Listening to music is a daily activity for most of us, and luckily we have various ways to do it. Many online services facilitate our need for music, but with such a variety, we may find ourselves asking which services are better. What follows is a comparison of two of the leading online music services we have to choose from.

Swedish based Spotify has enjoyed a fair amount of popularity for a while now, having been launched in 2008. Though widely available for the most part, Spotify only made it to the US in 2011. Despite having made changes over the years, it has maintained its status as a solid music service. With multi-platform support, mobiles apps and three membership plans, it is fair to say that Spotify is a well-established contender.

Its foe today is the more recently developed Rdio, which was started in 2010. This service comes to us from the founders of Skype; itself a popular service. Initially, Rdio seems to bear similarities to Spotify, but we shall look more closely at the two, and note the differences.

Membership and pricing

Spotify and Rdio both offer a three-tier membership range; they can be used free, for £4.99 a month, or for £9.99 a month, with varying perks. In terms of free usage, Spotify previously offered unlimited music, interrupted now and then by audio adverts, though they have since imposed greater restrictions. Currently, Spotify’s free accounts are subject to 10 hour monthly limits and a 5 play cap on each song. For most music fans, these limitations make Spotify’s free plan unsuitable for daily use. This has forced people to either turn elsewhere for their daily music needs, or commit to one of Spotify’s subscriptions.

For £4.99, all time restrictions and ads are removed, leaving a pure music player. This “Unlimited” plan is geared towards unobstructed listening, without any of the frills that come with Spotify’s steeper subscription. “Premium” is the £9.99 plan, which facilitates a more refined Spotify experience. The most boasted features are the mobile apps and the offline mode, which allows users to sync playlists for listening when an internet connection is not available.

While Spotify provides a desktop client for even its free users, Rdio’s desktop app is only available for subscribers; the free version is used through a web browser. Additionally, there is an unspecified listening limit. In terms of subscriptions, the £4.99 plan permits unlimited listening through a desktop version, and the £9.99 plan opens up mobile and offline modes; essentially the same system Spotify use.

Both services offer a free trial period of unlimited listening, but Rdio’s 1 week seems rather stingy when compared to Spotify’s 6 months. For this reason, I would say that Spotify comes out on top in this round. Rdio and Spotify only really differ in their free plans, in which Spotify offers a more enticing free trial.

Catalogues

A large variety of music is available on both services, and most people should be able to find enough of their favourite music to be content. However, the catalogues do differ slightly, and some notable artists are not represented on either. Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and AC/DC are missing from both services (unless you’re looking for interviews and live tracks). Of course, some bands are present on one and not the other, so your personal music preference will determine the winner here. I found that most of my favourite bands were available on Spotify and Rdio, with only occasional omissions.

In terms of organisation, the catalogues are fairly similar. Artist pages provide full albums and top song listings, as well as related artists. Spotify has a slightly more intuitive layout, as albums are kept separate from singles, EPs and compilations. Rdio, on the other hand, groups all of a band’s releases together. The search function makes songs and artists easy to find in both services, though Rdio displays albums and songs in one list, whereas Spotify displays artists, albums and playlists in a banner at the top, and songs in a list below. Again, I find Spotify’s organisation easier to work with, though this may be subjective.

Functionality

The first thing I noticed when using Rdio was the slow loading time of songs. When trying to listen to a whole album, the distinct silence between each track is enough to be annoying. Spotify is superior in this aspect, with a less noticeable gap between songs, and the option to crossfade tracks by 1 to 12 seconds. That said, Spotify doesn’t have flawless playback, as it tends to fail when trying to play local files. This can be remedied by changing the settings to ignore local files, but nonetheless, it is an evident flaw.

It is worth noting that my experiences with Rdio have been on the browser version, whereas Spotify is a desktop app by default. It may be that the desktop version of Rdio does not have the lag of the browser version. Lag aside, it is nice that Rdio offer a browser version, as Spotify have no such equivalent. Whether music is best listened to through a browser or a desktop client is, again, down to personal preference.

