I just hit upon Spotify a few days ago; mainly because I just didn't believe that it could be. So it's great; but how can you take it with you? If I'm using Apple tech for Ipods and Phone?

If there are Spotify xperts I have another question: I threw tons of albums and artists into "My Music"; actually filled it up. I am using the free version; although it doesn't cost much at all it seems. And I won't miss the ads.
But yesterday I was playing all songs from my catalog. I put it on 'Shuffle' and it's great. Like a radio it would play a Clash cut, then Congos, then Four Tops. Etc. But starting this morning for some reason it stays only within one artist. E.g. if I start with a Beatles cut, and then hit 'shuffle', it will mix the cuts up, but ONLY Beatles. If I switch over to another artists, same.

I use Spotify Premium, which is $10 a month, maybe $15 for a family plan so that both my kids and my wife can have their own access. I use it on my ipad, iphone and laptop. If I remember correctly, that is the only way to go mobile -- using the pay service.

I stream bluetooth at home on the iPad, use Beats headphones with iPhone when I walk the dog, and I can connect in the car wth my phone.

It's completely awesome. The few CDs I buy I get through Amazon. I haven't been in a record store in six months.

T@3

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Amazon Fire Stick? Once it is programmed with Kodi does it stay working or can it be scrambled? Do you get all the cable channels like MSNBC, Fox, HGTV, Create, TBS, History, HSN, QVC, ESPN etc...

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The Sicilian
Does anyone have any thoughts on the Amazon Fire Stick? Once it is programmed with Kodi does it stay working or can it be scrambled? Do you get all the cable channels like MSNBC, Fox, HGTV, Create, TBS, History, HSN, QVC, ESPN etc...

You do get all or most of those streaming cable channels but,they limit the content UNLESS you are also a subscriber to those channels through a cable provider. If you are a subscriber,you can then activate the Fire Stick by logging in with a code on a computer which then sends you to your cable provider's web-site to log-in to your cable account for verification. Every so often,you have to re-verify and repeat the proccess. About once a month with the streaming History Channel and about twice a year with Watch ESPN.

I haven't used Kodi with the fire stick but,I use it once in a great while on my computer. Quite a few worthless channels but I guess that there are a couple worthwhile if you search long enough.

The Fire Stick is infused with Amazon advertisements. I prefer the Roku Stick for the most part. It's more staight-forward. I bought the Fire Stick after I bought the Roku stick because the Fire Stick has better SlingBox functionality but that's the only real advantage of the Fire Stick that I see so far.

If you go with a box .... the Fire box or the Roku Premiere + , or the Roku Ultra , then you have the option to hard wire the connection with an ethernet cable (I recommend a CAT6 or higher cable) instead of dealing with a wireless signal , although wireless is also an option with them as well.

I'm interested in the pros and cons of all this, too, but I guess I don't understand why you'd want to use the Fire Stick to watch streaming cable channels if you can already watch the channels via your cable subscription. Or in my case, satellite. I'm thinking of getting one basically to watch Amazon Prime video, plus Netflix. I still can't figure out if the stick or box is a better option for me, though.

Regarding Spotify etc., I get a discounted subscription to Tidal hifi and love it.

There are 2 reasons.

1) It allows you to watch in a room which does not have a cable box reducing the need to pay monthly for more than 1 cable box.

2) You can watch stuff via the streaming channels which is not playing on the TV channels at that particular time.

I have been watching "The Universe" series on the streaming History channel which has not been on the actual History (TV) Channel in some time.

I'm not sure if a satellite subscription will work to unlock the full content. It may need to be a cable subscription. I would look into it.

The boxes are more future-proof. The boxes I mentioned all go up to UltraHD 4k resolution (albeit streaming content is compressed to save bandwith unlike UltraHD 4k Blu-ray Discs). The sticks go up to 1920 x 1080 HD .

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TeaAtThree
I use Spotify Premium, which is $10 a month, maybe $15 for a family plan so that both my kids and my wife can have their own access. I use it on my ipad, iphone and laptop. If I remember correctly, that is the only way to go mobile -- using the pay service.

I stream bluetooth at home on the iPad, use Beats headphones with iPhone when I walk the dog, and I can connect in the car wth my phone.

It's completely awesome. The few CDs I buy I get through Amazon. I haven't been in a record store in six months.

