Life without on-demand music streaming

[MusicDirector]

I began my life without on-demand music streaming today. I had a MOG account for two + years and it was great, but I bailed out of the burning plane 2 days ago. They tried to get me to come back to Beats music service, but a big NO THANK YOU on that! I know a couple of the players in that organization (Clear Channel and AT&T) and have had a few unpleasant run-ins with them and want nothing at all to do with them. The structure of the service is also horrifying to me.
Anyway, I'm not a fan of Pandora and other radio streamers because again,.....it's radio. I heard about XboxMusic, but when I went to go check it out and sign up for the free service to do some testing I had to create a Microsoft account only yo find that I could not do so. Then some sketchy info was also presented making it sound like I needed two different accounts and just got too messy.
So I am without on-demand streaming. Do I miss it? Well, not as much as I thought I would, but still sort of miss it as it was a great tool for discovery and try before buy (a real money saver). So now I'll have to go back to 30 second clips on whatever I can find on Amazon like I used to do. The only drawback is some frustrating little money mistakes have higher potential of being made with that method, but it has not happened often to me in the time before MOG.

[NorthStar]

Nice to see you Eric. :)

[MusicDirector]

Update: I had one more trick up my sleeve and it worked. I have now successfully created an account at XboxMusic. Let the testing begin! Perhaps I may not have to live without on-demand music streaming for very long which would mean I can get back to my research and discovery in a lab setting thank you very much. I have far too much experience in that, it's practically ingrained in me.

[ohbythebay]

Update: I had one more trick up my sleeve and it worked. I have now successfully created an account at XboxMusic. Let the testing begin! Perhaps I may not have to live without on-demand music streaming for very long which would mean I can get back to my research and discovery in a lab setting thank you very much. I have far too much experience in that, it's practically ingrained in me.

So my email was just sent to you and seems you beat me to it..and have NOT limited yourself my friend. And you heard unbiased opinions from the folks on Ak (who can be a stubborn bunch) about the good sound quality and the 40million + titles...so..let the music play...

[still-one]

Although Spotify and previously MOG might have a slight edge in SQ over Rhapsody I would miss the way it integrates seamlessly with my SooLoos. I use this to locate and determine whether I want to purchase discs. If it is a marginal CD I will just add it to my library and have it for the occasional play with just a slight loss in SQ. A real Win-Win.

[Hiker]

MOG is the greatest thing since 'sliced bread' for me. I stream it through my Airport Express to my D100. Convenient and sounds darn good. Gives me a chance to better organize and hear a lot more music before I consider buying the CD.

[MusicDirector]

MOG is the greatest thing since 'sliced bread' for me. I stream it through my Airport Express to my D100. Convenient and sounds darn good. Gives me a chance to better organize and hear a lot more music before I consider buying the CD.

You mean "was" the greatest thing. MOG is officially no more come 01/31/14. If you are still with MOG you will be switched over to Beats. I know Beats will not run on Sonos or Squeezebox, but I'm not sure about Airport.

[MusicDirector]

UPDATE: As sad as losing MOG is, all is not lost. Thanks to Rob who told me about XboxMusic. I used MOG for the very reason mentioned here. To find listen before buying. Anything I was not sure I wanted would stay on streaming while anything I really liked I would go purchase the CD or vinyl. It also helped in discovery as well. I never used MOG for serious listening because obviously MP3 320kps lacks the dynamics that vinyl or CD can offer. Again though great for research.
That said though, I did find it very hard to listen by direct connect from PC to audio system. That's why the squeezebox is great because of the dac in it.
I am currently doing testing of XboxMusic and also researching Spotify, Rdio Rhapsody, Beats and the old MOG. I'm going to compare them against each other and then decide. (I'm obviously not going with Beats and with MOG no longer around, but including them for comparative reasons and scope.)

