I still vividly remember receiving a Spotify beta invite in my college email inbox, even though it’s been well over a decade since. That day changed how I consumed music forever, or so I thought. Painstakingly ripping and syncing tunes between my PC and iPod/phone became a thing of the past, and the number of artists in my collection ballooned. But times have changed once again, and today’s overabundance of music has made streaming less, not more, valuable to me.
For a start, the early days of Spotify had very few ads, and even those were super short by today’s standards. Sticking to the free options was totally viable, especially for a cash-strapped student. But music streaming isn’t so cheap these days, as Spotify has driven users (including myself) onto plans that are increasingly less good value for money, at least in this user’s opinion.