Grooveshark, a real rival to Spotify

[idc]

I have been listening to music streamed from the American site Grooveshark this morning.

Its sound quality is superb, better than Spotify with my tester tracks. Loads of detail, bright as opposed to flat, dynamic and getting goosebumps with the badly recorded 'Oh Yeah' from Ash. Hardly any distortion from Massive Attacks 'Angel' opening bass line. I have also been able to listen to Pink Floyd's 'Summer 68' and the kick into the chorus is superb'. On New Order's 'Regret' the cymbols are clearer than I ever heard. Gomez's 'Whippin Picidilly' has excellent separation between the numerous instruments.

Catalogue wise, as I say Pink Floyd are there, as are Led Zeppelin and AC/DC and King Crimson. A search for more obscure Swedish prog rock bands produced some failures, but over all it is very impressive.

There are some issues. Adverts wise, I have not heard any and on the screen the site is not plagued with them, but I cannot find their policy. There is a subscription version which is add free. But, as I say after an hour of listening to individual tracks, I have not heard an advert. You do not need to sign up to listen to the music, we I have not anyway.

I also cannot find what they use to stream the music. But the SQ is excellent. Generally speaking it is not easy to get basic info, there is no FAQs section.

It would appear that they have been/still are flirting with illegal file sharing. It appears that you can upload any album you want and as it is shared you can earn money and money is put aside for the artist, whether they ask for it or not. EMI sued but then reached a licensing agreement. There is also apparently a massive user agreement to sign if you sign up, which allegedly leaves you open to legal action by the artist whilst absolving the site

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for that ... have created an account ...

I see on the right hand side, there is a tab which states that you can remove all adverts for $3 a month ... perhaps adverts will still kick in later as they get more advertisers

 

[daveh75]

I'm giving it a try as we speak. Currently trying out Pure Reason Revolution-The Dark Third as this is now my benchmark for testing out streaming sites, as it well produced,full of detail and has pronounced treble in places so show's up any brightness/harshness.

First impression is that there is more detail being dug up,and is more dynamic and definitely an improvement on Spotify as you say Ian.Though neither are any where near as good as the full fat version i have on shiny silver disc.

The only other thing to note at the moment,is that GS appears to be quieter than Spotify. That's with the Spotify/Grooveshark volumes being maxed out as is PC volume.

As for the site itself advert's aren't a problem as i use the ABP plug-in for Firefox,so haven't encountered any.

One thing i'm finding though,is that the site is incredibly slow to initially load up,as is searching for music.The UI is a bit basic,but then it is free!

 

[Anonymous]

This is great for me, idc, as Spotify won't work in Ireland. Thanks a lot!! Listening to Kraftwerk right now, and the sound quality is very good, as far as I can tell.

What's the advantage of creating an account? Is it just to save playlists and create libraries?

Hedgehog

 

[idc]

I found it as I was googling away to get information on we7. I find we7 dull to listen to and got bord listening to Peter Gabriels 'Ovo' which lacked kick. I see Ovo is also on Grooveshark and will give it a listen later on, but I am back on Spotify as I have paid for it! Howver, when Spotify renewal comes up, I can see me defecting, paying Grooveshark and having Spotify again as a back up with adverts.

 

[idc]

daveh75:

The only other thing to note at the moment,is that GS appears to be quieter than Spotify. That's with the Spotify/Grooveshark volumes being maxed out as is PC volume.

One thing i'm finding though,is that the site is incredibly slow to initially load up,as is searching for music.The UI is a bit basic,but then it is free!

True Dave, I did turn up the volume on my amp with GS after I had maxed its own volume. My PC is always on max volume to remove distortion. I have not found the site any slower than Spotify when doing searches. I like basic when it comes to sites, another reason I do not see me using we7 anymore.

I like the way you can get pictures of the tracks you have been listening to to scroll along the bottom of the page. Its like having playlists.

 

[Anonymous]

Hedgehog:

What's the advantage of creating an account? Is it just to save playlists and create libraries?

Hedgehog

just in case in the future they do not allow any free accounts and all new accounts are by subscription only ... aswell as creating playlists

currently am happy with spotify and will most subscribe when I connect my pc to my hifi, but will check this site aswell

 

[Miggs]

Just read the forum and logged into GS to see what its like.

Very impressed I must say. Music quality is excellent, variety very good and I am not having any problems that some have mentioned of it being slow. Not slow for me at all.

Upto now vey good indeed.

Miggs.

 

[vinod_david]

Thanks for GS. Excellent, can this be streamed to SB3 ?

 

[daveh75]

Well, have done a bit more listening and the quality is inconsistent,so done a bit of googling and discovered that it's basically a P2P sharing site and the database is entirely fed by users uploads which would explain the quality issues.

Also after reading up on the legality of the site,some of which is quite scary,

i've decided that i'm gonna be giving Grooveshark a wide berth.

 

[idc]

I am struggling to play an album in its entirity and have noticed inconsistency in sound as well, particularly a lack of bass with some Philip Glass and Steve Reich music. However, Led Zep II sounded fine. But I have had to select each track, one after another. I presume if you sign up then it gets easier, access to playlists etc.

Since EMI agreed licensing and according to the site owners they have put money aside to pay royalties I will take a 'well they are not Pirate Bay rip off merchants' view. Like Spotify they do appear to be trying to make file sharing beneficial to all.

 

[daveh75]

idc:
I am struggling to play an album in its entirity and have noticed inconsistency in sound as well, particularly a lack of bass with some Philip Glass and Steve Reich music. However, Led Zep II sounded fine. But I have had to select each track, one after another. I presume if you sign up then it gets easier, access to playlists etc.

Since EMI agreed licensing and according to the site owners they have put money aside to pay royalties I will take a 'well they are not Pirate Bay rip off merchants' view. Like Spotify they do appear to be trying to make file sharing beneficial to all.

You click the play all tab above where the track's are listed, to play an album.

As for the legality, yes they have an agreement with EMI but that's one record company and the agreement only exists because EMI took Grooveshark to court.

My personal feeling is they're pirates masquerading as legit,who only do the right thing when forced to.

 

[idc]

daveh75:You click the play all tab above where the track's are listed, to play an album.

Did that but albums are split up and I cant find a way to rationalise them into the usual play order. I shall persevere, but now Spotify wins out on simplicity of use.

 

[daveh75]

idc:daveh75:You click the play all tab above where the track's are listed, to play an album.

Did that but albums are split up and I cant find a way to rationalise them into the usual play order. I shall persevere, but now Spotify wins out on simplicity of use.
I think that's puerly because GS doesn't have a database/library, and relies on users file sharing.
I found it unstructered, i,e single tracks,mixed with albums,tracks of the same name but by different artist's mixed up etc,and using the album,artist tabs dont seem to make any difference.

 

[a91gti]

I`m wondering if the $3 fee doesn`t refer to the onscreen ads? I found the u/i quite messy and the lack (?) of some sort of shortcut could be a pain.

 

[idc]

Andrew, you are right, so for $3 you get rid of the one advert which I dont find that intrusive (except the grotty whiten your teeth one). I have listened long enough to say if there are any audio adverts, goodness knows how rare they are.

I am getting used to using it and I suspect that would get easier if I registered.