T@3

Thanks T@3. You say the only way i can use an Ipod is to have the paid Spotify? seems to make sense, cuz when I hook up an Ipod to PC nothing shows. They dont seem to recognize each other.

Spotify pays between $0.006 and $0.0084 for each play. So today's Rock n rollers won't be driving their Rollers into the swimming pool anytime soon.

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Palace Revolution 2000

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TeaAtThree
I use Spotify Premium, which is $10 a month, maybe $15 for a family plan so that both my kids and my wife can have their own access. I use it on my ipad, iphone and laptop. If I remember correctly, that is the only way to go mobile -- using the pay service.

I stream bluetooth at home on the iPad, use Beats headphones with iPhone when I walk the dog, and I can connect in the car wth my phone.

It's completely awesome. The few CDs I buy I get through Amazon. I haven't been in a record store in six months.

T@3

Thanks T@3. You say the only way i can use an Ipod is to have the paid Spotify? seems to make sense, cuz when I hook up an Ipod to PC nothing shows. They dont seem to recognize each other.

Yes, Palace, I'm pretty sure that you can't do mobile Spotify without paying. I happen to love it and find it well worth the money. I like being able to listen to a new album in its entirety without having to commit to buying it. Even as recently as several years ago I would have bought something I like on CD after hearing it on Spotify, but now I just stream it. I'm slowly losing the need to own the music in physical form.

And, I find myself digging out music from years ago that I like but either don't own anymore or perhaps did on vinyl -- I don't have a working turntable and long ago replaced most things I liked with CDs.

I also listen to quite a bit of jazz these days, and can find tons of material, both old and new, on there.

T@3

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Aquamarine
I'm interested in the pros and cons of all this, too, but I guess I don't understand why you'd want to use the Fire Stick to watch streaming cable channels if you can already watch the channels via your cable subscription. Or in my case, satellite. I'm thinking of getting one basically to watch Amazon Prime video, plus Netflix. I still can't figure out if the stick or box is a better option for me, though.

Regarding Spotify etc., I get a discounted subscription to Tidal hifi and love it.

Isn't the object of the Fire Stick to receive channels via WiFi and bypass the cable company?

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The Sicilian

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Aquamarine
I'm interested in the pros and cons of all this, too, but I guess I don't understand why you'd want to use the Fire Stick to watch streaming cable channels if you can already watch the channels via your cable subscription. Or in my case, satellite. I'm thinking of getting one basically to watch Amazon Prime video, plus Netflix. I still can't figure out if the stick or box is a better option for me, though.

Regarding Spotify etc., I get a discounted subscription to Tidal hifi and love it.

Isn't the object of the Fire Stick to receive channels via WiFi and bypass the cable company?

Is it? I wanted it so that I could stream Amazon Prime videos (and others) from my computer to my TV. I still want the channels I get via satellite, because I know I won't be able to get some of the ones I want via Fire Stick.

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TeaAtThree

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Palace Revolution 2000

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TeaAtThree
I use Spotify Premium, which is $10 a month, maybe $15 for a family plan so that both my kids and my wife can have their own access. I use it on my ipad, iphone and laptop. If I remember correctly, that is the only way to go mobile -- using the pay service.

I stream bluetooth at home on the iPad, use Beats headphones with iPhone when I walk the dog, and I can connect in the car wth my phone.

It's completely awesome. The few CDs I buy I get through Amazon. I haven't been in a record store in six months.

T@3

Thanks T@3. You say the only way i can use an Ipod is to have the paid Spotify? seems to make sense, cuz when I hook up an Ipod to PC nothing shows. They dont seem to recognize each other.

Yes, Palace, I'm pretty sure that you can't do mobile Spotify without paying. I happen to love it and find it well worth the money. I like being able to listen to a new album in its entirety without having to commit to buying it. Even as recently as several years ago I would have bought something I like on CD after hearing it on Spotify, but now I just stream it. I'm slowly losing the need to own the music in physical form.

And, I find myself digging out music from years ago that I like but either don't own anymore or perhaps did on vinyl -- I don't have a working turntable and long ago replaced most things I liked with CDs.

I also listen to quite a bit of jazz these days, and can find tons of material, both old and new, on there.

