Another reason to dislike streaming and Spotify

Spotify probably is keeping this updated to work with what most people have now. I'd bet if Onkyo did a firmware upgrade on your receiver, they could make the new Spotify work. My guess is they don't want to, and that's why you can get a dongle for free.

 

Surely there will still be some smaller stations transmitting in FM after the switch over? Or will analogue FM tuners be totally worthless?

 

Probably not, I think. The frequencies may be reallocated, and the equipment to broadcast digitally will be ubiquitous. Ironically, it’s possible AM will outlive FM given its advantage in range at the expense of fidelity.

 

This is known as recurring revenue in business. It is what happens when you didn't think the business model through and provide a working product for very long that people want to pay for and then revert to making everything an effective rental through "innovation" when it is not.

In the rest of the world, it is called slavery.

 

Because sometimes it's new and you don't know if you want it yet. You didn't even know it existed until you sample it.

I've had some form of streaming / subscription service going back at least eleven years now. My shelves are now literally filled with music that I first discovered care of those services...I consider them as important to me today as the radio was when I was a teenager.

 

Is that what people really think us streamers use these services for?

 

Much as I hate to say it, I think quite often this stuff *was* thought through and it's more about planned obsolescence. And we bite hook, line, and sinker.

 

How do we explain 8 track, shellac discs, wax cylinders and other audio media of a bygone age?

 

Easy. Each version actually added value by sound and/or convenience. The recurring business model is to give one the same thing and require to be paid forever for it. Otherwise, they would have more demand if it added more value.

 

So I buy a Family Premium Spotify account, £15 a month for five of us. That gives us access to music, podcasts, downloads, videos, and all of that can either be played on our own accounts, on a portable device or on a stereo. The product is continuously developed. The business model works well for me as a user and it gives me access to music in such a way that I get good quality sound, with the convenience and flexibility that I need for this.

The added value, I've already mentioned. I've been using Spotify for years. That technology moves on is a good thing, That Onkyo doesn't want to pay up and has gone down the MQA route isn't Spotify's doing The amp is a brick? Nope. The corporate shenanigans have robbed the owner of some functionality? Blame the suits...