Deezer vs.

Spotify: a side-by-side
comparison
Dec 2, 2013

Vote on Hacker News

Liam Boogar
Contact author

Im a pretty ardent believer in the idea that it is better to use the best
products than local products. I rarely give favor to local versions of products
that I use, when I feel they are me-toos I use Eventbrite, and not
Weezevent or Amiando, I use LinkedIn and not Viadeo and this became
particularly evident as I began visiting Deezer more frequently this year.

Habitually running into founder Daniel Marhely, I never lied Im a premium

Spotify user, and I dont plan on changing. but earlier this year,
when Deezer announced a re-vamp of their newsfeed (dubbed Hear This) as
well as some impressive subscriber numbers, I realized that I didnt have a
reason why I didnt use Deezer that didnt date back to my 2010 experiences
with the service.

Switching & Comparing

In early November I set out to switch from Spotify to Deezer, but first I had to
define a set of criteria on which I could compare the two services. I took the
time to think about my personal habits, likes/dislikes, and needs when it
came to music (and specifically, Spotify), and I decided to look at 5 key areas
that could be isolated and assessed: Product Design, Music Discovery,
the Mobile experience, the Offline experience and the App
Store. These five areas corresponded well to how I experience music today,
and while I wasnt going to give specific weight to any of them, they gave me
a basis to judge the two services.
I had thought about trying Rdio and other services; however, when Rdio
announced in November that they were laying off 30+ employees, I realized
that this three-horse race had just become a two-horse race, and decided to
just try Deezer vs. Spotify.

Nota bene: its easy to switch & the musics not all the same

There were two

assumptions that I had initially made and planned on assessing, that turned
out to be wrong. The first was that switching services would be hard, which
was busted quickly when one Deezer user introduced me to Spotizr, a service
that pulls your Spotify playlists into Deezer (there is a similar
service, UsesSpotify.com that allows you to do the same thing). Any network
effect that one service (or its users) claims to have over the other are
essentially null.
The second assumption that was proven wrong was that the catalogs of the
two services are identical my realization of this came when I carried my
Chill Out Spotify playlist over to Deezer, and upon listening found that not
all songs had been carried over (specifically, Obadiah Parkers bombtastic
acoustic cover of Hey Ya available here in Spotify, is nowhere to be found
on Deezer). Spotifys press page claims that they have over 20 million tracks
licensed, while Deezers november announcement included a mention of 30
Million licensed songs; there is clearly a large gap in music provided by the
two services, yet no real way to know what youre missing out on.
Deezer is available in 150 countries more than Spotify (180 vs 32), meaning
that much of their 10 Million tracks may be local artists; however, Deezer
isnt available in the US, so artists only available in the US wouldnt be
available on Deezer. Also, as tracks are licensed on a country-by-country
basis, its difficult to tell how many tracks a user in any given country has for
each service.

Product Design adjusting expectations

I knew going into Deezer that I was going to have to adjust to the difference
in design; however, I likened this to the switch between iOS and Android. No
one ever likes a new haircut, so I was determined to not let this get in my
way. On Spotify, I had been using the iOS app on my iPhone 4S and the
Desktop app on my Asus Zenbook; having rarely used Spotifys web interface,
I was a bit stunned that Deezer didnt have a desktop app (equally stunned
that Spotify had a web interface, which is awful compared to the Desktop
app).
I know the tendency is to say that the future of apps is the web, but HTML5
has a huge hole when it comes to offline mode.
What really let me down about Deezers web app was the little things: for
example, using the scroll feature on my touchpad would make songs start
and stop, and using the left and right arrows would make the song skip
forward and backwards the limitations of web browsers make it such, for me
at least, that the hotkeys on desktop apps are ultimately better attuned to
the users needs, and not to restrictions around use of ctrl and alt.
I moved beyond this, though it took me a bit of time not having a desktop
app really was a minus for me. In the product design department, Spotify
certainly took the cake not only because its pretty, but because I feel more
comfortable using it, even when it comes to music discovery.

