Social Features
Winner: MOG
Spotify:
A key feature of Spotify is its Facebook/Twitter integration: with this enabled, you can easily share songs, albums, and playlists with any friends/followers who also happen to be Spotify users. You can also share playlists, etc. directly with other members, though I wasn’t able to try this out since I’m the only one I know of who’s hooked up with Spotify. Unlike MOG, Spotify doesn’t let you search the playlists of other users — access to these is invite-only.
MOG:
MOG also lets you easily indulge impulses to share songs, etc. directly on Facebook, and the same thing can be done on Twitter. But plenty of other social stuff also occurs within MOG’s cozy walled confines. You can search other member’s playlists, browse their profiles, which include photos and listening history, and also “follow” members, with any new playlists/posts they add turning up in your “feed.” In some ways it’s like Facebook itself, except in this case completely focused on music.
Device Support
Winner: Tie
Spotify:
Spotify is off to a good running start with its external hardware support. So far, it can be found on the Sonos product line, Logitech Squeezebox products, and Onkyo’s newest series of A/V receivers (via a firmware update).
MOG:
MOG also enjoys a fair amount of external hardware support at present. The Sonos product line and Roku’s suite of media receivers can both tap into it, as can LG’s newest Smart TVs and Blu-ray players.
Audio Quality
Winner: MOG
Spotify:
Spotify gives subscribers to its Premium service the option to stream in 320-kbps high-quality mode to their computers. Its mobile app, meanwhile, maxes out at 160 kbps.
MOG:
MOG’s default quality level for streaming via computer is 320 Kbps. The default level of its mobile app is a paltry 64 kbps, although a 320 kbps high-quality option becomes available when streaming via Wi-Fi (or on 4G network with an Android phone).
Don’t get me wrong — I like Spotify, and I enjoyed using it. I’m sure many other people will, too — especially the free version. But add up those wins in the MOG column and you’ll see that Spotify Premium doesn’t necessarily have anything over the other music services that have staked out a claim in this space. What Spotify does have is an effective hype machine, somehow using its otherness and inaccessibility to seduce the U.S. media into reflexively stating it’s the greatest thing since Wasa bread. Too bad other music services haven’t been able to build that feature into their own apps.
weird - only a month later and I get a fairly complete catalog of Pink Floyd on Spotify...????
@bullmoon - That is weird, when I look at Spotify all I can find is the live album Pulse from 1995. MOG has that plus all of the studio albums.
@Al - There's something else besides European sophistication that Spotify has - a pretty robust free version that let's you try it without a credit card. MOG just recently allowed free 14-day trials through Facebook, but if you go directly to their site, they are still asking for a credit card. And is you don't sign-up after 14 days, you're done.
After hearing about Spotify for years, I tried the free version and liked it so much I bought a paid subscription. Now that I've been able to sample MOG, I may switch, and it's been here all along. Another advantage for MOG is built-in AirPlay streaming with the just-released Mac app.
Good article, thanks.
Thank you. Mog's new Airplay streaming feature is a great add. Yet another reason for me to keep my sub going.
I think this review needs updating already. Also, I dont think the winner is as clear as the writer here makes it seem.
For anyone who has moved over to the new facebook timeline look, spotify is definitely a much better experience than MOG and much more integrated. Also, the sharing on facebook etc. is there in spotify too just the same as MOG. I think spotify has the lead in that category now.
Also, for mobile, you have to put them head to head in a realistic setting, MOBILE not on wifi in your home. In my car streaming, MOG had horrid 64kbit sound quality when compared to 160kbit spotify in my car. 4G network requirement for MOG to have good sound, but 4g isnt anywhere near me along with more than half the country on top of the few people with 4G phones out there..
In the first category, the lack of a radio mode was killing spotify, well that is now part of the app with another system soon to be in place comparable to apples genius.
What I liked most about spotify was how fast the songs start, just a bit faster than MOG on average which matters a lot to me.
As far as mobile devices go, spotify has a much better syncing system built in..
I tried MOG, paid for 2 months and recently went to spotify, I havent looked back yet.
There's something else besides European sophistication that Spotify has - a pretty robust free version that let's you try it without a credit card. MOG just recently allowed free 14-day trials through Facebook, but if you go directly to their site, they are still asking for a credit card. And is you don't sign-up after 14 days, you're done.
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