Nokia Music+

[Keith Wallace]

Nokia Music+ has now opened for business in the United States. Anyone going to get it?

 

[ttsoldier]

Coincidence? el oh el.
Spotify pushing labels to lower costs, open up free service to phones | The Verge

But anyway.. I'm using the trial now.. Will see how it goes...More than likely I will purchase. Or maybe I'll get spotify. Who knows?!

 

[nucmanchh]

Spotify's beta release isn't worth wasting time with. For me it's too late for Nokia's Music + since I've started using Rhapsody. Rhapsody's perfect. Large music selection, great offline playlist, etc! There's also a special price for new subscribers

 

[ttsoldier]

Spotify , Nokia Music + , Xbox Music, Rhapsody. Jesus!

 

[Keith Wallace]

I'm going to hold out hope that Xbox Music gets it together soon. I'd like to use that service because Nokia Music isn't on the Xbox, and ScrobbleMe doesn't work with the streaming stuff (though it didn't mention if it does or does not work with downloaded Xbox Music tracks--it said streamed ones don't).

 

[boneycat]

I'm pretty new to the music streaming scene, but am familiar with Pandora and Spotify. Is Nokia Music + like Pandora and Rhapsody like Spotify? If so is Nokia Music + better than Pandora and Rhapsody better than Spotify?

 

[Keith Wallace]

Nokia Music+ is definitely better than Pandora, in my opinion. I mean, the non-premium Nokia Music is ad-free, which Pandora requires a subscription for. You also get the offline downloads with Nokia Music (4 playlists for free, unlimited when paid). People have said the quality on Nokia Music+ is VERY good as well, so I'd imagine it wins on that front, too.

 

[Zeroplanetz]

I don't know if everyone ears are getting what I get, maybe it was even discussed somewhere but I honestly feel the free Nokia music sound quality was turned down for this new price point one. I mean the music isn't as robust sounding as it once was since this music + came out. Saddening....

 

[Keith Wallace]

Really? People have said it's SIGNIFICANTLY improved. I think it's partially dependent on what you consider normal, so it might be that the quality is higher but so different to you that it seems worse because it is atypical of what you are used to.

For me, I think the service is currently a failure. For starters, I liked the addition of lyrics. However, I was HOPING that it would just download tiny text files of lyrics with each playlist. Instead, you HAVE to be connected to the Internet to access lyrics, and it seemed that MORE than half of the music I listened to had no available lyrics, which was disappointing and frustrating. Basically, that selling point was butchered for me upon use of the trial. THEN, I found out that it won't let me keep the unlimited skips while offline. I'm not sure if it was just acting up, but if you HAVE to be connected to the Internet to have the unlimited skips, then it kills off THAT feature for me as well.

Then you get to the playlists themselves. I'm not sure if they really sounded BETTER, but they did sound good. Regardless, the playlists are WAY too redundant. I made 5 playlists, 3 with semi-similar bands, but none of which shared an artist. I was still finding SEVERAL songs repeated between the 3 of them. I then grabbed the "Christian Alt/Metal" playlist they have, thinking I'd get SOME Christian metal. Instead, I'm inundated with slow songs and a bunch of stuff I had no desire to hear. It wasn't even Alt Rock music, it was just soft garbage most of the time. I never actually listened to a song on the playlist because I wouldn't find something worth listening. They need to actually understand that:

1. Alt Rock and Metal are NOT similar, so don't combine them in a playlist.
2. If you ARE going to combine Alt Rock and Metal into a playlist, you might consider putting Alt Rock OR Metal into the playlist at some point, if not both.

Overall, Nokia Music+ was a massive flop for me today, as the things I wanted (unlimited skips and lyrics) appear to need an always-on connection, which ruins the whole point of offline playlists, to an extent. That they can't have some greater variety between playlists either makes me wonder what the point of multiple playlists even is.

 

[Zeroplanetz]

Well I was talking about the Nokia music without the plus. The one that's just free. I feel the music mixes played so much more robust than they do now that this subscription form is out. Those points you brought up with the lyrics is saddening too though.

 

[smoledman]

I'm going to hold out hope that Xbox Music gets it together soon. I'd like to use that service because Nokia Music isn't on the Xbox, and ScrobbleMe doesn't work with the streaming stuff (though it didn't mention if it does or does not work with downloaded Xbox Music tracks--it said streamed ones don't).

XBox Music doesn't even have Metallica. Pffft!

 

[Duvi]

I still have my original Zune Pass with the 10 free downloads and also pay the yearly fee for Pandora. It hasn't come to WP, so I may be looking to switch to another music streaming service.

 

[Jaripi]

It sounds like a bug if there is no unlimited skips for oflline chosen radios of Nokia Music + ... well, Nokia Music + is not available here yet, but I am very happy with a basic Nokia Music - I use both, online and offline radios (with pinned stations to start display) ... it is power consumpion is really low too, for both, online and offline ...

 

[Keith Wallace]

It sounds like a bug if there is no unlimited skips for oflline chosen radios of Nokia Music + ... well, Nokia Music + is not available here yet, but I am very happy with a basic Nokia Music - I use both, online and offline radios (with pinned stations to start display) ... it is power consumpion is really low too, for both, online and offline ...

When I was on WiFi, the unlimited skips worked. It wasn't until I was in my car driving home without Internet that it stopped working. I didn't bother to try turning my cellular Internet on to test if the skips came back, though.

 

[Keith Wallace]

XBox Music doesn't even have Metallica. Pffft!

All the more reason to subscribe.