3000 tracks in it, but the WD TV live client only shows my the same 100 each time, even if I log out and log back in again. It's very frustrating.and for that reason I couldn't recommend WD TV Live if the main purpose is to listen to your Spotify playlists.

But does a few other things pretty well for the money and so overall I won't be sending it back!

[jwbakker67]

As far as I found out now, the only way to access anything on Spotify through the WD TV Live is on the TV screen. Besides the fact that the interace is very limited compared to IE. Spotify for Android, it doesn't work convenient. Of course you can use the Android App "remote" but you still always need to use that on screen interface. What we really need is an update that makes it possible to stream directly from Spotify Android to the WD TV Live over wifi. I am a WD TV Live fan, I am a Spotify fan. But currently the combination of those two can not be recommended. Unfortunately.

[scouter]

Ditto, I want this too 😉

[Xav]

Would love that too. In the meantime I have bought a 7" screen on eBay (screens for car display) and adapted a small power adapter. I know run spotify with optical directlink... Sooooo much better than before. Sound is cristal clear. DTS and Dolby... !

[LMitch101]

In my opinion, it's a half-decent experience when it works.  It lacks some important features like Radio, and the interface is clunky, especially when searching, adding favorites or adding to a playlist etc.  But the main fault is that the WDTV fails to connect to Spotify about 50% of the time, or maybe it's Spotify that's failing to let WDTV connect to it.  It's definitely not my broadband service because I can connect to Spotify using my computer or mobile phone on the same exact network.  But the WDTV fails a good portion of the time.

I've contacted both WDTV and Spotify about the connection problems and they point the finger at each other.  WDTV says that Spotify is blocking them, and Spotify says that WDTV doesn't send the connection request properly.  And then they blame my router/internet connection.  As long as WDTVs continue to sell and Spotify gets more Premium memberships, it seems like neither have any incentive to fix this problem.

 I ended up jacking in a headphone line from my phone into my TV stereo speakers so that I could listen to Spotify, completely bypassing WDTV.  The other WDTV features are fine for me, but I feel ripped off because the top reason I chose WDTV instead of other devices was because of it's integration with Spotify.  I can't understand why my Android phone can have more features and better connectivity than a dedicated device like WDTV which has a lot more leverage to customise the experience for their own device.

If you want Spotify through your stereo, I recommend using your phone or computer and bluetooth or a headphone cable instead of relying on the WDTV.  You'll have all the features that you want, and a much more reliable service.

[remo81]

Well what everyone needs is a solution to stream spotify over wifi to any device like e.g a WD oder NAD Tuner or any other UPnP client cause we need high definition sound quality. Please work on this Spotify.

bluetooth, stereo?  no thank you

[Xav]

Am using WD Live + Spotify with a Premium account.

The Spotify app is very basic on WD but it let me access to all my playlist and play them (including shuffle mode)...

In ordre to browse through the functions you do need a screen : I bought a very small 7" screen made for cars and adapted a power adapter.

The main benefit is the direct optical audi connexion between the WD Live and my amplifier.

The sound is perfect !!! Far far better thant jack plugs I had before playing on my iPad.

The only issue is the remote control app on Android which is nothing more than an extra remotre control.... no added value due to the Phone : which means that you can't navigate on the phone to command the WD Live !

Conclusion : sound is crips and clear !!! Functionality are basics...

I'm managing my music on my PC and when I relax in the sofa I can listen to my best playlists in perfect conditions !!!

Hope that helps !

[TKM_Music]

I have WD Live and upgraded to Spotify Premium to test it out.  One of the features of Spotify IE we enjoy is the song groupings on the browse page i.e. "Accoustic Covers" or "Throwback Thursdays" etc.  It allows to discover new talent in a context or gendre we enjoy.  It was VERY DISAPPOINTING  to find that the WD app has none of these features.  Basically if you have not created all your own custom playlists, the WD Live app is not worth even the $0.99 preview deal.

Great sound... but not for me...