• @TommySoda
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    82 days ago

    Everyone always gave me shit for sticking with Pandora. It can basically do all the shit that Spotify can these days albeit a little different. You can even make your own playlists and listen offline if you have premium. It has a more limited library but it’s barely noticeable except maybe once or twice a year I can’t find a song I wanna listen to. It’s simpler and cheaper than Spotify with most of the same features. My favorite part is that I can literally pick any song I want and it will just continue playing after it’s over with similar songs. I’ve discovered so much music I would have never tried if it hadn’t shown up. And so far it hasn’t been overrun by AI slop like Spotify. Sure they pay artists less compared to competitors but at least they aren’t just straight up trying to replace them.

    I’m not saying Pandora is objectively better. I’m just saying Spotify is falling into the world of enshittification and there are many alternatives out there. You could even just buy music and support artists directly like we used to.

    • ms.lane
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      62 days ago

      Problem is Pandora is US only. They stopped streaming to the rest of the world years ago.

      • @TommySoda
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        32 days ago

        Damn I didn’t even know. That’s pretty dumb on their part as they could have been a bigger competitor. I’m sure they made the decision before Spotify took off as hard as it did.

        • ms.lane
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          12 days ago

          I think they cut Europe out before then, but kept Australia along until a few years back.

          It was a shock when the suddenly announced end of service in Australia, as quite a few Businesses were using their corporate plans for in-store radio, one of the biggest being Woolworths Supermarkets.

    • @[email protected]
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      72 days ago

      I still prefer Pandora, it’s great for music discovery and it pays artists more than Spotify. I also feel like its recommendations are better or maybe I’ve just had better luck with them.

      I’ve Definitely found new artists and albums after listening on Pandora that I went off and purchased CDs or albums thanks to it.

      Apple Music’s recommendations were fairly good as well, and they also pay more than Spotify, but not tons and I abhor how it integrates music I don’t own with my actual library.

      I need to try Tidal, but I also just don’t get the “you’ll stream everything and own nothing” idea. I just like “radio” services for discovering new stuff.