It’s time once again for the two halves of Tenor Dad to separate and discuss a subject on which their views differ. Today’s subject is the new digital music platform Spotify, which allows you to basically listen to any song ever, whenever you want. And it’s free. Are there any cons to this? We will find out.
Dad: Good morning, Tenor.
Tenor: Oh, it’s you again.
Dad: Nice to see you too. So Spotify. What do you think?
Tenor: Are you kidding me? I love it! What’s not to love? You just go online and listen to whatever you want, whenever you want it! You can’t seriously tell me that you are against this!
Dad: No, I’m not against it. I just haven’t found it compelling as I had hoped I would.
Tenor: Ok, so what’s your problem, besides being lame?
Dad: Well, I think it’s designed for people who are sitting at a desk all day, which I am not. I can’t listen to it on my phone, unless I pay for it, and honestly, I pretty much have most of the music I like to listen to on my iPod. So, I mean, it’s cool, but I just don’t use it much.
Tenor: But you can listen to anything! It’s a great way to discover new music, or other music by artists you like that you didn’t know about!
Dad: Isn’t that why we have Pandora?
Tenor: That was a low blow. You know darn well that when you listen to Pandora you can’t pick whatever song you like. There’s no way to listen to one specific song, or to repeat it forever if you want. Suppose a cool song is not on your iPod, and you want to listen to it a bunch of times. Then what, genius?
Dad: Isn’t that why we have YouTube?
Tenor: Well, no. That is for cat videos and embarrassing your friends.
Dad: Look, I agree that Pandora with more control is cool, but the other problem is that there is almost too much music. I don’t even know where to start! If I want to listen to something specific, I’ll go to iTunes, and if I want to listen to some random new thing, I’ll go to Pandora. And on the off chance that the song I want is neither of those places, it is probably on YouTube somewhere. So why do I need Spotify?
Tenor: You can share music with people on Facebook! You can listen to full operas that you are trying to learn! You can do cool searches, like by year or style! The playlist sharing/collaborating is worth the price of admission alone! Which, by the way, I must remind you is FREE! Get off your dang iTunes and move into the future, old man!
Dad: Yeah, yeah, fine. It’s cool. It’s the best thing ever. I’m sure if I sat at a computer all day I would use it like crazy, but as a stay at home dad, I am running around the house all day, not listening to cool music.
Tenor: Try searching for Mickey Mouse.
Dad: Why? What’s that going to do? I…hmmmm. Hey, look! They have every song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!
Tenor: I knew you would be excited.
Dad: Okay, I was momentarily distracted, but I can still find all that stuff on YouTube.
Tenor: Oh, get over yourself. This is so much easier. Would you rather search YouTube every time you want to listen to a different Phineas & Ferb song, or have them all there in one playlist?
Dad: Fine, you win. Spotify is useful. But I have had an account for over a month and have opened it three times. The proof is right there. I like it, but it’s not the game changer that everyone said it would be.
Tenor: That’s because you are lame. That is not Spotify’s fault. Do you still write letters to people on paper too?
Dad: Be quiet. I’m trying to listen to Goofy sing Upside Down Cyclin’.
Tenor: Did you just link to Spotify?
Dad: Be quiet.
And there you have it. It is now clear that Spotify is somewhat useful. And it is also mostly for cool people. Hopefully this was informative. And if you are not cool, I apologize. Be sure to tune in next time when we will try to debate something less cool.