Lately I've been trying to decide whether I want to switch from buying individual songs and albums to paying a monthly subscription for access to music subscription services like MOG or Spotify. It seems like a great alternative considering the internet is getting faster and faster while the libraries of these sites are growing very rapidly. While I was looking into it I came across this article helped me realize that for now music subscription services aren't the best solution and here's why:
1. Significant Gaps Remain in Catalog - I love music and I listen to many different artists from many different genres. Simply put, If a site doesn't have all the songs that I want on it then it isn't worth my money.
2. Can't Merge Songs I Own with Songs I Stream - Everyone has songs on their computer that aren't available on the internet for streaming. I want to be able to create playlists that merge both songs on my computer with those on a service I pay for.
3. Ownership of Music Provides A Smoother Listening Experience - Sometimes there are large gaps between tracks as the next title loads, which can be especially frustrating if your listening to an album where one track is supposed to seamlessly flow into the next.
4. I Can Only Share Music with Fellow Subscribers - People love music and when they find something they like they want to share it with their friends. These services only allow you to share playlists with other people using the same service, which is driving traffic to other places like Imeem where you can share with anyone.
5. I Can Still Listen for Free - You can get access to alot of different content through many different channels. Sometimes people subscribe to services like this to learn about new types of music that they may like, but then again with blogs and options like Pandora some people are hesitant to pay.
Really the big problem for me is that these services are more of complement for your library instead of a replacement. I think that I'll wait til the day when I can merge what I have with the content I can get access to, until then I'm ok with iTunes and the free sources of music that are available today.
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