Spotify…how I was loving thee

Recently I signed up for Spotify. Ive been searching for a replacement for iTunes for some time now. Mainly, I loathe Apple, a company that used to stand for innovation and the underdog has turned into the Big Brother of the technology world doing more to stifle innovation that doesnt come from them. Ive tried Songbird and DoubleTwist and wasnt really fond of either mainly because they both seem very new still and need vast interface as well as purchase/library improvements. Hearing a lot of buzz about it, I tried Spotify about a week ago and I liked it. Easy, non-intrusive (well was), can stream music I dont have on the Whats New section, few small quirks and all but overall seamless and awesome integration with my Android phone. The Wireless Sync option was just top notch.

Today however, after Facebook’s F8 conference, Spotify made the insane decision to force all new users into making a Facebook account to sign up for the service. Excuse me? Who thought this was a wise idea? This is a paid for service, monthly fee and all that, albeit a cheap one, still paid for. You dont see Netflix forcing people into a Facebook account to sign up, or Hulu. Granted those are video/movie streaming services but the same concept. To me Spotify is similar but it does it with music instead of movies, so why now must new users be mandated to have a Facebook account to take part in this service? Why even have a different company than, just sell out to Facebook completely and rename to Facebook Music because thats basically the path that seems to be presented.

Im all for social sharing these days for those that want to, however I dislike extremely being forced into doing it, even if only in a small part just to want to do standard things like listen to music. The world doesnt need to know what my favorite tracks and bands are, even less so if I dont want to share that info. Granted forcing a FB account isnt forcing the sharing, but its a step in that direction. More and more people are starting to turn away from Facebook these days for the same reason, intrusiveness. FB as a company seems to be doing everything it can with its service to eliminate the concept of personal privacy, so much so its gathered flak from Congress and many privacy advocacy groups in the world, even so bad as to make European governments unhappy with how it handles personal info where some have even blocked it. Doesn’t that say enough about the company to signal that it may not be a good idea to hop completely in bed with Mark Zuckerberg?

Seriously, Im big on privacy, but Mark Z and even his sister have both openly said they want everything to be open to the world as far as personal info. EVERYTHING, and they earnestly believe by doing so they will make the world “better” somehow.

I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away. People behave a lot better when they have their real names down. … I think people hide behind anonymity and they feel like they can say whatever they want behind closed doors.

Thats what she said about privacy (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/08/randi-zuckerberg-runs-wrong-direction-pseudonymity). Granted there is some truth to that concept, but like anything, too much in any direction is a bad thing. Anonymity breeds mischief and harassment, but so does open info. For example, if someone wants to publicly speak out against a company’s policies (ahem, like I am now), my real information listed on the net would invite people who disagree with me to lash out in more ways than just some nasty words on a blog or forum somewhere. Take it from someone who’s been e-stalked already, its not a pleasant experience when you have to concern yourself with someone tracking you down in real life over an internet “crush” or fixation.

In addition, look at an interview with Facebook’s CEO and founder when asked about the issue of privacy:

Ive only seen guilty convicts under questioning sweat that much, plus…he doesnt even answer the question and deflects into a random convo about the company founding. WTF? Then one of the interviewers compliments him on the answer? /sigh @ journalism pandering.

Anyhow, Spotify…pull your head out of your ass please. People want to be social on their own terms, not forced into it. A lot of people dislike Facebook because of its principles and policies and don’t use it, so why force new users and potential customers into a situation where they have to choose between your service, and something they may not like or be comfortable with? Bad business decision in my opinion. Options are okay, but when you remove those options and make them a mandatory thing, you risk losing your following. Ask Netflix how well splitting their service has worked for them. Rather, have a peek at their stock prices lately to see more accurately how it worked then re-think your plan.