Spotify Australia Launches, Here’s What It Costs

66 responses to “Spotify Australia Launches, Here’s What It Costs”

1. 

   Max

   May 22, 2012

   Ugh, it’s a separate program, not browser-based? No thanks.

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2. 

   raZorTT

   May 22, 2012

   I was looking forward to Spotify launching in Australia, but I just jumped on to sign up and it requires a facebook account. I don’t have, nor will I likely ever have a facebook account.

   Shame….

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   1. 

      Corey

      May 22, 2012

      There are two type of people who refuse to get a FB account, neither is logical.

      1) Privacy concerns – Simple solution don’t post anything you don’t want being public knowledge.
      2) You too cool/anti conformist – Get over yourself.

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      1. 

         Innuendo

         May 22, 2012

         I don’t see how it’s a bad thing not to have a facebook account. I don’t have one and I agree with raZorTT, I am not getting a facebook account just to use another program. It’s not about privacy or being cool, although that may be a factor for some people, I just don’t appreciate being forced to do things that I have no intention of doing.

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         1. 

            [doa]

            May 22, 2012

            +1

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      2. 

         Peter Collinson

         May 22, 2012

         You forgot option 3.

         Don’t want it and/or don’t need it.

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         1. 

            zwonker

            May 22, 2012

            Likes your comment

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         2. 

            Paroxysm

            May 22, 2012

            But if the person is complaining that they can’t use something without a facebook account then they do need it. So really option 1 and 2 are still the only reasons in this case.

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      3. 

         Max

         May 22, 2012

         “1) Privacy concerns – Simple solution don’t post anything you don’t want being public knowledge.”

         Hahaha, holy shit, you’re the most naive person in the world. Accidentally posting the wrong thing isn’t the type of privacy concern anyone is talking about.

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         1. 

            Corey

            May 22, 2012

            And you sir are a complete idiot.

            Answer me this. If someone creates a Facebook account using a random username, and NEVER posts ANY personal details about themselves and NEVER updates their status and uses it solely as a way to access services like this….where is the privacy concern? That someone might find my username Dingdong69? *Gasp*!

            Seriously, take the tinfoil hat off and get a life.

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            1. 

               aretwodeetwo

               May 22, 2012

               This was a pretty rage fuelled post but you are correct.

            2. 

               Mitchell Busby

               May 22, 2012

               Isn’t it against Facebook TOS to do that..?

      4. 

         Craig

         May 22, 2012

         And only one type of person would get one. Sheep.

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         1. 

            Corey

            May 22, 2012

            Well, actually no. There are several reasons to have a FB account.

            1) Like it or not FB is the number one social networking site, unless you want to be a massive pain in the ass to your friends wanting to organise events you should have an account.
            2) Wanting to have access to services like this.
            3) Wanting to have access to FB exclusive deals companies offer.
            4) Not wanting to be a pathetic douche bag who spends their entire life avoiding anything popular so they can arrogantly claim not to be a sheep.

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      5. 

         Patrick Bateman

         May 22, 2012

         Seriously? You think that people have to justify why they DON’T have a facebook account? The future is doomed.

         What about

         3) Don’t want to be forced to use a third party service (FB) to access something they actually want

         4) Don’t want to contribute in any way to the mass market profiling of every living creature on earth

         5) Want to distinguish themself as a being capable of independent thought and not someone who reacts with amazement to the concept that using Facebook might not be everyone’s cup of tea

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      6. 

         Crazyguy1990

         May 22, 2012

         Actually, there’s a third type, and it’s the most logical of all:
         3. Sick of morons – They don’t want to put up with people like you.

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      7. 

         Big Steve

         May 22, 2012

         Agreed. Just get a dummy FB account and make up the personal details. Problem overcome with little effort and no giving of information.

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      8. 

         Clay

         May 22, 2012

         This. Best summation of anti-facebook account sentiment I’ve read.

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   2. 

      Karsaroth

      May 22, 2012

      And you can’t even contact them without an account, so they’ll never know why I’m not signing up. Solid business plan there Spotify.