Compatible devices

Spotify is available for Windows and Mac OS X computers, and they also have a preview for Linux. There are also mobile apps for iOS, Android, Symbian, Palm, Blackberry and Windows phones. Rdio supports slightly fewer mobiles, with only iOS, Blackberry, Android and Windows phones listed, though they intend to expand over time. Their desktop client is available for Windows and Mac computers, though the free version has the advantage of being browser-based, and thus unrestricted.

Radio function

Both services have radio functions, for when users want a more varied playlist. On Rdio, there is the option of playing a specific artist’s station, which fills the play queue with tracks from said artist and related artists. This tends to work well, as it provides music the user may not have heard, which is of a familiar style. Rdio also provides a “heavy rotation” station, which provides music based on what the user has been listening to and who they follow.

Spotify also has an artist radio option, which operates on the same lines as Rdio’s, but seems to have a less informed selection. While Rdio’s artist radio provides similar artists, Spotify’s tends to stray quite far from the sound of the selected artist, which makes for less consistent listening. However, Spotify also has genre radio stations, which provide much more appropriate play queues. 24 genres are represented, as well as 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s music. These stations are quite successful in selecting desirable tracks, which may make up for the fact that Spotify’s artist radio feature is not as refined as Rdio’s.

Other functions

Having been running for longer, Spotify naturally has more features. One of these is the ability to add applications. There are a variety of apps, allowing the user to create mood-based playlists, view song lyrics, catch up on new music and more. These are fairly interesting, though ultimately unnecessary. If you find any of the apps useful, they may raise your opinion of Spotify, though Spotify can hold its own as a music player without the addition of apps.

A function that both services have is social networking. This manifests as a sidebar, in which users can view information on what their contacts have been listening to. Spotify displays a ticker, which updates when a contact listens to a song. With Rdio, no real time updates are present, but users can view contacts’ recent activity, playlists, top artists and albums. These options are of course present on Spotify too. In addition to the internal social networking, both services can connect to Facebook and there is the option to have music appear in the Facebook ticker.

Summary

For the most part, Spotify seems to be the better service – in my opinion at least. In most of the categories, Spotify was preferable to Rdio, though only marginally. Given that Spotify has been running for twice as long as Rdio, it is understandable that it is more advanced, though the gap is smaller than I would have predicted. Overall, Rdio is a competent music service, and Spotify has had time to refine its approach. Neither are completely without flaws, but both are capable music players. My personal favourite is Spotify, as it did seem to outperform Rdio in most areas, but again, the difference is only marginal, and it is worth sampling both to determine which you prefer.

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For software to fully achieve the goal of efficiency and user satisfaction, it is vital for the developers to pay close attention to each and every stage of the process of developing the software. It is essential for the developers to keep in mind the design as well as the usability. They must keep in mind that the complicated process of coding is just as important as the design of the software.

For years people have debated whether free software is as satisfying as the software made by significant companies such as Microsoft, etc. Although the idea of free software is very attractive and most of us would probably fall for it instead of paying hundreds of bucks for a fancy one made by Microsoft, but in reality, the phenomenon of free software comes with a lot of problems and there are certain measures that must be taken in order for it to compete successfully without compromising on usability and user satisfaction.

Following are some of the problems regarding free software usability and their proposed solutions:

Lack of strong incentives for the software makers

Most of the software developed for free usage is made by ‘volunteers’ who contribute to manufacturing of the software at various levels. They are volunteer coders and designers and their wages normally do not depend on the sales of the product, since they are not full time employees, unlike the employees of Microsoft or other software manufacturing companies.

In the proprietary software industry the success of the company and the well being of its employees both depend upon user satisfaction and usability efficiency. They make much more money by making products which are high in demand and hence pay attention to user satisfaction. On the other hand, the free software makers lack this incentive and pay little attention to improving usability. The number of users merely affects the financial well being of the developers of free software. Moreover, it is almost impossible to count the exact number of users of free software since it is freely redistributable.