[Hiker]

You mean "was" the greatest thing. MOG is officially no more come 01/31/14. If you are still with MOG you will be switched over to Beats. I know Beats will not run on Sonos or Squeezebox, but I'm not sure about Airport.

According to the Beats press release MOG will continue as it's own entity under the same management and staff. No change.

[MusicDirector]

According to the Beats press release MOG will continue as it's own entity under the same management and staff. No change.

Don't believe everything they say. I was given the scoop (or confirmed my suspicions) when I cancelled my MOG the other day. MOG will be it's own entity so to speak through 01/31/14, then it is Beats and not anything resembling MOG after that date. That is what MOG staff said. The folks who work at MOG will then be employees of Beats, so I was told by several staffers.

[joeinid]

If MOG or Beats will not be streaming anymore on Sonos, then I will cancel them. If it continues, no problem for me.

[MikeCh]

Unless you are downloading and listening to hi-res samples of this "new to you music" that you plan to purchase from said hi-res service, I have a hard time understanding the justification of beating up any of the other services (Mog, Beats, Pandora, Spotify, etc.). You say you listen with these other services to gain insight to the music and to help you decide whether you want to ultimately purchase, but if these other services are of a lesser sound quality, then what's the difference most of us faced 10-30 years ago?....we hear something we think we like on the radio and we go out and buy the LP or CD or Cassette and hope for the best. Sometimes it blows us away with how good it sounds and sometimes it just sucks with regard to sound quality.

These streaming services ARE our radio today.

In today's compression / loudness wars, so many recordings truly suck but to say because a given track/recording sounded good on Pandora, or Mog or Beats or Spotify (at their ideal streaming rates), it's still a dice roll when you go to purchase the actual LP or CD or DSD even....just like in the old days.

Am I wrong and/or missing something here?

Mike

[MusicDirector]

Unless you are downloading and listening to hi-res samples of this "new to you music" that you plan to purchase from said hi-res service, I have a hard time understanding the justification of beating up any of the other services (Mog, Beats, Pandora, Spotify, etc.). You say you listen with these other services to gain insight to the music and to help you decide whether you want to ultimately purchase, but if these other services are of a lesser sound quality, then what's the difference most of us faced 10-30 years ago?....we hear something we think we like on the radio and we go out and buy the LP or CD or Cassette and hope for the best. Sometimes it blows us away and sometimes it just sucks with regard to sound quality.

In today's compression / loudness wars, so many recordings truly suck but to say because a given track/recording sounded good on Pandora, or Mog or Beats or Spotify (at their ideal streaming rates), it's still a dice roll when you go to purchase the actual LP or CD or DSD even....just like in the old days.

Am I wrong and/or missing something here?

Mike

To me personally, it's not about sound quality at all if we are talking streaming for purposes of listening before buying. For my purposes as long as I can make out what is what I don't care. Streaming is streaming and only so good no matter who is doing it. I used to just listen to 30 second clips on Amazon for the same purpose and that's about as low quality as it gets, but it was good enough. At a certain point it's the gear being used and I don't have a PC with a high-end soundcard and built in uber dac so anything I play direct will sound like ass after a short time.
So if I understand you correctly, your saying that most recordings are crap out there today with the loudness wars and such. I do agree there are plenty of bad recordings out there due to those things. However, I don't think it is quite the dice roll you claim as long as one knows what they are purchasing by trying to find a good recording say Remaster or whatever. If it is the way you claim then I have to ask, what do you listen to?

[MikeCh]

To me personally, it's not about sound quality at all if we are talking streaming for purposes of listening before buying. For my purposes as long as I can make out what is what I don't care. Streaming is streaming and only so good no matter who is doing it. I used to just listen to 30 second clips on Amazon for the same purpose and that's about as low quality as it gets, but it was good enough. At a certain point it's the gear being used and I don't have a PC with a high-end soundcard and built in uber dac so anything I play direct will sound like ass after a short time.
So if I understand you correctly, your saying that most recordings are crap out there today with the loudness wars and such. I do agree there are plenty of bad recordings out there due to those things. However, I don't think it is quite the dice roll you claim as long as one knows what they are purchasing by trying to find a good recording say Remaster or whatever. If it is the way you claim then I have to ask, what do you listen to?

