Goodbye Spotify. Hello Google All Access

[BimmerM3]

Stuck with Spotify for a year hoping they would get this app in a consistently working state. Giving up. Moving to Google All Access (and saving $2 a month). 

Ciao Spotify. 

[smelico]

Yes yes yes, I thought I was going to do the same thing and I even spent countless hours setting up playlists, thinking the app was going to revolutionize the streaming music industry (I bought into the hype, being the huge Google fan that I am).  Turned out to be a complete waste of my time. 

The things I really wanted in a streaming music app, besides unlimited on-demand music, I couldn't get with Google.

No folders for playlists.

No external SD card storage.  Still can't believe this one.

No massive database of user-generated playlists.  Think I found 2 playlists, total, created by others. That might change in time but I don't want to wait a year or more.

No apps. Couldn't use Tunigo or Soundrop or last.fm or Digster or any of the others I like.

I won't even go into detail about the constant crashing and fact that I couldn't even play songs because the app was hanging constantly before each crash.

If it works for you and you're willing to give up features you might use here, I hope it is what you're looking for.  But Google's half-baked release is what made me realize I already have what I want here.

[BimmerM3]

That's fair. All Access isn't the be all and end all solution to streaming music.

My main problem with Spotify is that it would skip mid-track very frequently, and it occurred just as often when playing off the device as when streaming, so it's not just a network issue. Being able to play songs correctly is pretty much requirement #1, so the other features don't matter much in comparison. No skips on All Access yet. 

I haven't had any app crashes with Google Music/All Access yet, though that would obviously be a deal breaker for me too if they were frequent. That said, the app is a bit unresponsive. 

I have an unlimited data plan and good 4G access, so SD storage doesn't matter to me. You're right though - that's a big missing feature for a lot of people. 

Again, you're right that there's not a lot of apps or playlists yet. I didn't use those features (much), and both of those problems will get better with time. 

And a HUGE benefit for me is the seamless integration with Google Music. I used to work at a college radio station and found a good chunk of music while working there that is not available on Spotify (or All Access), but I've uploaded the CDs to Google Music. Now I can get all the music I want from one app. 

Plus it doesn't hurt that it's cheaper if you sign up by the end of the month.