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   3. 

      Tim J

      May 22, 2012

      Just setup a Fakebook account like me for these things. Anyone can setup an account on Facebook using any details you want. I use mine all the time for services and offers like this where they want your “facebook” details. They get my facebook details…. but they are all fake, even the email address is an alias.

      Problem Solved….

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   4. 

      Davo

      May 22, 2012

      I don’t have a facebook account (2012) = I don’t have a TV (1990)

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3. 

   Bernie

   May 22, 2012

   No thanks. I started to have a look, but it forces you to have a Facebook account to sign up. I’ve only recently deleted my facebook account as it creates a social madness. I don’t need to know the intimate, boring and bourgeois details of everyone in my circle. It causes more problems than it solves.

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   1. 

      Corey

      May 22, 2012

      I must of missed the part where having a FB account for authentication forces you to actually use it?

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      1. 

         Bernie

         May 22, 2012

         Amazingly, people get annoyed if you don’t use it, or if you don’t respond to their super important post of the day. You can kind of get away with deleting your account, but no one accepts you de-friending them or or even worse, ignoring them.

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         1. 

            Jake D

            May 22, 2012

            Not particularly hard to make a new account, call yourself ‘Bernie Spots”, and never add any friends, though. Probably takes as much time as signing up for spotify would if they had their own login system. And you can use it for a handful of other apps which require facebook.

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            1. 

               Jake D

               May 22, 2012

               Although I have just discovered that I can’t install and login at work, because work blocks facebook. What do they expect me to do? Work?

      2. 

         john jaccobs

         May 22, 2012

         FB will pull data from Spotify so they will know something about you. Combine that with credit card details then FB/Spotify will start to be able to build a proper picture of you. Plus if you’re logged in with your FB account most sites you go to can now be tracked by FB. I find it unbelievable that FB users can be so naive.

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         1. 

            Corey

            May 22, 2012

            I find it unbelievable that tinfoil hat people think the entire world gives a dam about anything about their lives. Seriously, get over yourself.

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            1. 

               Theophilus

               May 22, 2012

               I don’t know Corey, I’m pretty sure FB users are the centre of the universe.

            2. 

               Patrick Bateman

               May 22, 2012

               I find it unbelievable that people are dumb enough that they don’t realise that the reason that a company which sells nothing to its users for actual money is worth billions of dollars is precisely because it is a huge datamining system and not a “social network”.

            3. 

               Corey

               May 22, 2012

               Once again for those who can’t read. If you don’t give them the data, they cannot mine it.

            4. 

               YES

               May 24, 2012

               Once facebook knows what I like, what I buy, what music I listen to, what friends and how many friends I have.. Nothings happens.
               Ads on the internet are now tailored for me I guess. So yep. Companies can market products towards me easier? And more accurately.
               I just dont know why thats an issue.

         2. 

            Mitchell Busby

            May 22, 2012

            You can just use Facebook Disconnect, or even Just Disconnect Me, chrome extensions. I’m sure there are equivalents for FF and IE (though why one would voluntarily use IE does confound me)

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4. 

   Chris

   May 22, 2012

   It had to be the longest registration / setup on a mobile device i’ve ever done. Took me about 8 minutes to 6 login’s to get it happening!

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5. 

   Craig

   May 22, 2012

   I bought a Zune Pass instead. Stream, download, all of the above, it’s all good.

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6. 

   pac

   May 22, 2012

   RDIO FTW !!

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7. 

   Tom

   May 22, 2012

   “(Both those deals require a 12-month sign-up.)”
   are you sure about this I can’t see any details on the spotify website stating you need to sign up for 12 months

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8. 

   Joffa

   May 22, 2012

   Corey seems to miss another point. These people don`t want to have to go through registering and setting up Facebook just to get Spotify. Also the free version would be that full of adds it would drive you bonkers.

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   1. 

