I don’t really understand what the author is complaining about. Spotify Wrapped is just a fun thing that shows you your music listening stats. The data is all very obvious and not invasive at all. Is the author arguing that it should be discontinued? Or is he saying it should change in some way?
Agreed. The author seems like a bummer of a person to me.
Collecting data on users is not inherently bad, there are lots of ways that data collection can be used to the user’s benefit.
If course in this day in age that is typically not the case and companies are normally collecting data at the detriment of the user but I really don’t see that with what Wrapped shows.
Plus it’s fun to see little metrics like how many times I listened to a song this year, or see how my listening habits changed as the year went by.
It’s just a fun and cute thing imo.
Heck, there’s a self hosted app out there on GitHub (https://github.com/Yooooomi/your_spotify) that allows people to do this in house and I’d guess more real-time, so there’s a demand for it out there. Spotify knows these things anyhow, they have to in order to calculate payments, so why not make it available.
I actually host this for myself and found out the same results as wrapped gave me between February and October this year.
STOP HAVING FUN! - The author
The music streaming service, that I stream music from, knows which music I streamed. I’m shocked.
The problem is when that streaming service also tells all its company friends what music you streamed, which helps them profile you even more accurately.
I listed to marina and the diamonds and tool. Maybe they could pitch me better headphones? I am actually in the market for new headphones.
Genuinely looking for new headphones?
Wired or wireless?
I kind of love headphones.
I’m also in the market for new headphones! Wireless. I currently have a pair for gaming and a pair for music/travelling. It’s critical the travelling pair have outrageously good sound cancelling. Both must have a mic. Unlimited budget.
Have at thee!
Okay so this provides an interesting set of restraints as they are traveling headphones. I have yet to find what I consider the perfect traveling headphones but there are a couple I have found that come close.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra’s
Bose has some remarkable ANC, after all that is one of the things that really established their name in the market. My main two complaints with the Bose is the sound signature isn’t always the best (IMO) and that the app can be finicky at best bordering on terribly annoying.
The Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra’s are really amazing for the ANC and their sound is improved with their new processor but if you are on an apple device you will miss out on this feature. Only devices with a snap dragon 888 or newer can take advantage.
One of the caveats is that the microphone quality is not the best I had some complaints about call quality when using the Bose.
One pro is that they collapse into a smaller form factor with a slightly better carrying case.
For the Sony XM5 I really preferred the sound signature and styling is just Chefs Kiss. They fold flat enough which makes packing them easy enough even if they aren’t as small as the Bose. I also prefer that the XM5 has a 3.5mm audio jack instead of a 2.5mm on the Bose. It feels more likely to last longer. Also because they are slightly older you can probably find a better deal.
The Sony does a remarkably good job at rejecting background noise when making phone calls and has a much wider band of frequencies captured. The Bose sounds very tiny and scratchy.
The Sony also has a longer battery life which is nice.
I know you said that outrageous good noise cancelling is key but if you are willing to compromise a little on the ANC quality the Focal Bathys have far superior sound.
The frequency curve on the mids to low end is practically flat, it does fall off the tiniest bit on the upper mids and lower highs but for me this means you get a really accurate sound reproduction that isn’t tiring and can be listened to all day long. The soundstage is really wide especially given that they are closed back.
The looks are a bit odd and they are a bit on the larger side. They still fold flat and they have a superior amount of cushion and I think the build quality is better.
Oh if you are a bass head that just wants super punchy powerful bass go for the Sony’s over the Focals. The Focals are more accurate but less present.
Lastly is my currently traveling setup. Its… non-traditional. I am using a pair of Samsung Galaxy Pro 2 buds which really fit my ear well and already have some pretty remarkable ANC. Not nearly Headphone level but still very good. Here is the non-traditional part: if I REALLY need to block out outside noise IE on a construction site or in the shop I wear the buds underneath a pair of passive cancelling earmuffs. Specifically the Peltor X5 Earmuffs.
It’s not stylish but the Earmuffs + Buds + Comply Foam tips feels like you are in a void. Barely have to touch the volume to hear your music as clear as day.
Awesome thanks for the write up! The headphones I’m replacing are XM3 but I’ve had them over 5 years now I think and they’re showing their age (just aesthetically as the cushions are starting to crack, and flaking isn’t far away imo) so I suspect I’ll go for the XM5 as I’ve been really happy with these.
For gaming I think I’ll stick with steelseries (assuming they still have a model that does replaceable batteries) as I always forget to charge stuff so the base station charging the spare has been awesome.
Thanks again!
What are they going to do, black mail me by telling my friends I listen to Taylor Swift occasionally?
Spotify has to collect data on what you listen to to recommend music that’s similar. I’d argue that’s Spotify’s best feature.
My friends and I enjoy sharing our results with each other every year. IMO the problem arises when results are shared with advertisers or without my knowledge.
Yeah, on its own this is a good feature and I don’t have to write my own version based on the GDPR data request.
The second part of the headline is misleading, while true, the author gives just a cursory glance to privacy.
My only issue with Spotify Wrapped is just how inaccurate it ALWAYS is, comparing it to my Last.fm account
i checked my stats.fm top 2023 artists vs wrapped, and i’m seeing the same inaccuracies that you mention. my wrapped artists were:
- Artist A
- Artist B
- Artist C
- Artist D
- Artist E (not on top 5 on stats.fm)
while on stats.fm, it shows:
- Artist A
- Artist D
- Artist B
- Artist F (not on top 5 for wrapped)
- Artist C
- Artist E
i think that spotify is definitely strategic with placing certain artists in certain positions. for example, “Artist F” probably was in top 5 last year as well (and is a successful but less-well-known artist), but went unlisted on wrapped this year and was replaced by Artist C, a global top 200 artist. and it worked - i had not listened to Artist C in a while, and when i saw my wrapped results, i started listening to them again.
Thats interesting. My lastfm and Spotify wrapped are basically identical. Every top song and artist are in the same order.
This year I noticed that it didn’t really reflect my tastes. A couple of the most played songs were songs I don’t actually like, that Spotify keeps playing me in the car. I can’t tell it I don’t like the song while I’m driving, and even if I skip it, the song just reappears the next day.
So my New Year’s music resolution is to rely on generated streaming playlists less and be more deliberate about what I listen to. Evidently I’m spending a lot of time tolerating music I don’t particularly enjoy.
Yeah I spent a lot of time with “daily mix” playlists playing. Half of the songs were ones they kept repeating in those.
I enjoy it. I like seeing what new bands or songs got my attention, the throwback to favorite songs from earlier in the year, and seeing how my tastes change over time. It’s fun.
Between all of the other big tech firms eating as much of my data as they can, I’m not too worried about Spotify sharing that I like Adele.
I like spotify wrapped. I could easily pirate music, but I have premium for music discovery and it’s cool to see what I’ve been listening to this year and compare with previous years.
Spotify is the only service I pay for. Quite happy with it.
And apparently I listen to FAR more John Denver than I ever would have guessed. My teenage punker self would smack me.
I guess if you feed it with your personal taste. My wrapped was all over the place. I only use Spotify in parties and ask everyone what do they want to enjoy.
On the one hand, better you know what they collect about you than not. And as long as you use a streaming service they’re collecting data on you.
On the other hand, streaming services are inherently wasteful and lead to pointless and excessive power usage which contributes to climate change, not to mention the privacy concerns, all of which could have been avoided by reasonably priced buy-once-own-forever media.
