Microsoft to take on Spotify

[John Duncan]

Missed this yesterday. Kind of makes me feel uneasy, in that it'll probably mean Spotify going down the toilet (or bought out by MS to actively flush it). Thoughts? Is this the streaming service we've been waiting for or just one me-too too far?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Support the underdog!

 

[John Duncan]

Yup, almost inclined to subscribe to Premium in retaliation

 

[Anonymous]

Spotify is great but I expect its days are numbered if the MS equivalent is any good.

For me, the long term winner will be which one integrates best with wireless devices such as Squeezebox and Sonos.

 

[Anonymous]

Apart from anything else....you can bet that if Micros$&!t get their teeth into it....it will cost you....big time.

 

[Clare Newsome]

It may have to, if it's to be a success - Spotify isn't making money

 

[John Duncan]

Ooo all the more reason for me to subscribe then

 

[pete321]

Depends on the quality as well. The thing that impressed me with Spotify is the excellent quality even on the lower bitrate offered with the free service. You'd assume the Microsoft version would be WMA files which I think will be worse unless a substantially higher bitrate than the Ogg Vorbis used by Spotiufy.