Solution: In order to enhance usability; which is one of the major factors while designing software, it is necessary to trigger motivation among the software developers of the open source software industry. It is very important to give stronger incentives to the employees of open source software developers by giving them certain awards promoting insightful and creative work. A system of estimation of the number of users of particular software should be established in order to help the developers have an idea of user satisfaction and the statistics should be used as an incentive to increase usability.

Lack of attention to the Designing stage

It is a common notion that the most important part of software is its efficiency which in turn depends on the coding and hence, coding is regarded as the most important stage of software development and more attention is paid to the coding process by the open source software developers. However, it is a known fact that the coding process is only as important as the designing of the software and sometimes the significance of the design stage surpasses the significance of the coding process.

Let us look at it this way, the designers are the architects of the software and have the same role as any architect, which is to introduce creativity through their work and make designs which are not only efficient but also comforting and innovative. The coders are the labor force that is responsible for putting the architect’s ideas and vision into action by giving them a physical form. Just like in the building process the presence of a well rounded architect is vital to construct a well rounded building that not only provides shelter but is also a display of innovation, enhancing the satisfaction of the people living in it; the same is metaphorically true for the designers of software.

Solution: Although a lot of attention is paid to the designing process by big software industries such as Microsoft, however there is a visible lack of this in the free software industry and this directly affects the quality of the product and user satisfaction. In order to overcome this problem, developers should pay more attention to the design of their product by hiring more well qualified designers.

Unavailability of volunteer designers

The discussion on the lack of attention by developers to the design of their product brings us to the major reason behind it, which is the unavailability of the volunteer designers in the market. Although, there is a large number of “volunteer coders”, however, there is a major lack of volunteer designers and their unavailability causes a significant lack of creativity and innovation in open source products.

A musician might be a good composer as well but there is a very rare chance of that and most of the time a good musician and a good composer work together to make music that is worth listening to. Similarly, there are only a few coders who are also good designers, but that is very rare because programming and human interface design is very special skills that each requires separate training and a different mindset.

Solution: Free software industry should provide their programmers and designers with highly accessible and up to date training in order to increase the level of design competence. The volunteer designers should be given more incentives, and open source projects should have lead human interface designers as well as lead programmers in order to enhance the quality of their product and user satisfaction.

Design suggestions are not welcomed in projects

It is much easier and common for programmers to respond to the bug reports but the feedback or suggestions on the design are often unwelcome and uninvited in the industry. This is also one of the major reasons for a lack of volunteer designers in the market.

Solution: This problem can be solved by publishing the design specifications on the website and by having the volunteer designer respond to all the queries or suggestions regarding the design on the product via mailing lists, weblog or wikis etc. Also, by setting up an editable issue tracker, instead of an append-only bug tracker, the design suggestions could be more easily catered to.

Usability is difficult to measure

For the software products it is almost impossible to quantify and measure usability, because usability depends on a lot of factors and varies from person to person.

It may be possible to measure the speed at which a software responds to commands or the time it takes to launch or save data or exit. But, the much more complicated qualities such as how many users are able to operate it efficiently or how satisfying it is as compared to the other similar software available in the market or whether or not the software performs up to people’s expectations, are very difficult to measure.

An important tool to measure usability by the software developers is to test the product in user tests, by having a small group of people use the software and then give their feedback which can provide important information about user reaction to the particular software even before it is launched, and changes and improvements can be easily made based on the suggestions and feedback received.

However, free software developers do not have enough time or resources to carry out user tests and they normally ignore this very important stage before the launch of the software.

Solution: Free software developers should pay more attention to the user tests and should encourage the volunteer designers and programmers to respond efficiently to the results of the user tests in order to make their products more efficient. They should also develop and promote other software such as screen capture and video recording which would help run the user tests more proficiently.