I understand now....so the HEART of radio isn't dead afterall ;)

Most of my casual listening is with various streaming services (Pandora and Spotify mostly), but my sit-down-and-listen is always a dice roll with older LP's from the 1950's thru 1980's or CD's that I still roll the dice with. Both formats have their warts and gems, but that only comes with listening and then culling the ones to re-listen to and put in the keep pile. I've purchased only a handful of new LP's or CD's this past year and have had 50/50 success with the quality....kind of like it's always been.

Mike

[MusicDirector]

If MOG or Beats will not be streaming anymore on Sonos, then I will cancel them. If it continues, no problem for me.

Last I heard Beats will not be on the Sonos, but who is to say for future, near or far? As far as I know Beats will be available on PC, smart phones, tablets, Roku and I think Apple Air or whatever that thing is, but not sure on that.

[MusicDirector]

I understand now....so the HEART of radio isn't dead afterall ;)

The big turnoff in the case of the Beats service is who is in control. The Beats structure if the powers that be are to be believed does not allow much if any, listener control. It's not about albums with them, it's about songs. (It's really just about unseating Spotify). The listener has to choose playlist that somebody at Beats or wherever provides. This is not the first attempt at offering streaming service for Beats. Long ago they offered something similar to Grooveshark and early Spotify and it failed quickly. This time they think that by dictating what the listener wants that they will make it big. With the structure they claim they are targeting a narrow demographic, mostly of young kids and the uninformed. Sure, they will most likely do ok for a time, but only a time. I predict it will go under in no more than two years max.
I would also think the new wrinkle Spotify just threw into the ring has given Beats some hiccups. On top of all else, Beats doesn't even offer a trial period, at least of any reasonable time (I heard rumor there was a 7 day trial, but it's just rumor and 7 days is short of the time it takes to evaluate a service much less cancel in time if not wanted). Every other service offers at least a 30 day trial which is plenty. The leaders at Beats said it themselves in a press release that they place no value in trial periods and are counting on names to make folks want the service.
(I know I sure don't and amongst everything else some of the names right turned me off for good).

[MikeCh]

The big turnoff in the case of the Beats service is who is in control. The Beats structure if the powers that be are to be believed does not allow much if any, listener control. It's not about albums with them, it's about songs.

Yep, just like Radio with a Radio Station Director (the job/career) and everything. Interesting to say the least. This might well be the last breath that Radio is trying to breathe.

Mike

[joeinid]

Very interesting Eric. Thanks for the insight. I am very curious to see what happens.

[Hiker]

Unless you are downloading and listening to hi-res samples of this "new to you music" that you plan to purchase from said hi-res service, I have a hard time understanding the justification of beating up any of the other services (Mog, Beats, Pandora, Spotify, etc.). You say you listen with these other services to gain insight to the music and to help you decide whether you want to ultimately purchase, but if these other services are of a lesser sound quality, then what's the difference most of us faced 10-30 years ago?....we hear something we think we like on the radio and we go out and buy the LP or CD or Cassette and hope for the best. Sometimes it blows us away with how good it sounds and sometimes it just sucks with regard to sound quality.

These streaming services ARE our radio today.

In today's compression / loudness wars, so many recordings truly suck but to say because a given track/recording sounded good on Pandora, or Mog or Beats or Spotify (at their ideal streaming rates), it's still a dice roll when you go to purchase the actual LP or CD or DSD even....just like in the old days.

Am I wrong and/or missing something here?

Mike

This has not been my experience with MOG. Unlike radio where I have no control other than station selection, I have album art, I can choose what I listen to, when I listen to it, and I can create favorites and playlists and manage them for future listening and reference. I sure don't miss the advertising and DJ talk on radio.

