Free (well, advertising sponsored - so a bargain in me book) streamed
music is currently blasting through my HiFi rather nicely at the moment,
via some S/PDIF trickery and an outboard DAC - not that that is really
necessary.

I'm using both We7 and Spotify, and noticing better playback quality of
We7 (Mp3 192kbps) compared with Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 approc 160kbps).

OK, it's not CD - but for having a rummage around (and finding new
artists for future purchasing) it's ideal...

http://www.we7.com (flash based)
http://www.spotify.com (windows/mac P2P application)

--
Adrian C

On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:07:20 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

Free (well, advertising sponsored - so a bargain in me book) streamed
music is currently blasting through my HiFi rather nicely at the moment,
via some S/PDIF trickery and an outboard DAC - not that that is really
necessary.

I'm using both We7 and Spotify, and noticing better playback quality of
We7 (Mp3 192kbps) compared with Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 approc 160kbps).

OK, it's not CD - but for having a rummage around (and finding new
artists for future purchasing) it's ideal...

http://www.we7.com (flash based)
http://www.spotify.com (windows/mac P2P application)

I've tried both, and Spotify is definitely a bit cleverer - songs
start instantly, and searching is much better. When I did a bit rate
test the other day I was seeing 394k - maybe the rate is not the same
on all tunes.

d

Don Pearce wrote:
On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:07:20 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

Free (well, advertising sponsored - so a bargain in me book) streamed
music is currently blasting through my HiFi rather nicely at the moment,
via some S/PDIF trickery and an outboard DAC - not that that is really
necessary.

I'm using both We7 and Spotify, and noticing better playback quality of
We7 (Mp3 192kbps) compared with Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 approc 160kbps).

OK, it's not CD - but for having a rummage around (and finding new
artists for future purchasing) it's ideal...

http://www.we7.com (flash based)
http://www.spotify.com (windows/mac P2P application)

I've tried both, and Spotify is definitely a bit cleverer - songs
start instantly, and searching is much better. When I did a bit rate
test the other day I was seeing 394k - maybe the rate is not the same
on all tunes.

Doubtful. Although .ogg tops out at 500kbps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg_vor...hnical_details

q5 is 160kbps. FLAC varies between 600 and 1,200kbps IME.

Don Pearce wrote:
On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:07:20 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:


Free (well, advertising sponsored - so a bargain in me book) streamed
music is currently blasting through my HiFi rather nicely at the moment,
via some S/PDIF trickery and an outboard DAC - not that that is really
necessary.

I'm using both We7 and Spotify, and noticing better playback quality of
We7 (Mp3 192kbps) compared with Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 approc 160kbps).

OK, it's not CD - but for having a rummage around (and finding new
artists for future purchasing) it's ideal...

http://www.we7.com (flash based)
http://www.spotify.com (windows/mac P2P application)


I've tried both, and Spotify is definitely a bit cleverer - songs
start instantly, and searching is much better. When I did a bit rate
test the other day I was seeing 394k - maybe the rate is not the same
on all tunes.

d

Yep, Spotify is impresive IMHO. Just how did you check the bitrate?

--
Nick

On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:49:21 +0100, Nick Gorham
wrote:

Don Pearce wrote:
On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:07:20 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:


Free (well, advertising sponsored - so a bargain in me book) streamed
music is currently blasting through my HiFi rather nicely at the moment,
via some S/PDIF trickery and an outboard DAC - not that that is really
necessary.

I'm using both We7 and Spotify, and noticing better playback quality of
We7 (Mp3 192kbps) compared with Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 approc 160kbps).

OK, it's not CD - but for having a rummage around (and finding new
artists for future purchasing) it's ideal...

http://www.we7.com (flash based)
http://www.spotify.com (windows/mac P2P application)


I've tried both, and Spotify is definitely a bit cleverer - songs
start instantly, and searching is much better. When I did a bit rate
test the other day I was seeing 394k - maybe the rate is not the same
on all tunes.

d

Yep, Spotify is impresive IMHO. Just how did you check the bitrate?

Just had a network monitoring tool hanging on the computer - it was
flatlining at about 384 (394 was a typo) all the way through a song.
Spotify is a no-buffering service so you don't get bursts of full
speed.

d

Don Pearce wrote:

Yep, Spotify is impresive IMHO. Just how did you check the bitrate?


Just had a network monitoring tool hanging on the computer - it was
flatlining at about 384 (394 was a typo) all the way through a song.
Spotify is a no-buffering service so you don't get bursts of full
speed.

d

Ahh, ok, I wondered if that was what you had done. Spotify is a p2p app,
so you will be having data going out as well as going in, the traffic is
not just for your use.

--
Nick

On Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:22:48 +0100, Nick Gorham
wrote:

Don Pearce wrote:

Yep, Spotify is impresive IMHO. Just how did you check the bitrate?


Just had a network monitoring tool hanging on the computer - it was
flatlining at about 384 (394 was a typo) all the way through a song.
Spotify is a no-buffering service so you don't get bursts of full
speed.

d

Ahh, ok, I wondered if that was what you had done. Spotify is a p2p app,
so you will be having data going out as well as going in, the traffic is
not just for your use.

That would only make sense if somebody was listening absolutely
synchronously with me (to some early John Mayall, I think). I doubt
very much if that was happening.

d

Adrian C wrote:
Free (well, advertising sponsored - so a bargain in me book) streamed
music is currently blasting through my HiFi rather nicely at the moment,
via some S/PDIF trickery and an outboard DAC - not that that is really
necessary.

Makes all the difference!

I'm using both We7 and Spotify, and noticing better playback quality of
We7 (Mp3 192kbps) compared with Spotify (Ogg Vorbis q5 approc 160kbps).

I've not used We7 in a while but Spotify sounds very good to my ears.