Coding before design

It is a common culture among free software developers to pay more attention to the coding process, and hence coding is almost always done before the design is made. The human interface design is a complicated process and needs special attention while making a software, but since coding is given more importance, the programmers conveniently code before the designer gets to work, and later a lot of the suggestions and innovation introduced by the designer goes to waste.

The algorithms and various other features such as the formatting is largely altered by different designs and since designing is done after the coding, it becomes difficult for the programmers to efficiently incorporate the designs developed by the volunteer designers, and they conveniently choose to ignore their suggestions since the most important task of “coding” has already been done! All this leads to chaos and a design mess in the software being developed.

Solution: Free software Developers should establish a culture of design first and code second in order to make their products more competitive and up to date, and the designers and programmers should be paired up to work together as a team.

Too many people working on one thing

Most of the time in free software projects, there is a lack of completive designers and hence a lot of people entitle themselves to giving suggestions on the design on the product as self proclaimed designers. The programmers also sometimes consider their opinions on the overall design as being more important than the opinions and suggestions of the designers.

Solution: Free software projects should have a lead human interface designer who leads the group and incorporates different suggestions into the overall design of the software by keeping in mind the product requirement and ignoring those ideas which are not appropriate for that particular software.

Copying the industry leaders

A lot of times free software developers are unsure of their designs and find it easier and much safer to just copy and follow what Microsoft or other big developers are doing. Sometimes these designs are extraordinary and it is a good idea to follow what is already popular among the users and is largely accepted, but, a lot times there is room for improvement, but the lack of confidence on the part of free software developers leads to repetitive designs and lack of innovation.

Solution: Free software developers should trust their human interface designers and programmers, and encourage them to make innovative software based on user tests and feedback.

Complicated Software

Free software developers mostly develop software based on their own requirement and their definition of “good software”, and as a result, design software that is very complicated and “geeky”. They sometimes overlook the fact that most of their customers are not able to comprehend complicated designs and features and get confused. Many non-technical features such as parental control are largely overlooked and the result is overly complicated software which is not satisfying to the common user’s needs.

Solution: Free software developers should focus more on their customer needs and while developing the software, and should always make sure that the software is simple and easy to use without any unnecessary complications.

Paying close attention to the minor details

It is very important for free software developers to pay close attention to the minute details of their software such as the window size modification, or the progress bar etc. However, these details are often neglected by the designers and the programmers and give a very negative impression of the software’s quality. As already discussed, the lack of adequate responsiveness to the design complaints by free software developers allows such minor defects to go unnoticed.

Solution: Free software developers should make sure that the interface designers and programmers pay close attention to the design flaws as well as the feedback received from customers.

Placating people

In a lot of software projects, involving multiple contributors, there may be dispute and a difference of opinion among the various contributors. Most of the time they resume work but in case of a Free Software with volunteers it is more than likely that the project maintainer will agree to placate a contributor. This results in confusion and mismanagement.

Solution: Free software developers should promote a strong culture of simplicity and must have a project maintainer responsible for aligning different processes of the project efficiently, catering to everyone’s feedback and having authority to implement only those ideas which are in line with the project.

A “Tool Bar” of Fame

A lot of times the software designers expect appreciation for their work, and sometimes demand that their innovative addition to the software must be displayed separately in the software, so that their work doesn’t go unnoticed. This, however, leads to unnecessary detailing and the presence of some impractical menu items.

Solution: Free software developers should appreciate the software designers by offering them incentives/awards, and web publicity via weblog etc. They must never stop asking themselves, “Do we really need this?”

 “Release Early, release often”

A common practice by free software developers is the policy of “release early, release often”. This often leads to a hassled release, and as a result, the quality and the design are often compromised. The user’s expectations are generally not met and it leads to negative customer reaction and a fall in the product reliability.

Solution: The process of release should be given proper attention by free software developers, and quality and innovation must never be compromised.

Coordinating Cross Component features

All the functions performed on a computer require coordination among various programs. For example, if you want to print this article, this simple function requires not just your web browser, but the layout engine, the windows manager, an interface toolkit, a printer driver and several other programs to work together in harmony, to perform the simple task of printing this article.