Most of what I listen to on MOG is @ 320kbps and very similar to the CD, sometimes so close I have a hard time telling a difference.

[Hiker]

Don't believe everything they say. I was given the scoop (or confirmed my suspicions) when I cancelled my MOG the other day. MOG will be it's own entity so to speak through 01/31/14, then it is Beats and not anything resembling MOG after that date. That is what MOG staff said. The folks who work at MOG will then be employees of Beats, so I was told by several staffers.

It seems that what may be happening is that MOG will be discontinued in the US as a stand-alone service. Instead Beats will be offering various apps where music can be streamed to Web, iPad, Sonus, etc. I assume that the 'base' MOG program service will be providing the music for these apps (just a guess).

[Mike]

Glad I switched to Spotify! :). Sounds like MOG is a little upside down right now.

[Hiker]

Glad I switched to Spotify! :). Sounds like MOG is a little upside down right now.

You may be right. Although Beats says their music service app will contain many improvements over 'old' MOG. Time will tell.

[Mike]

You may be right. Although Beats says their music service app will contain many improvements over 'old' MOG. Time will tell.

If any one of them can stream higher quality, I'm in!

[Hiker]

If any one of them can stream higher quality, I'm in!

You may recall a post providing a recent interview with Roger Sanders who said that if a recording was properly done @320kbps it would sound as good as a CD. But it would be nice if someone would just start streaming at CD level quality to eliminate the guesswork.

[Mike]

You may recall a post providing a recent interview with Roger Sanders who said that if a recording was properly done @320kbps it would sound as good as a CD. But it would be nice if someone would just start streaming at CD level quality to eliminate the guesswork.

Yes, I read that....and then did my own tests. I definitely don't agree.

[joeinid]

Introducing Beats Music.

Thanks sincerely for your loyalty to MOG. It means everything to us that you stuck with us while we created the next generation of streaming music services, Beats Music, using the great foundation of the MOG team and product. As you may know, Beats purchased MOG more than a year ago because we too were in love with its fidelity, simplicity, and mobile capabilities. Our goal was to go a step beyond where MOG or any other service had gone, to be more than a server, to be of service to the listener. We wanted to build an app that helped us discover music the way we discover music, through trusted curators, but that uses computers for what they’re good at, personalizing an experience to bring the right song, right now.


The result is Beats Music, an app now available for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Web, and Sonos, an app that not only has all the on-demand subscription features you came to love in MOG but also more ways to find the right song to listen to right now than any other app on the planet. With Beats Music you should always be one hand and a maximum of five seconds away from something great to listen to without needing to think or type in a search box. If you’d like to search or build your own playlist, please do. But on those many moments when you’re looking for a quick fix, Beats Music delivers.

What's the deal with AT&T?
Exclusively with AT&T, you can get the Beats Music Family Plan with 5 accounts across 10 devices for $14.99/month and a 3 month trial. Individual Plans with AT&T will be $9.99/month with a one month trial.

Will MOG shut down?
Yes. After April 15th, MOG will no longer be available in the US. Monthly billing will stop on March 15th and yearly subscriptions will be refunded on a prorated basis. Between now and then we will offer tools to help make your transition easier. Stay tuned for more information on those tools.

See for yourself. Download the app and hit play.

[MusicDirector]

Yep, just like Radio with a Radio Station Director (the job/career) and everything. Interesting to say the least. This might well be the last breath that Radio is trying to breathe.