Music Discovery getting out of the echo chamber

Music discovery is a huge part of the listening experience I used Pandora
exclusively for years because of their ability to pull out what I called Pandora
bands bands you wouldnt have otherwise discovered if it werent for your
obscure radio station that mixed Audioslave, The Shins & DMX. On Spotify, I
had been slowly building my aforementioned Chill Out playlist to be the
perfect background music while you work playlist. In order to grow that
playlist, I would use Spotifys make a radio station out of your playlist
feature, which admittedly lacked in the discovery aspect after about 50
songs, but was still the most common way I used Spotify.
The Playlist>Radio Station feature doesnt exist on Deezer a point which
initially made me go back to Spotify for half a day during my Deezer trial
when I didnt have time to figure out how to hit play and work. You can only

create radio stations from artists (understandable), and you have to go to the
artist page in order to launch the radio (not reasonable).
Deezer ultimately positions its discovery element around its new Hear This
feed, and I wasnt going to pout for two weeks about the features it didnt
have that I was used to, so I began regularly going to the home page to see
what it proposed. Initially it was middle-of-the-line music The Jimi Hendrix
Experience, some Pop music, etc. all curated by Deezer employees;
however, at some point it recommended me The Strokes, and I ended up
listening to the whole album. After that, the Hear This feed got a bit more
interesting it still had some misses, but I genuinely felt like my choices were
being taken into account.
Today, for example, the home page showed a new single by the Nine Black
Alps, which happens to be one of my aforementioned Pandora bands. The
suggestions continue Less Than Jake, Better Than Ezra, a 90s radio station,
Deftones, some are a bit outside of my current tastes (Sugar Ray), but
they all actually hit pretty close to that I wouldnt have thought to listen to
them, but, yeah, I could go for that right now.
Discovery algorithms are always a question of time you cant expect a
company to know your tastes from day one, but you have to jump on
opportunities to give them data they can use (i.e: listen to recommendations
when you like them). While both companies claim to have complex
algorithms to push recommendations, Spotify feels to me like it plays it a bit
too close to home, quickly putting you in a box of of liking this type of music
; Deezer is willing to take a risk when it comes to discovery, and so Ive got to
give it to them for their discovery element.

Mobile & Offline

Heres a puzzle for you: when the only time you listen to music on your
mobile is when youre underground (in the metro), how are you ever
supposed to use the offline feature of a music service? 10 days into my trial
with Deezer, I had downloaded the mobile app, but I had never used it: every
time I went to do so, I couldnt get network to download my music, and
Spotifys app, which mustve downloaded my playlists one day when I came
home and connected to wifi, kept bidding me to come back to comfort.
Getting beyond that frustration, Deezers recent updates to its mobile app
have taken it from a clunky app with too many buttons to one that matches

its web experience image centric and all about the feed and actually has
come up with an app that has something to offer beyond being a music
player.

Spotifys mobile experience is

faithful to its desktop app: the focus is around the player you can
seamlessly listen to artists, playlists, radios of either, whatever you want
while Deezer mobile app pushes, again, to the discovery aspect.
Remember my homepage on the web experience? Those same
recommendations appear on my mobile app. Deezers player is now also on
the bottom, like Spotifys iOS app, but I find that Deezers album search and
explore section works even better on mobile than on the web.
Deezers app has only been updated in the past week, and it honestly makes
a huge difference, as the developer notes for the update puts it.

As I prefer discovery to comfortable listening, Im going to have to give it to

Deezer for Mobile; however, the lack of a desktop app on Windows is painful
for me, and so Im going to give it to Spotify for Offline listening.

The App Store

Calling either Deezer or Spotify a platform today would be a bit much both
have their own app stores, which share about 80% of the apps, but it doesnt
feel like a core feature (or utility) for users. There are cool apps like Seevl that
are on Deezer and not Spotify, as well as Tunigo, available only on Spotify
(acquired by Spotify earlier this year) yet most of the apps seem to be
attempts at self-promotion. I wont blame either of the services for Pitchfork
magazines lack of creativity with its app, but it is evidence that the app
ecosystem just isnt there mostly coming down to the fact that both
services have signed contracts with labels, making it illegal for app
developers to make money on the music in their apps.
If either Deezer or Spotify were to enable app developers to make money by
incorporating music into their apps, two things would happen:
1.

2.

You would have a sudden influx of apps incorporating music in creative

ways, often for free with ads but sometimes paid
Music Labels would officially serve zero purpose.

Labels today are distributors thats what they promise, thats what they
offer, and thats why they take the lions share of artists money however, if
Deezer & Spotify create an ecosystem where developers can monetize music
incorporated into their apps, then suddently the music platforms take over
the distribution role. This is why the music services have live music sessions
like Deezer Sessions because its royalty-free music is the first step towards
creating a label behind the music service.
As for now, I have been more impressed with Deezers integration into 3rd
party apps eDJing, Soundrop, Seevl, and others and they seem to make a
larger push to developers than Spotify does. Spotifys attitude so far has been
to acquire or invest in any remotely successful Spotify app, which is good for
those developers, but bad for creating a 3rd party ecosystem.

Ultimately, Deezers integration with apps (the ability to open 3rd party apps
via the mobile site and be redirected to their native app, for example) gives
them a bit of a boost, and so Ill give the App Store score to Deezer

Drawing Conclusions Which Service To Use.

