Canceling my Spotify Subscription

Over the last 4 months I gave the premium subscription of Spotify ($9.99/month) a try to see if it was my legal solution to digesting large amounts of music. I have an extensive library that ranges from ACDC, to X-Rated and a host of mixtape CDs that are not usually in some CDDB database. I truly did enjoy it, finding reasons to listen to old music and experimenting with new artists and genres because I was able to. I really paid for the subscription to listen on my mobile phone (combined with Verizon 4G brings you into streaming Nirvana) but after a frustrating experience with the mobile app, I didn’t believe, at least for me right now, that I should continue paying for my subscription. Under the reasons I chose other and wrote this:

“While I enjoy the premium features of Spotify, I listen to a majority of free music from mixtapes. I occasionally like to try new music and listen to old songs I grew up to, but not a whole lot. With Google Music, I get the primary features I was looking for (uploading personal music to the cloud). Also, the spotify mobile app is not very user friendly in my opinion. There are many useful features but I don’t like the only categorization option available is playlist, and creating a new one with different songs and artist is a pain. I like to have the option of organizing my music by at least artist, album, genre and etc. Being stuck to playlists or my entire library of tracks in no particular order is severely limiting and a headache to navigate. The moment I decided not to listen to anything because I did not feel like navigating the interface was the moment I started to have doubts about the app and service and has unfortunately led me to decision to cancel my subscription. I really enjoyed the service but because of my listening habits and frustrations with the mobile application, I think it is better for me to use the free desktop version for now while I continue to evaluate my needs for an online music service.”

Perhaps I will give a review of the service soon since I have had my cycle of it. Just some background: I am an avid music listener and a notorious downloader using everything from bit torrent to Usenet (yeah I was that serious). After several not so positive interactions with my internet service provider I decided that I needed to give up my downloading ways and find legal alternatives that I was willing to pay for. Prior to Spotify I had a paid subscription with the Zune Pass and some history with Pandora, Grooveshark and Rhapsody, Napster, and Itunes. Overall, I liked the Zune Pass because along with the monthly pass, you got 10 free songs to download and burn. Spotify is a close second because of its simplicity (in the desktop app) and really extensive library and tons of 3rd party support. In the end though, I just want access to my library anywhere without loading 15+ GB to my phone’s memory card. This naturally led me to Spotify and similar services. In the end though, I couldn’t deal with the mobile app and will continue using Google’s Music application which works fine for this purpose.

http://ping.fm/p/exUaG – I like when kids give me cards

Busy Lately?

YES!
So busy that I haven’t had time to write a decent blog post.  So i’m using this bart ride to update you a little bit.
Most of my time has been spent researching idea for a business plan me and a few friends are working on.  It’s been particularly difficult for me having a full time job and all. But, you do what you have to do right?
While waiting for my side view mirror to get replaced the lady and I went to have some excellent Vietnamese coffee and talk a little bit.  Watching the slow drip of the coffee had me thinking about the whirlwind life has been lately.  I wish I had the luxury to take that sort of time with all of my endeavors, but life is not a slow drip glass of coffee.  It’s more like a triple espresso inside a nine year old.
That’s funny to think about…
On a side note,  my fantastic fiance got me tickets to see Jay-Z and Kanye West in San Jose for the Watch The Throne tour!
Remember the tour with Kanye and Lady Gaga?  I purchased tickets for that show just minutes before it was canceled.  I cried…

Free Bike Party in SF now!

I’m here at DZR Shoes at 121 Minna st in San Francisco.  Miles just won a bike race an scored a free pair.  Any one interested in having some free beer and seeing some cool biking apparel should check it out.

Riding in SF, Haight Street Art Event

Did some marathon style riding today in San Francisco.  Met up with some buddies and at 16th st Bart Station and cycled to lower Haight where there was an art walk . It was pretty nice, got to catch some great live music, cheap food and some awesome art work. Ube was there showing a few of his works including that beautiful red cycle pictured above.  Me and a couple of buddies are working with Ube on a customized frame for some lucky person. Check out his work.

While we were there, some representatives from Ideum Apparel were handing out cards for a street race. After a few hours of riding and pressuring Miles to join, we met up at Justin Herman Plaza. One of the contestants turned out to be an old work buddy of mine back from my days in computer retail.

It’s been an awesome day so far, can’t wait to see how the rest unfolds…

Nice Music

Nothing like good music on a Friday.  Caught the end of this exquisite Bart performance on my way home.  Hit the link to see them in action.
To bad I was broke…

4 Way Tug-o-War & YouthWorks Summer Fun

You haven’t had any real fun until you’ve experienced 4 way tug of war. Check out the video on my Youtube channel to see it in action. We got this contraption a few years ago for a retreat with some youth leaders and it was an absolute smash. Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to pull it out again during our end of summer BBQ for our YouthWorks interns.

We also did several other games, like Kick Ball with a large exercise ball. That ended up with Park & Rec staff having to get the ball stuck up about 30 feet in the air. Always fun to get a little loose out in the Sun. Congratulations to the successful interns this year. Time to get ready for another one…  I also got a chance to use the action shot and panoramic features on my phone to get some cool shots. Check out some more pics from our BBQ after the break.