This shows the importance of coordination among the various programs, but in the case of Free Software developers, unlike their proprietary competitors, the teams do not work together and their release cycles often fail to coordinate.

Solution: Free software developers should make sure that their employees coordinate their projects in order for them to be released together to ensure product efficiency.

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The Queenstown Winter Festival is Queenstown’s premiere event covering 10 days of fun-filled events. Started the 38 years ago, the festival has evolved into New Zealand’s biggest winter party, and with only a month to go the organising and planning is in full swing. This year’s festival runs from June 22 to July 1.

This year’s event is missing two of the festival’s hallmark events with the Masquerade Ball and Jazz Night left off the programme, but the highly-anticipated ‘Mountain Scene Prenents… Thriller in the Chiller’ community boxing event has been promoted to a Saturday night spot (June 30) and the festival organisers scored a coup with New Zealand’s favourite comedy duo, Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords, performing at the Queenstown Events Centre on Sunday, June 24.

The festival kicks off on Friday afternoon/evening with the American Express Opening Party & Fireworks. Revellers descend on Earnslaw Park from 5:30pm to drink mulled wine, eat street food, and rock out to sounds from local singers and entertainers. Fireworks above the lake in Queenstown Bay are scheduled for 7pm.

It’s an event not to be missed, get into it!

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So, for the last few months I’ve been working on a flight finding app called Flight Finder. Flight Finder finds cheap flights by monitoring multiple airlines and matching the cheapest fares from each airline up with each other to suggest the cheapest options across a number of routes.

The website focuses on New Zealand and Australian routes and only monitors pre-selected routes. Let me know if a route you’re after isn’t on there and I can add it.

And here is another interesting article on grab a seat.

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Use the following code to recursively remove the .svn files from your project:

find ./ -name ".svn" | xargs rm -Rf

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Honestly, Queenstown has to be one of the best places in the world to live in, it’s definitely the best place in New Zealand to call home. I was lured here 5 years ago to work as a web developer, and whilst most people wouldn’t think of Queenstown as being a mecca for web development, we all know that you can build websites from anywhere in the world, so why not in one of the most amazing places?

Home to a relatively small resident population of 18,000, Queenstown hustles and bustles like a small city with its popularity amongst tourists – over 1.8 million of them per year! Queenstown is famous for being the ‘adventure capital of the world,’ being home to the world’s first commercial bungy operation (and a few others), numerous jet boating operations and everything from swings to zip lines and snowboarding and skiing!

Queenstown is busiest and most amazing during summer and winter. Situated in Central Otago, Summer days are long, dry and hot with daylight extending out to 11pm. Popular summer activities include mountain biking and watersports on Lake Wakatipu. Winters in Queenstown see the town transform into a mountain resort with mountain biking and outdoor shops transforming into ski and snow shops. With easy access to ski mountains, Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Cardrona, Queenstown’s the ideal place to situate yourself (and myself) to take advantage of the snow. An annual party, the Queenstown Winter Festival, sees the winter in with style at the end of each June, with events spanning 10 days of action and partying. The shoulder seasons are spring and autumn and the town’s visitors dwindle. Not the best time to visit but you’ll find deals aplenty.

Planning a visit? Give me a shout and say hi. And if you’re looking for somewhere to stay, check out my Mum’s Queenstown holiday homes website.

Living and working in Queenstown is a dream. Never before have I had an office in the middle of town with such easy access to snowy mountains. It’s just 30 minutes drive to the top of Coronet Peak so we regularly get an hour or two of snowboarding in before work. Whilst I make websites, there are plenty of job opportunities, especially in the tourism and hospitality industries. And if you’re interested in living in Queenstown and you’re a rockstar developer – get in touch, we’re always looking for talented geeks.

Don’t know much about Queenstown? You’ve probably seen it on the big screen before, the area having featured in movies such as The Lord of the Rings, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.

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