Despite having an open mind about this trial, I went into it expecting to be
disappointed in my confirmation that Spotify was a better product all around
than Deezer; the reality is that, due to their recent Hear This update, I was
convinced to switch to Deezer and Ill be wrapping up my Spotify premium
account in the next week or so and switching over.
I dont think everyone should switch, but I think that for what I want out of a
music service, Deezer is good where it counts. Im going to keep bugging the
team about making it so that I can convert playlists into radio stations;
however, Ive gotten used to pulling an artist out my playlists and making it
into a radio station, and I think that Deezer does discovery well, whereas I felt
like I was getting stuck in a loop with Spotify.
Follow

Rude Baguette

@RudeBaguette
Deezer
vs. Spotify: a side-by-side comparison http://wp.me/p2OgMk5CP by @LiamBoogar
8:14 PM - 27 Mar 2014

Deezer vs. Spotify: a side-by-side comparison

I'm a pretty ardent believer in the idea that it is better to use
rudebaguette.com

1212 Retweets

77 likes

Who knows? Maybe Ill be back at the drawing boards in six months, but for
now, I find myself happy using Deezers mobile app (still waiting on the

Desktop app, but who needs Desktop anyway?), and their Hear This feed
really seems to be more than an image-centric redesign.
Do yourself a favor, and dont assume that all services are the same: if youre
using Deezer, try out Spotify, and likewise for Spotify users. You may find that
one matches your music listening preferences better than the other.

inShare36

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Misplaced_OneFebruary 8, 2016
As an expat, I loath the fact that as you rightly state,
tracks are licensed on a country-by-country basis
so even though I can look at the CD on my shelf, I cannot always listen to it when on
the road. At least Deezer makes it easy for me to upload them.
I was a heavy user of Pandora before they chose to withdraw from the UK.
Now a days, while there are still bits I miss, Deezer is my go to music service, I even
spent a day or two teaching it my music tastes.
Now we just need it to roll out the family licensing as they have in France so that my wife
doesnt keep adding Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift to my music listening playlists!

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allegoricaliSeptember 6, 2015

I like Deezer because Taylor Swift tracks are there. Not sure why Taylor has no issue with
Deezer when its practically the same as Spotify. I am left to assume that the payment
schemes different, which makes me think Deezer could be a better app (at least to its
musicians).

25.

rompelstompelAugust 10, 2015

You offer a side-by-side comparison, but I dont see it.

26.

RobAugust 4, 2015
Why does Deezer keep shutting down on my desktop. Please help.
The reason I mainly converting to Deezer is I cannot add the first song to Spotify queue,
most annoying.

27.

joe blogsAugust 1, 2015

i am trying out deezer just now after using spot for a good while. i cant seem to add
tracks to my q?? when i select a tune the option is just not there? the UI on S is much
better than D altho the volume output through my good headphones is better on D than
on S although S is better quality. i find it hard to believe the D is streaming at 320kbps.(of
course set on the highest quality on both) On both i cant rearrange my playlist or my Q
which is annoying but not a buzzkill. i tried to download the windows 8 app from the store
and it will plain just refuse to install which is another bad thing. the first time i opened
deezer it just wouldnt load even low it was over 4g and S was working fine as per usual. i
am still on my 15 day trial and will certainly give it is chance. it gets a big bonus for louder
output but its quality is lacking and once i get a headphone amp that win will go!

28.

kismetzaJuly 17, 2015

Like Apple, Netflix, Pepsi, etc., those that couldnt have been bothered to enter the South
African market for so many years make going with those who had no such qualms a nobrainer. Deezer all the way and so far no complaints

29.

BrechtJuly 11, 2015

The flow function on Deezer is simply magnificent! Made me discover so many good
bands, crazy how they know what you will like + this function is free (but i have a
premium account)

LuizJuly 13, 2015

If you like the flow feature, also try http://www.mentor.fm, it streams from Deezer but it
works much better than flow.

30.

KeJune 25, 2015

So why cant I use my Criket account to play Deezer music on my desktop? If Im already
paying for a premium subscription I think I should be able to play Deezer on any OS
IJS.

31.

F-MinusMay 14, 2015

Deezer is missing so much material from artists that they actually have on there its not
even funny, also some artists are duplicated or listed under different names, for examples
bands that start with the and band name is duplicated under band name and the
band name, worse sometimes the albums and stuff is split between those two.
From what I get its a huge mess, like my library was 12 years ago, before I started
organizing.

32.

Vincent PROT (@cequejevois)April 23, 2015

Deezer limit to 1000 album to add to your favorites, is it the same thing in spotify ?

