Spotify vs. Last.FM

 Which do you prefer?

Spotify has a massive library and support from lots of major labels.  As a user I am often easily able to find and play music that, firstly, I have had trouble finding elsewhere, and secondly, I have never heard of.

Spotify highlights several albums on the main screen that I have never seen or heard before, and encourages me to listen to music, which I like.  I hate being tied to listening to the same music day in, day out.  That is why I don’t buy albums anymore!

However, the main drawback for me, and this is a big one, is that to use Spotify on my iPod Touch, or my Nokia E71 I have to be a premium subscriber, shelling out £10 (ish) every month.  On the flipside to my praise in the previous paragraph, I don’t listen to enough new music to warrant paying out money for the service. 

Last.FM however is available on my Xbox 360, completely free of charge, and the ad’s are a great deal less intrusive than those on Spotify.

Being able to use the Last.FM service on my Xbox is fantastic, it means I use Sky’s service less and less, I am even considering dropping the music channels from my Sky package thanks to Last.FM on my 360!

However, finding new music to listen to with Last.FM is a chore when compared to Spotify.

Here is how I would like to see the future (given that Last.FM is tied to Xbox, making it unlikely for Spotify to get their fingers in the 360 pie, and that I will not be taking out a Spotify premium account):
Last.FM should apply some of the search functionality of Spotify on the 360, and make available a downloadable client/frontend for the PC to make it a friendlier user experience.  Simple.

By improving the search functions on the 360 client, Last.FM will have me completely at home, therefore the only place I will use Spotify is at work unless they can deliver the client for my desktop, in which case I would likely be persuaded to use Last.FM exclusively on there too!

Last.FM is already available free-of-charge on my iPod Touch, although I will admit, I rarely use it since it requires a network connection to operate.  If I have a network connection then chances are I am somewhere that I am likely to have access to my desktop (well, laptop) and therefore access to Spotify!  Last.FM on the iPhone however, would be indispensable if I owned one (which alas, I do not).

So, Spotify vs... Last.FM?  There is no competition here really, for the moment Spotify is the clear winner, but I hope that with the increased take-up of the Last.FM service on the Xbox 360, Last.FM’s developers will bend a little and offer it’s user base something more to encourage use on other platforms.

I would like:

• Last.FM search functions on 360
• Last.FM client on my PC
• Last.FM client on my Nokia E71 (Symbian)
• A better Last.FM new music recommendation service.

That will do….as for your thoughts?  leave them in the comments!