      Corey

      May 22, 2012

      I have missed nothing. Like it or not FB is becoming the standard for unified logins. Now you tinfoil hat wearing geeks can accept that and create an accound with no personal details or miss out on using more and more services.

      Either way, I don’t really care, but seriously stop bitching about FB. Move on.

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      1. 

         Shane

         May 22, 2012

         The only place I log in with my Facebook account is Facebook. I don’t want to share my Facebook profile with a third party. I don’t want to share my third party data with Facebook. Why is there no other option?

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9. 

   red

   May 22, 2012

   Dumb only with FB! why? why?

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10. 

    Liam Johnson

    May 22, 2012

    Until these services can start filling the gaps in their collections, which means taking on a lot of smaller artists as well as gathering the big holdouts, AND start offering their collections in lossless FLAC/WAV/ALAC, etc., as well as with the ability to download and -own- these files, DRM-free, then I won’t use them. It seems like a steep request, but until a truly functional, fair and easy system is in place, it won’t slow piracy. As soon as you make it easier for the mass majority to legally pay for and own their purchases at an accessible price, then you’ll see a difference.

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    1. 

       Blake

       May 22, 2012

       People like yourself who want everything under the sun at an “accessible” price need to get over yourselves.

       Either pay per track/album like you do now, either via physical media or iTunes etc for DRM Free High Bitrate, or enjoy the convenience of a streaming service with DRM & lower bitrates.

       Yes I’d like unlimited free high bandwidth drm free music all for 2c a day, but it’s not going to happen.

       There are plenty of smaller & independent artists that you can listen to free or at minimal cost if the pricetag is a problem. But if you want to listen to mainstream big ticket items, you’ve got to pony up the $.

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       1. 

          Thom

          May 22, 2012

          “Yes I’d like unlimited free high bandwidth drm free music all for 2c a day, but it’s not going to happen.”

          We have a market where this exists. I’m not advocating piracy, but piracy is what these services are competing with. So yeah, the industry is going to have to work at price accessibility (or at least find other ways of generating revenue).

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          1. 

             YES

             May 24, 2012

             I dont think companies and artists should give away their product just because it can be stolen easier..

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11. 

    Mayav

    May 22, 2012

    Wont let me change my county from UK to Australia, even when I feed it with my au credit card details, card declines! update gateway spotify!

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12. 

    Nicholas

    May 22, 2012

    your move, netflix, hulu and pandora

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    1. 

       HunterSBonobo

       May 22, 2012

       If you use HTTPS Everywhere in chrome you can access Pandora

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       1. 

          Nicholas

          May 28, 2012

          nope.

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13. 

    Grayda

    May 22, 2012

    Yeah I was keen sign up, then I realised Facebook was behind it and would most likely use my photo to “recommend” the service to others, no matter what privacy settings I have in place, so I closed the page.

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    1. 

       Matt

       May 22, 2012

       Most likely? You’re kidding yourself if you think that is “most likely” to happen…

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14. 

    prot

    May 22, 2012

    beatport will do me

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15. 

    Dave McKinney

    May 22, 2012

    Hey Angus,

    I wrote a quick post on why music streaming is important for Australia.

    http://discovr.info/2012/05/why-streaming-music-is-important-for-australia/

    Thanks!
    Dave

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16. 

    derekaw

    May 22, 2012

    What is not available on Spotify in Australia? Any particular artist/s or record labels?

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17. 

    pd

    May 22, 2012

    Is anyone aware that, because you sign up with FB, every song you listen to gets listed in the news feed of your friends. One of my friends obviously signed up today and I’ve been peppered with updates of her listening to One Direction all day. My opinion of her has seriously altered! This sounds like a pretty good reason not to consider Spotify (unless you can turn the option off).

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    1. 

       Angus Kidman

       May 22, 2012

       You can switch that off during signup, but I suspect many people will miss it.

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18. 

    thomasr

    May 22, 2012

    I think the most disappointing aspect of this is that it is not device agnostic. I have an Xbox and a Smart TV and that’s how play 90% of my music in the home (the other is via my iphone on a speaker cradle bedside). Without a Smart TV App or App for PS3/Xbox I think they are well limited.

