I think they changed the rules recently… If you are on the free service you can only play a song 5 times and then it becomes unavailable until you shell out.

@rattyuk I never heard about the ‘5-listen’ limit before, but as a potential customer who has scoffed at subscription-based music services in the past, I’d be completely fine with that.

As much as I prefer the own-for-life model that iTMS still employs, I still struggle with finding ways to sample albums before buying them.  The recently-expanded iTunes previews are very nice but still not the same as being able to hear an album in its entirity.  Through other services like SiriusXM and Internet radio I can often hear 3 to 5 tracks off a new album and get a pretty good feel for it.  But as long as album prices hover at $10 (and more for the not-so-“deluxe” editions) I rarely shell out for a whole album unless its from a band that I collect. 

I generally pass at ad-based services, but as a supplement to my music-sampling palette - and offering a service that I currently don’t have - I’m looking forward to Spotify coming to the US.

Apple and the RIAA, take note.  If you want to drive album sales, consider adding a feature like this to iTMS.

Does http://grooveshark.com/ not do what you want, Substance?

Seriously. Why are all of these companies (Google, Amazon, Spotify, Facebook, Pandora, presumably Apple as well) so stoked they’ve ‘invented’ FM radio, and in a few of these cases, replete with annoying audio ads? The future looks an awful lot like the past, albeit slightly more personally tailored.

For myself, I think the last time I actually tuned into a ‘streaming’ music service (over the air, just like wifi, and FREE!) was 1988, and the digital revolution has yet to come up with anything that trumps my own collection. I guess this is aimed at more casual listeners. I suspect they’ll eat it up.

Perhaps one of them will change my mind. My abundant use of sarcastic quotation marks was intentional.

@rattyuk Haven’t heard of grooveshark.  Took a look at it on my iPhone and saw that they are in a tiff with Apple over application approval.  No iPhone support is a major bummer for a guy likes me who has a family at home and works for a Windoze-centric company.

I’m sure that Spotify will be great.  In the meantime (and even after Spotify arrives), Grooveshark makes an excellent “play what you want when you want to” alternative.