Spotify.

Yeah, I got on G+ that hardly seems mentioning. Nobody uses it. At least, not seriously. And I never got around to checking out turntable.fm. Why does everything need an invite these days?

Somehow the good folks at Spotify got ahold of my email address and sent me an invite to their service. I've been signed in nearly every day for about two weeks. Today at the office I reached new heights in annoying coworkers. My undiagnosed/untreated OCD coupled with my constantly swimming in nostalgia (fueled by 2 flashbacky Tumblrs) resulted in spinning only Pearl Jam for about 6 hours. Mostly Vitalogy. And mostly the song "Corduroy." Yep, Corduroy for a good 3/4 of the day. When even I got a little fatigued playing the same 2 versions over and over, I switched to YouTube and started playing all manner of live/bootleg/acoustic/covers...

Through that exercise I've come to love Spotify. Yes, the library is vast, the sound quality on even my free account is excellent, but being able to play some random, long-forgotten song from my teenage years, on a whim, that's what did it for me. It's got some major holes--I'm guessing because some artists not wanting to opt-in--but figure, those are either the really big names or so specific that you should have in your own collection already.

me: recommend an album to me. let me see if it's even on here

 Liam: Brand new heavies: heavy rhyme experience vol 1.me: ok yeah they have yours

From the moment I activated my free account, I have six months of unlimited streaming from a computer. I can already see myself paying for the service afterward. Other options are available, like offline use, mobile, check the site for details. It all sounds pretty cool. If you have a desk job, I'd say it's a pretty good thing to invest in. I haven't really played around with any of the competitors though. Anyway, other things I've noticed...

- I have no interest in connecting my account to Facebook. If anything, I want less to do with Facebook. It's already a huge timewaster with the farming and whatnot. I so rarely take friends' music advice anyway that I think it would be a waste of effort.
- It hasn't been so helpful in discovering new music (perhaps if I was more social via Facebook). As I said earlier, I'm mired in nostalgia. I tend to stick to music I already own. I know, this is incredibly stupid. But, I'm talking, stuff from so long ago that it's probably on cassette or even if on cd, buried deep in my closet or the closets of long lost childhood friends. When somebody asked me to shut down the Pearl Jam block today, I switched briefly to Soundgarden because I thought that'd be funny. Actually for the rest of the day I defaulted to old Tori Amos albums and Siouxsie and the Banshees. I'm listening to Morphine now. Not breaking any new ground here.
- I am completely ignorant of anything Pearl Jam did after Vitalogy. I guess I told myself they retired after that album. Also, don't know anything of REM beyond Monster. I'm not opposed to checking out later albums (either band) but I'm afraid I'll be disappointed.
- I'm still really into buying cds. I'm old and set in my ways. I've downloaded songs, but mostly because I've been given promo codes to do so for no charge. I much prefer owning something tangible even if it means paying more. I'm one of those weirdos that come September, will opt for Netflix's disc-only plan instead of streaming. I've even been looking at investing in a turntable. I never had one. I used to use the hi-fi at the library during the college years. Consequently, I have vinyl but no way to listen to it. (I've also owned a bike pump, no bike; vcr but no tv; GPS system, no car; how incomplete my life is!)
- I know I've had other realizations today as a result of Spotify, I should have written them down sooner.

UPDATE (8/4/2011, 11 a.m.): Today I'm playing all the Weird Al polkas.
UPDATE (2/25/2011): I haz invites. Give me your email and I will send invites for as long as they allow me to.