T@3

You're right; it is something one needs to actually shake. This notion of having to own a disc. I dont feel like I properly know the music, I guess until I see a CD. ??? Crazy

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The Sicilian

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Aquamarine
I'm interested in the pros and cons of all this, too, but I guess I don't understand why you'd want to use the Fire Stick to watch streaming cable channels if you can already watch the channels via your cable subscription. Or in my case, satellite. I'm thinking of getting one basically to watch Amazon Prime video, plus Netflix. I still can't figure out if the stick or box is a better option for me, though.

Regarding Spotify etc., I get a discounted subscription to Tidal hifi and love it.

Isn't the object of the Fire Stick to receive channels via WiFi and bypass the cable company?

Not completely. Cable channels would be foolish to allow legal access to their full content for a 1 time cost or fee of $ 40 which is the going rate of the Roku Stick or ten dollars more for the Amazon Fire Stick.

Of course most of that money goes to the manufacturer(s) of the sticks themselves. These cable channels are in the business to turn a profit,not to give away their full selection of content for next to nothing.

There is the option with these devices,however,to subscribe to and use the Sling TV application and / or the PlayStation Vue application and / or (probably) the new DirectTV Now application to subscribe to and view some cable channels instead of through a traditional cable company.

Sling TV and Playstation Vue have a somewhat limited selection of cable channels. I would figure that DirecTV Now would have a larger or full selection to choose from.

Many people who don't want to pay for a cable subscription use an over-the-air antenna to receive the free networks. (ABC,NBC,PBS,Fox,CBS,GW etc. in the U.S.) Then they use these streaming sticks or boxes as a complement to the antenna and take the free limited cable content but,the cable content is not full without a subscription or without using something such as Kodi to tap into illegal streams of comprimised quality.

What's the difference between a fire stick and Google Chromecast (I use the latter)?

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DandelionPowderman
What's the difference between a fire stick and Google Chromecast (I use the latter)?

I haven't used the ChromeCast,only the Roku Stick,the Western Digital box,and the Fire Stick but,from what I understand :

1) the remote control

2) the selection of applications

(a couple of examples : The last I heard,the ChromeCast has no Streaming History Channel application which the Roku Stick + boxes and the Fire Stick + box all have ..... and the ChromeCast has no support for using a SlingBox without resorting to "screen mirroring" which the Fire Stick and box and Western Digital box all have.)

3) the integrated advertisements natuarlly are different ..... the Fire Stick perhaps has the most obtrusive advertisements

4) the layout of the menu / user interface

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Winning Ugly VXII

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The Sicilian
Does anyone have any thoughts on the Amazon Fire Stick? Once it is programmed with Kodi does it stay working or can it be scrambled? Do you get all the cable channels like MSNBC, Fox, HGTV, Create, TBS, History, HSN, QVC, ESPN etc...

You do get all or most of those streaming cable channels but,they limit the content UNLESS you are also a subscriber to those channels through a cable provider. If you are a subscriber,you can then activate the Fire Stick by logging in with a code on a computer which then sends you to your cable provider's web-site to log-in to your cable account for verification. Every so often,you have to re-verify and repeat the proccess. About once a month with the streaming History Channel and about twice a year with Watch ESPN.

I haven't used Kodi with the fire stick but,I use it once in a great while on my computer. Quite a few worthless channels but I guess that there are a couple worthwhile if you search long enough.

The Fire Stick is infused with Amazon advertisements. I prefer the Roku Stick for the most part. It's more staight-forward. I bought the Fire Stick after I bought the Roku stick because the Fire Stick has better SlingBox functionality but that's the only real advantage of the Fire Stick that I see so far.

If you go with a box .... the Fire box or the Roku Premiere + , or the Roku Ultra , then you have the option to hard wire the connection with an ethernet cable (I recommend a CAT6 or higher cable) instead of dealing with a wireless signal , although wireless is also an option with them as well.

We recently got a Roku TV (what the actual TV is I can't recall) so I got the app on my smartphone as another remote. Also have a Firestick. Use both. If we can't find something on Netflix or Amazon to watch (and even with the subscriptions they still want to charge you to rent some movies, which I find very strange) we'll use the Kodi to find it.

I wound up saving some money by not going to see Jurassic World in theatres while it was out by watching it on Phoenix or whatever through the Firestick.

I was able to watch Shin-Godzilla on the Kodi. It didn't come around here so...

