[ivraatiems]

Discover Weekly in this article is a microcosm of the problems with Spotify generally.

Spotify (especially on desktop) has a LOT of issues. From poorly implemented shuffle play to random removal of features (notifications to ctrl-f to playlist organization), and a complicated by a total lack of dev communication on any platform.

I think the issue with Spotify is not that their core is bad, it's that they never manage to improve and while they act like they're listening, they're not really listening. If there was any worthy competition, I'd switch.

[alvion]

Regarding their desktop client; totally true. I recently discovered that keeping the Spotify App idle over 2 days, it had written 50 GB to my SSD. Not worth killing my disk over this service.

Recommend this thread, where I became aware of the problem https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/56auoi/huge_amount_o...

[ivraatiems]

Ugh, there's so many things like this. My Spotify is also constantly adding data to my local app directory even though I told it through advanced settings to store all music on a different drive.

For an app that's just a web backend in a wrapper, it is horrifically inefficient.

[gcr]

http://play.spotify.com/

Skip the app!

[ivraatiems]

I would, but I honestly find the web experience to be worse, especially when it comes to playlists.

[nothrabannosir]

How do you check that? (How do I check that?)

[cfjgvjh]

That's insane. What's it writing?

[2almalki]

holy! on Mac or Windows?

[NegatioN]

I've switched to Google Music. Although that has its own set of problems, I find it has better (or more dynamic) machine learning implemented for playlists and discovery mechanics. You can even reset the information it has learned from, and start over if you wish.

Making Google listen to change-requests (in one of their not-so-prioritized) products will of course not be likely either.

[ivraatiems]

I'd definitely consider switching. Do you happen to know: Are the libraries similar in size/breadth? How is the mobile app support? Would I be able to move my (many many) playlists across services somehow?

I think in our software ecosystem it's just a game of "who is doing the most like what I want at the moment." Communication with customers is largely dead.

[NegatioN]

This is purely anecdotal of course, but the libraries are similar or better for what I've been listening to. Especially asian music seems to be easier to find on Google music.

The mobile app for android is good, but I haven't seen it receive many updates this last year. It seems like it is pushed a lot stronger in the US. They even give you Youtube Red (the no-ads/music/support creators-thing) with the same subscription. [1]

I liked that they allow storage of up to 20 000 of your local songs (if you still have those), integrated into your online library.

I used a fan-made application to recreate my playlists from spotify, but it required that I was a premium member on both services at once, and just directly used my credentials. Most playlists were kinda butchered. I don't have a good migration-strategy to recommend, I'm afraid.

EDIT: Downsides: It does not have an official desktop-app, you have to use the browser.

Does not have official support for last.fm

1: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

[spiderfarmer]

Spotify is running for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week here and I have no complaints. I love the UI and responsivess, even on my 3Mbit ADSL line. It's everything I ever wished for in a music app.

[ivraatiems]

I guess my response would be: Check your disk usage for hidden evil surprises, and give it time. It'll disappoint you. I've been a user for years and it's in the last year or so that things started going downhill. Since the release of "1.0," the redesign that replaced a ton of features with a sleek design and still hasn't caught up to older versions.

[dan1234]

The Spotify desktop client randomly consuming 100% of a CPU core (sending the fan crazy) was what actually pushed me onto Apple Music.