Mike

I was in radio for some years, I was a Music Director and Associate producer. Radio has its purpose, but it is limited and folks decide whether or not to tune in depending on what you are playing. That is the core of it though, the freedom to tune in or avoid. The time for radio is when one doesn’t want to choose the music or happens to enjoy the mission of the particular show. Radio is temporary, shows are only 1 to 4 hours long depending on what it is and the station. It’s also most times restricted to one genre and often times the sub-genres under it. This is why ratings are so important to radio stations, that and the funding that comes with the rating.
Now days we have entities like Clear Channel who come in and take control paring a station down to a small fraction of what it was and severely limiting the format almost to the point of oblivion. I’ve seen them do this over and over and it usually results in plummeting ratings and other disasters. The station I was at thankfully was of no interest to them. A more recent example of Clear Channel’s work is a big station in Los Angeles California. It was a rock station and still is, but before Clear Channel they had various shows of interest, played a wider variety and even a free form DJ in a late time-slot. Then Clear Channel came in and gutted it. Now it’s down to one morning show which is not doing nearly as well as the previous one and 3 or 4 DJs who have to play the same 16 songs over and over changing up every two weeks and sound bored out of their minds or forced fake excitement when they do the announcing. The ratings have plummeted since the take-over. (It was one of the highest rated stations before). All the main people (including management), who knew what they were doing were let go immediately and replaced with people who just needed a job. (Most of them moved to another station that is the last of the heart of radio and there is no telling when Clear Channel will swoop in on them). There are also requirements for EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) that must be met for all radio stations. (Naturally this doesn’t apply to the internet stations, but I’m finishing a point). It is interesting to note that Clear Channel stations are not obligated to have this important public service and they don’t. So if you are listening to a Clear Channel station and there is a natural disaster or warning, you won’t know about it. Clear channel is about ownership, corporate control and advertising revenue and that is it.
Now guess who is one of the parties in the leadership of the Beats service….yup, Clear Channel.

[still-one]

Thanks for some insight that most of us are not privy to.

[MusicDirector]

Introducing Beats Music.

Thanks sincerely for your loyalty to MOG. It means everything to us that you stuck with us while we created the next generation of streaming music services, Beats Music, using the great foundation of the MOG team and product. As you may know, Beats purchased MOG more than a year ago because we too were in love with its fidelity, simplicity, and mobile capabilities. Our goal was to go a step beyond where MOG or any other service had gone, to be more than a server, to be of service to the listener. We wanted to build an app that helped us discover music the way we discover music, through trusted curators, but that uses computers for what they’re good at, personalizing an experience to bring the right song, right now.


The result is Beats Music, an app now available for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Web, and Sonos, an app that not only has all the on-demand subscription features you came to love in MOG but also more ways to find the right song to listen to right now than any other app on the planet. With Beats Music you should always be one hand and a maximum of five seconds away from something great to listen to without needing to think or type in a search box. If you’d like to search or build your own playlist, please do. But on those many moments when you’re looking for a quick fix, Beats Music delivers.

What's the deal with AT&T?
Exclusively with AT&T, you can get the Beats Music Family Plan with 5 accounts across 10 devices for $14.99/month and a 3 month trial. Individual Plans with AT&T will be $9.99/month with a one month trial.

Will MOG shut down?
Yes. After April 15th, MOG will no longer be available in the US. Monthly billing will stop on March 15th and yearly subscriptions will be refunded on a prorated basis. Between now and then we will offer tools to help make your transition easier. Stay tuned for more information on those tools.

See for yourself. Download the app and hit play.

Thanks for posting this Joe. While its just more advertising from them mostly and an attempt to cover up the dark side at least it does provide updated info on the demise of MOG. I see the dates have changed from what MOG staff told me when I cancelled. (Doesn't ease the pain, but never expected to).

