On 18/09/13 15:46, Nigel Verity wrote: > I've been a Spotify user for the last 2 or 3 years; ever since its library > overtook Napster's in terms of depth and coverage. Officially the only > desktop clients are for Windows and Mac. However, there is also a "preview" > version of a Linux client which has never been formally released. It's > available on a "no warranty or official support" basis for use on > Debian-based distros. > > Over the last year or so, this Linux client has improved dramatically. It > used to freeze or crash so often that I had to rely upon the Windows client > running in a Virtualbox VM. I've had no problems of that nature in the last 6 > months or more and, despite its unsupported status, the Linux client it is > now my standard means of using Spotify. > > The ability to download tracks for local off-line playback is a real boon > when you have a poor or slow connection. It avoids the buffering that you > might otherwise encounter with the web-based stream. > > The only problem I occasionally encounter is with the indexing. The list of > albums and tracks for a given artist may lack a particular item of interest > to you. An explicit search for that item by title will often find it. I > suspect that this problem could well be at the server end, in which case it > will not be unique to the Linux client. > > I know that FLOSS purists will not want to run proprietary software such as > this, but I am one of those people willing to turn a blind-eye when it > provides superior functionality. > > The Clementine media player for Linux now provides an add-on to give access > to Spotify for Premium Service members. This is a significant improvement on > browser-based streaming, as each track is copied to a local cache before > playing, thereby avoiding buffering with slow connections. It doesn't, > however, offer the off-line playback facility, which can be so useful if you > are on the move, away from an internet connection. > > For any Linux users who may have tried the Spotify client in the past, and > given up in frustration, I would highly recommend giving it another go. > > Regards > > Nige
Interesting and for us, timely. On a PC that we have, we have a free account on Spotify (linux preview). We just started to make use of it after a long period of non use. Unfortunately, after a minimal use, it timed out saying we had reached the time limit. This seems to be 2.5 hours per week, which I am sure we have not used. So, this is a second chance for Spotify, and it is rather unlikely we will continue. Internet searches suggest Grooveshark, which seems to offer a free use, and so far Grooveshark works via the browser, ok. Probably goodbye to spotify. -- alan cocks -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