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    1. 

       Mitchell Busby

       May 22, 2012

       True, but these may come soon. Plus I believe XBMC has a plugin for Spotify, and mediaportal too.

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19. 

    Jayphen

    May 22, 2012

    A lot of ranting above.

    Spotify rules. It has changed the way I listen to music. 🙂

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20. 

    Charles

    May 22, 2012

    I think Corey must have bought shares in FB, so is worried people will stop using it, or not want to use in the 1st place. Seriously though, if u don’t have or want FB, go somewhere else rather than whining. It used to be called “voting with ur feet”

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21. 

    YES

    May 24, 2012

    I think Corey is annoyed about all the whining about facebook. Its not a sheeple thing, or a tin foil hat thing. Its just refusal to make an account on the internet to access a new service. And I dont see why people whine about that. But yep. Corey is a bit aggressive.

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22. 

    Muzzatron

    May 24, 2012

    Thought I am adding anything new to this thread, I just want to add that the’ FB only’ sign in is a bad idea. I would prefer another option.

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23. 

    Graeme

    May 24, 2012

    I dont understand why this has not been mentioned yet, but what Spotify is requiring is illegal under Australian law — this is “Third line forcing” — where one company requires you acquire goods or services from another company or they won’t supply goods or services to you, or they require you to do this to get a discount.

    The law does not require that the other company be paid – just that goods or services must be “acquired” from the third-party company. Exactly what Spotify is doing!

    And it can be argued also that when you are on Facebook, you are in affect paying Facebook with the information you provide about yourself, as it is your information that Facebook is trading to advertisers in to make its money.

    From the ACCC website: “Third line forcing is a specific form of exclusive dealing prohibited outright by the Competition and Consumer Act. It is not subject to the substantial lessening of competition test. It involves the supply of goods or services on condition that the purchaser buys goods or services from a particular third party, or a refusal to supply because the purchaser will not agree to that condition.”

    What the Law actually says, from COMPETITION AND CONSUMER ACT 2010 – SECT 47
    ———–
                 (6)  A corporation also engages in the practice of exclusive dealing if the corporation:
                         (a)  supplies, or offers to supply, goods or services;
                         (b)  supplies, or offers to supply, goods or services at a particular price;
    or
                         (c)  gives or allows, or offers to give or allow, a discount, allowance
    rebate or credit in relation to the supply or proposed supply ofgoods 
    or services by the corporation;

    on the condition that the person to whom the corporation supplies or offers or proposes to supply the goods or services or, if that person is a bodycorporate, a body corporate related to that body corporate will acquire goods or services of a particular kind or description directly or indirectly from another person not being a body corporate related to the corporation.
    ——-

    This is going to get interesting.

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24. 

    JazzFr…

    May 25, 2012

    Corey has a thing about tinfoil hats. Look in a mirror corey, and say Baaa!

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25. 

    Jujubeans

    June 2, 2012

    I just made a facebook account that I will never use to get spottyfi. Well worth it as an alternative to those crappy FM stations. Audio quality is 160kb ogg vorbis and sounds great.

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26. 

    Gimfred

    July 2, 2012

    I’m one of those other people who have a FB account yet am aware that, even if I don’t use it FB et al have been shown to consistently be able to work up a profile on me via methods alluded to above.* I’m not worried about FB, but I am concerned about their data effective security. Even large professional companies have been hacked and ID stolen, which generally people only find out about when they try to grow up or credit sharks track them down for charges the victim never incurred.

    Why do I have a FB in light of my fears? If Japanese became Australia’s official language, I’d learn Japanese. It would reveal things about me that I would feel wasn’t anyone’s business. “But it isn’t likely to be detrimental” you say? Well, neither is FB.

    * I’ve missed significant social invites because FB is rarely used. Even via my official page FB has my demographic because of who my friends are. On my non-cc, null-friend, whatever they do not of course… I hope.

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