[MikeCh]

I was in radio for some years, I was a Music Director and Associate producer. Radio has its purpose, but it is limited and folks decide whether or not to tune in depending on what you are playing. That is the core of it though, the freedom to tune in or avoid. The time for radio is when one doesn’t want to choose the music or happens to enjoy the mission of the particular show. Radio is temporary, shows are only 1 to 4 hours long depending on what it is and the station. It’s also most times restricted to one genre and often times the sub-genres under it. This is why ratings are so important to radio stations, that and the funding that comes with the rating.
Now days we have entities like Clear Channel who come in and take control paring a station down to a small fraction of what it was and severely limiting the format almost to the point of oblivion. I’ve seen them do this over and over and it usually results in plummeting ratings and other disasters. The station I was at thankfully was of no interest to them. A more recent example of Clear Channel’s work is a big station in Los Angeles California. It was a rock station and still is, but before Clear Channel they had various shows of interest, played a wider variety and even a free form DJ in a late time-slot. Then Clear Channel came in and gutted it. Now it’s down to one morning show which is not doing nearly as well as the previous one and 3 or 4 DJs who have to play the same 16 songs over and over changing up every two weeks and sound bored out of their minds or forced fake excitement when they do the announcing. The ratings have plummeted since the take-over. (It was one of the highest rated stations before). All the main people (including management), who knew what they were doing were let go immediately and replaced with people who just needed a job. (Most of them moved to another station that is the last of the heart of radio and there is no telling when Clear Channel will swoop in on them). There are also requirements for EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) that must be met for all radio stations. (Naturally this doesn’t apply to the internet stations, but I’m finishing a point). It is interesting to note that Clear Channel stations are not obligated to have this important public service and they don’t. So if you are listening to a Clear Channel station and there is a natural disaster or warning, you won’t know about it. Clear channel is about ownership, corporate control and advertising revenue and that is it.
Now guess who is one of the parties in the leadership of the Beats service….yup, Clear Channel.



To the best of my knowledge, no public broadcaster or broadcast organization is exempt from complying with the EAS (emergency alert system). I believe there have been a few technical screw ups with disaster notifications from the Clear Channel side over the years, yes and that would appear to be due to their automated-everything approach rather than having physical bodies running the show.

Please post more information that solidifies your statement that Clear Channel is not obligated to participate in EAS. I find it very interesting and strange if that is indeed fact. I'm not defending Clear Channel Communications, just trying to understand how they could be exempt.

Thanks,
Mike

p.s. and I meant "program director", not "radio station director" in my earlier post. Woops.

[MusicDirector]

To the best of my knowledge, no public broadcaster or broadcast organization is exempt from complying with the EAS (emergency alert system). I believe there have been a few technical screw ups with disaster notifications from the Clear Channel side over the years, yes and that would appear to be due to their automated-everything approach rather than having physical bodies running the show.

Please post more information that solidifies your statement that Clear Channel is not obligated to participate in EAS. I find it very interesting and strange if that is indeed fact. I'm not defending Clear Channel Communications, just trying to understand how they could be exempt.

Thanks,
Mike

p.s. and I meant "program director", not "radio station director" in my earlier post. Woops.

Well, the only other info I have on EAS requirements and ClearChannel is that I know (if I recall correctly) that EAS requires a minimum of twice monthly test run, but I have never heard it done on a ClearChannel station. This could be that I just am not tuned in at the time they do it, but I still find it suspicious that I have never heard it done over the years on a clear channel station. (Granted I stopped listening to radio 2 years ago). You are correct about the "technical screw-ups" though.
I'll see if I can get any written info on compliance with EAS and Clear Channel regarding exemption. It may be true for certain states or something, although I believe it's a federal law. However, the FCC has just been all but taken down a few days ago by court ruling (FCC no longer has any teeth in other words) so the whole field will be changing soon and not for the better.

[MusicDirector]

Ok, that's scary. I did find a large document regarding Clear Channel's attempt to file an exception from having to comply with EAS regulations in Texas. I think it's too large an item to post here and somewhat outside topic. However, a google search will bring it up...that's how I found it.

[NorthStar]

Eric, you can always post the link.

