Spotify basic no ads

[osi]

Until recently, I failed to realize the ads were no longer playing during listening sessions.

The phenomenon only occurs while using the web player.

No ad blockers installed - Firefox

Any others have similar experiences?

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

I've noticed a major increase in the frequency of ads in the normal player, and they made it so if you turn the volume down during an ad it pauses it, which really annoys the hell out of me, especially since the ads are ALWAYS so much louder than the music...

I only use it at work, and the web player doesn't work there. (doesn't it require Silverlight or some similar plugin?)

[SSIPAK]

interesting... I've been using Grroveshark since it's free with no ads when you use their web player. I will definitely check this out though.

[Flyersfan1]

I've noticed a major increase in the frequency of ads in the normal player, and they made it so if you turn the volume down during an ad it pauses it, which really annoys the hell out of me, especially since the ads are ALWAYS so much louder than the music...

I only use it at work, and the web player doesn't work there. (doesn't it require Silverlight or some similar plugin?)

This is exactly why I broke down and decided I would pay for a premium account.  They recently introduced a student discount also which made my decision even easier.

[awong]

Does Spotify use FLAC source?

[sacratoy]

I use an 'Unlimited' subscription so I pretty much only listen on my computer, and $5 a month for constant adfree background music on demand isn't really all that much.

[osi]

I believe it is a flash based player.  I used to be a premium user but dropped when free device support was introduced

[sacratoy]

Does Spotify use FLAC source?

I can't find any documentation on what the audio starts as, but premium users get 320kbps vorbis encoded audio.

[CPTBadAss]

I used the free version but the ads were getting really irritating. Coupled with the fact that I had some nice audio gear (Mad Dogs at home, JH5s at work), I decided to spring for the premium version. Really don't regret it .

I use the web browser version at work as well and we definitely *don't* have Silverlight so I think it's Flash like osi said.

Does Spotify use FLAC source?

I can't find any documentation on what the audio starts as, but premium users get 320kbps vorbis encoded audio.

From this link, search for "Bitrate"

Spotify uses 3 quality ratings for streaming, all in the Ogg Vorbis format.

~96 kbps
Normal quality on mobile.
~160 kbps
Desktop and web player standard quality.
High quality on mobile.
~320 kbps (only available to Premium subscribers)
Desktop high quality.
Extreme quality on mobile.

[sacratoy]

Right, I found that. With that information, at least the streams are being re-encoded to the bitrates that Spotify is willing to pipe to you. I'm just not sure if the tracks that Spotify themselves possess are, like, 848kbps FLAC or something.

Maybe I misread what he meant.

[osi]

I am missing some of the premium features now. Maybe the features were slowly getting stripped away and I did not notice over time. Hrmm not sure

Not hearing the ads surprised me. Strange - bug maybe

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

I am missing some of the premium features now. Maybe the features were slowly getting stripped away and I did not notice over time. Hrmm not sure

Not hearing the ads surprised me. Strange - bug maybe

Could be a bug, there have been several times when I haven't heard a single ad for hours on end, and other times I get one every other song. And this is on the desktop player...

Is there a way to block the IPs of the ad services that provide Spotify's ads? Or would there be too many of them for it to be practical?

EDIT: Also, wouldn't an ad-blocker plugin for your browser block the ads on the web player?

[sacratoy]

You could probably VPN to a region without many ads, but then you need to pay for the VPN service

Personally, before I started using Unlimited, almost all of my ads were 'Spotify' ads themselves. Like, "get premium today for *this*" or whatever.

[tp4tissue]

Torrents..  cd quality no ads ever..

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Torrents..  cd quality no ads ever..

The whole point of software like Spotify is to be able to stream music WITHOUT downloading it.

So there's that...

[tp4tissue]

Torrents..  cd quality no ads ever..

The whole point of software like Spotify is to be able to stream music WITHOUT downloading it.

So there's that...

But you'd already know the songs you like..   therefore you can pre queue a collection of them, enough to greatly exceed consumption during time periods in the car..


Now.. You can also setup a webserver to link to your fone. even 3g is fast enough for flac..


Spotify may have a larger collection upfront.. but you'd have to fiddle with the dial anyway to find the stuff you like...

so you would've had to created a play / fav list in the first place.. (On spotify)

Torrenting, wouldn't be a significant increase in effort relative to organizing such a list on spotify. so yea..

torrenting.. better quality, arrrrg discount, 

[Oobly]

Torrents..  cd quality no ads ever..

The whole point of software like Spotify is to be able to stream music WITHOUT downloading it.

So there's that...

But you'd already know the songs you like..   therefore you can pre queue a collection of them, enough to greatly exceed consumption during time periods in the car..


Now.. You can also setup a webserver to link to your fone. even 3g is fast enough for flac..


Spotify may have a larger collection upfront.. but you'd have to fiddle with the dial anyway to find the stuff you like...

so you would've had to created a play / fav list in the first place.. (On spotify)

Torrenting, wouldn't be a significant increase in effort relative to organizing such a list on spotify. so yea..

torrenting.. better quality, arrrrg discount,

Plus you don't use any bandwidth while listening, so it doesn't matter if you hit a bad signal area if you're on mobile, doesn't slow down your other downloads, doesn't interfer with your ping while gaming online, etc... And it's consistently high quality.

Streaming sucks, IMHO. Why download the same data over and over and over again, it's inefficient and redundant... makes sense for some videos you're only ever going to watch once, but for music, I'd rather store it locally thanks.

[Findecanor]

I'm not a fan of Spotify the company. Several people I have come in contact with over there have been flaky and untrustworthy or downright tactless.

[microsoft windows]

I am missing some of the premium features now. Maybe the features were slowly getting stripped away and I did not notice over time. Hrmm not sure

Not hearing the ads surprised me. Strange - bug maybe

Could be a bug, there have been several times when I haven't heard a single ad for hours on end, and other times I get one every other song. And this is on the desktop player...

Is there a way to block the IPs of the ad services that provide Spotify's ads? Or would there be too many of them for it to be practical?

EDIT: Also, wouldn't an ad-blocker plugin for your browser block the ads on the web player?

I've used firewalls to do similar things in the past. I find the locations of the ad servers and I block them.

[osi]

Firefox v31 - Flash 11.2.202.346  (leenux).

Just skipped like 30 songs :x