We don't have cable. Sometimes we can watch a football game or whatever on Kodi. Had the digital rabbit ears but they didn't work very good, they worked decently at night, poorly during the day.

Some things I'll never understand.

The only other thing that I would consider getting is a Chromecast.

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Winning Ugly VXII

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DandelionPowderman
What's the difference between a fire stick and Google Chromecast (I use the latter)?

I haven't used the ChromeCast,only the Roku Stick,the Western Digital box,and the Fire Stick but,from what I understand :

1) the remote control

2) the selection of applications

(a couple of examples : The last I heard,the ChromeCast has no Streaming History Channel application which the Roku Stick + boxes and the Fire Stick + box all have ..... and the ChromeCast has no support for using a SlingBox without resorting to "screen mirroring" which the Fire Stick and box and Western Digital box all have.)

3) the integrated advertisements natuarlly are different ..... the Fire Stick perhaps has the most obtrusive advertisements

4) the layout of the menu / user interface

Ah, ok.

The only remote control on Chromecast would be your cellphone, iPad/tablet or computer

Spotify and Apple are killing music.

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His Majesty
Spotify and Apple are killing music.

They're more like the McDonald'ses of music... Fast food. Convenient. Not necessary. I use them on the go, though..

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DandelionPowderman

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His Majesty
Spotify and Apple are killing music.

They're more like the McDonald'ses of music... Fast food. Convenient. Not necessary. I use them on the go, though..

They have much content they have no right to stream. Total rip off for the artists etc etc.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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His Majesty
Spotify and Apple are killing music.

They're more like the McDonald'ses of music... Fast food. Convenient. Not necessary. I use them on the go, though..

They have much content they have no right to stream. Total rip off for the artists etc etc.

Economically a rip off for sure. Didn't know about them offering artists they haven't got the rights to stream, though.

Marketing-wise, I dunno...

Enjoy your music meal sir, have a nice day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-01-02 19:10 by His Majesty.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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His Majesty
Spotify and Apple are killing music.

They're more like the McDonald'ses of music... Fast food. Convenient. Not necessary. I use them on the go, though..

They have much content they have no right to stream. Total rip off for the artists etc etc.

As far as I'm aware, the music on Spotify is there by the artist or the record label. You can't just put music on it like you can on YouTube (even though there are official posts/pages by record labels on YouTube). You look at The Rolling Stones on Spotify there's an official page. Not every release is on there (the recent singles box sets of the 1971-2005 era was on there).

There are playlists from people but if something is not officially on it then it's not on it.

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His Majesty

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DandelionPowderman

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His Majesty
Spotify and Apple are killing music.

They're more like the McDonald'ses of music... Fast food. Convenient. Not necessary. I use them on the go, though..

They have much content they have no right to stream. Total rip off for the artists etc etc.

Also the Apple Music streaming is a subscription to stream music that is on iTunes so it's official.

It and Spotify are rip offs but nothing illegal is going on.

Eh, no.

It took Robert Fripp/King Crimson, for example, ages to get spotify to remove music.

There's lots of wonkyness with regards to it all, but stream on.

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His Majesty
Eh, no.

It took Robert Fripp/King Crimson, for example, ages to get spotify to remove music.

There's lots of wonkyness with regards to it all, but stream on.

Is spotify not paying the artists then? It doesn't work for free. As far as I know Robert Fripp was notorious for hunting down "illegal" downloads. He went after bands that were covering music,even visiting the venues when they were playing.

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His Majesty
Eh, no.

It took Robert Fripp/King Crimson, for example, ages to get spotify to remove music.

There's lots of wonkyness with regards to it all, but stream on.

It's up to the artist to put it on Spotify. Why he had trouble is beyond me but Spotify doesn't just put music on without permission. They just don't pay worth a damn.


[community.spotify.com]

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TheflyingDutchman

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His Majesty
Eh, no.

It took Robert Fripp/King Crimson, for example, ages to get spotify to remove music.

There's lots of wonkyness with regards to it all, but stream on.

Is spotify not paying the artists then? It doesn't work for free. As far as I know Robert Fripp was notorious for hunting down "illegal" downloads. He went after bands that were covering music,even visiting the venues when they were playing.

They pay. Hilariously little...

Indeed.

[www.digitalmusicnews.com]

I don't know if it changed for the better these days.