[MusicDirector]

Eric, you can always post the link.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Now I can't find the damn thing. At any rate further reading reveals that the attempt failed of course and that Clear Channel must comply which makes sense. What doesn't make sense is any attempt by anyone in broadcast media to even ask for exemption from such a thing. To their credit, they do keep up on those amber alerts though.
Clear Channel also claims itself as the voice of a political party, that right there is enough to warrant lots of questioning.

[MusicDirector]

Wow! Way too aggressive for me! I got an email from Beats welcoming me to the service! I canceled MOG 01/16/14 and had it confirmed the same day. I sent them a request to make sure I have no account and to cease and desist from further attempts to get me to join.

[MusicDirector]

Now with the demise of MOG we enter another phase in the streaming wars. As a former MOG subscriber that leaves me in somewhat a bind. So it became time to see what other services were out there to replace my beloved MOG.

While MOG offered $5 and $10 per month plans, the only difference was mobile use for $10/month. Sound quality was as good as it gets for streaming with either plan. The MOG catalog was huge and growing. The interface was streamlined, clean and efficient. Search results were always accurate and one could do searches by artist, album, song separately. Recommendations were done by mathematical algorithm and pretty good. What was more accurate were the "like artists" recommendations. Also (important to owners) was that MOG was available on the Squeezebox Touch and on most networked receivers.

I personally never used MOG for anything but searching for albums and listening to them for possible purchase which is the way I use streaming service exclusively. I was not and am not really into radio simulation or recommendations. I basically like to research, but that's just me.


So now Beats has taken over MOG and changed it completely and not necessarily for the better. While they kept the same streaming rate and SQ as MOG (so far), that is the only thing that did not change. What supposedly sets Beats apart is the "human" curation as opposed to mathematical algorithms, but I personally find mathematical algorithms to be more accurate than human curation because there are no biases or genre errors to get in the way and throw things off. (I never look at recommendations myself anyway, I don't find them of any use).
After looking as deep as possible at Beats Music (which included an informative email from the CEO giving me details as to why someone like myself would not find Beats to my liking...this came after months of talking to staff, fighting to get info that effected me and telling them what I was getting from press releases, interviews and their caginess, none of which should have been necessary, but that's the game they play. It was grueling work, but as a MOG subscriber I owed it not only to myself to find out true info and what was going on, but also to all other MOG subscribers).

In essence it turns out that the new Beats Music service is basically more a social media thing than a pure music service. As the CEO explained to me to paraphrase, while the service is there and albums available, it's really kind of like facebook with a music theme at it's core and mainly geared towards mobile devices. The catalog is also slowly moving towards favoring hip-hop, rap and indie pop more than other genres.
The interface is very cluttered and it is not currently working on PC (broke down after one week), but I am told they will be working on it in near future, but that is merely a promise without backing.
Seeing as how that is useless to me and I need or want no part of it (not to mention the involvement of two of my enemies - AT&T and Clear Channel), it was time to see what other services were out there hoping to find something with just a search field and a list as that is all I need.


After looking at Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio & Xboxmusic, I have decided to go with Spotify. That said it was not an easy decision made in a minute. The problem was that I liked both Xboxmusic and Spotify.

Spotify
Pros: Sound quality (supposedly 320kps like MOG with subscription , although I might mention that SQ for my streaming purposes is not all that important). Catalog - seems a bit larger than Xboxmusic.
Works on Squeezebox Touch and networked receivers

Cons: Somewhat cluttered interface, quirky search function and labor intensive results screens


Xboxmusic

Pros: Sound quality (uses a different format than MP3 and sounds nearly equally good as 320kps MP3s, plays a little bit better direct from PC unlike MP3s which are fatiguing after a short time without a good dac. Nice clean interface and solid search function

Cons: Slightly smaller catalog, no squeezebox or networked receiver support. No or very lacking customer support to speak of.


I'm hoping to use Xboxmusic in it's free version along with a subscription to Spotify so I can utilize the pros of each without having to pay for more than one service, which is ludicrous at this point, not to mention wasteful.