MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

Which one do I want to install for N9: MeeSpot or the official Spotify client?

What are the main differences? Can they co-exist? Do they share any data or do they use their own cache/data/database files? Does either of them support playback controls in lock screen (ie. when the phone is locked with the power button)?

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

Both can coexist.

MeeSpot App will let you listen to music being streamed live from Spotify using your data connection (be it wiFi, 3G, etc). So you're listening constantly from 'the cloud'.


Spotify on the other hand, on top of letting you do the above, in addition will let you cache your music playlists (read: store in your phone's local storage) so you can keep you collection of songs always with you and listen to them off line, avoiding streaming and thus not using data connection (useful if for example you have a limited data usage plan).


For this off-line feature, you will need to have a "Premium Plan" (10 bucks) instead of the "Unlimited Plan" (5 bucks), HOWEVER, both MeeSpot and Spotify require the Premium Plan in order to work in "mobiles" (cell phones).

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

I think you are wrong: according to webpage MeeSpot also supports offline playlists/playing. So there is no difference in that respect.

Any actual differences? Many users seem to praise MeeSpot.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

regardless, if you do not have a premium acccount for spotify, both are useless on the N9

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

C'mon guys: of course I will pay for the premium account! Why else would I be asking this question. I simply would like to hear about the differences between the two clients. I know the differences between various Spotify plans, thank you.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

You're right, I have checked and MeeSpot also supports offline cache (for some reason, I was under the impression it didn't, maybe on its first releases it didn't?).

So if you are *dying* to satisfy your mind with an explanation of why MeeSpot exists when the official Spotify app is available, the explanation might be rather simple (is just a theory):

MeeSpot was created/available before Spotify.That's it.

As of today (just checked):

Creation date for Spotify official App for N9: 24-Oct-2011 (current version v0.1)

Creation date for MeeSpot App for N9: 20-Oct-2011 (most recent and current version v1.2, so prior releases had to be before such date, and way before Spotify's official app first availability).

Does this help to ease your angst?

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

I even knew that. (That MeeSpot was created because there was no official Spotify client).

Nevertheless, I still would like to know some answers to my original questions so if someone has actually tried both of them, please share your experience. I'll repeat them here so we can concentrate on topic:

1. What are the main differences?
2. Can they co-exist?
3. Do they share any data or do they use their own cache/data/database files?
4. Does either of them support playback controls in lock screen (ie. when the phone is locked with the power button)?

EDIT: Yes, it seems that I should try myself. But I actually have not found my Sennheiser headphones so I have some work to do before I can try the clients :)

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

The official app is not available in the store here in switzerland (the service is since last week). However I don't care because MeeSpot is a pretty slick app. I use it daily (mostly offline) and so far it works great. A few things are still missing though. E.g. library view and support for playlist folders. I guess they're in the making though.

Edit: Spotify is pretty cool btw. I don't have to sync music anymore, just mark the playlists you want offline on your N9 and MeeSpot will make sure those songs are available offline.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

The features are pretty much the same. They both offer offline playlists and last.fm scrobbling.
However, MeeSpot has a "Now Playing" bar always visible at the top of the screen that allows you to see the current song and has playback controls. In addition it has a search functionality in playlists while Spotify doesn't. One could also say that MeeSpot has a more 'MeeGo-ish' style.
On the other and, the official client support local files and has social features (share tracks).

Yes they can.

No, each stores its own settings, cache and offline tracks separately. (It's technically not possible to share it, or at least not when both applications are running at the same time)

None of them supports that since there is currently no public API to do it.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

Thanks for your detailed answer and reading comprehension! I installed MeeSpot and it looks good and works quite well. But, it crashed one time switching the whole phone off. At least I think MeeSpot was the reason. But I have to test more to see if MeeSpot was to blame.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

I totally agree, and I would go as far as to say that the overall UX of MeeSpot feels (to me) a bit smoother... or in other words, Spotify (at least the current version as of this post), feels more clunky IMO.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

Has anyone been able to get the official spotify app to do a wireless local sync? With the Android and webOS versions (and I assume iPhone), when you have spotify running on your computer and phone over the same network they will sync with each other. I can't seem to make this version do that.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

^

Well the meespot app always syncs, but it works through the spotify server of course.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

that doesn't help if you have songs at your pc that don't exist in spotify...

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

New official Spotify client (v. 0.1.18-1) is available in Store!

New features are Spotify Radio, friend browsing and new releases. Artist browsing is much faster too. These changes make this app better than MeeSpot!

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

One huge one, Meespot is actually Open Source:
https://qt.gitorious.org/qt-labs/meespot

Whatever you feel is missing, you can actually add it yourself! :)

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

Spotify is updated to version 0.1.19-1. It's available in Store.

Re: MeeSpot vs. Spotify (official client)
 

MeeSpot has at least one function I haven't found on the official app: it lists an artist's most popular tracks.

The official app might do this as well by listin tracks of an artist in order of popularity, but it doesn't make it evidently clear.

MeeSpot also lists New releases, similar to the PC app, showing the latest (famous) additions of albums and music to the selection on Spotify.

I will try to focus on MeeSpot next as my primary Spotify app, I will post back if I have more comments on the differences between these apps.