Vincent PROT (@cequejevois)April 23, 2015

for information, Im not talking about playlist limitation

33.

MarieMarch 26, 2015

I do not like the Deezer desktop interface.
But their HEAR THIS is awesome. It makes me listen again to bands I had forgetten
years ago (some I didnt even remember the name then MAGIC!)
On Spotify you end up listening to the very same over and over.
Also in my country (Mexico) Deezer has more bands (The Cure, The Beatles) than Spoty

MarieMarch 26, 2015

Do I have to say that it took Deezer like acouple hours of use (it reads your facebook
likes too) to know my taste on psychedelic music while Spotify is always suggesting me
to listen to cheap (really cheap) pop

34.

WillFebruary 23, 2015

Deezer is driving me crazy, no parental controls and no real way to tell it never to play a
song I dont like again.
Cant use flow or radio channel anywhere my kids might be because of the deluge of
explicit tracks they would be subjected to.

BrechtJuly 11, 2015

PARENTAL CONTROLS???? really serious now??? common? Why would music need
parental control?

BrechtJuly 11, 2015

Ive been listening to the most brutal metal since I was 13 years old. Now 20 years later I
still listen to it. Not in black clothes with army boots anymore. Im a teacher for disabled
youngsters and I have two sweet daughters. Dont be to paranoia Will You wont fail in
life because you hear explicit tracks.

DanOctober 19, 2015

9 and 11 year old were just caught off guard by the repeated use of nigger nigger nigger
nigger nigger in last song on Deezer *work out* mix.
Reckon parental controls would be handy.

abcSeptember 2, 2015
Not sure how far you got into listening to explicit content songs in deezer Brecht, but it
can get pretty nasty, there are quite a few explicit adult themes.

Matty VasquezMarch 30, 2015

Spotify has neither of these features I absolutely hate certain artists and genres which
Spotify keeps suggesting on the newsfeed and radio

LukasMarch 11, 2015

If u touch the bottun with a hearth and a stroke over it, it wont ever play that song again

35.

Gene SeniorJanuary 29, 2015

Great article. I have found myself using both services to be honest. I love the Flow button
in Deezer and now that I have realized I can import my playlists Deezer might get a
bump up

Im in Canada fwiw so I find the availability of music to be about the same between the
two services which I use at work and at home with my Squeezebox wireless network.

36.

FlavioJanuary 18, 2015

Well, its over an year from the date of this post, but since I am also evaluating
differences among streaming services I thought to add a couple of points to the already
good article.
Personal music: I can import the music I have on my desktop into my Spotify and listen
to it, useful
especially when that music is not available, but that works only on desktop and not on
mobile; Deezer on the other hand let me upload my music and makes it available also on
mobile, even offline. 1 more point for Deezer!
Discovery: Spotify has plenty of playlists made by other users or by partners (Billboard
charts, Twitter playlists, ) and I havent yet found anything similar on Deezer.
Right now I feel more oriented towards Deezer, but more players could be considered.
Did you make a similar comparison with Google Play All Access + YouTube Music Key?
And how about Rhapsody/Napster (which is offered with some mobile plan by an Italian
carrier)?

Kaspars KursisJuly 27, 2015

You can actually upload your own tracks if you fancy to! I think its both desktop and OSX
app feature.

37.

Larry McJunkinJanuary 5, 2015

When will Deezer be available in the US? Their website always says Deezer is coming
soonsignup now.

38.

Nick WoolleyJanuary 4, 2015

One thing I hate about Deezer is that is changes the sorting for albums and artists back
to newly added every fucking time. I want it A-Z.

39.

GranDTDecember 29, 2014

Deezers desktop app is working fine

40.

WallyDecember 20, 2014

Like Rohan, when I click on an artist I would like to hear that artist and not similar artists /
types. Does anyone know how I can listen to all the tracks of one artist on one album
rather than one track, someone different and then back to my chosen artist? I could do
this on Spotify. Simple concept!!

41.

rohanNovember 24, 2014

I bought a sonos and got deezer free for a year so Im using the artist radio stations,
which Ive found are essentially playlists made by . what i really want from these artist
radio stations is just to hear the artist i have chosen, or at least mostly them. If I choose
tom waits radio, I get one tom waits song, then loads of other artists i dont particularly
like. how do I just get tom waits songs, of which there are literally hundreds.

42.

Gerard MarcianoNovember 19, 2014

You guys might want to get a Sonos Connect and use Sonos radio. Hundreds of real
radio stations, commercial free, that suit infinite tastes. All manner of ways to set up
playlistsI got tired of a computer or computer geeks putting together what I had access
to. This is real people doing commercial free radio from everywhere offering all kinds of
music. Extraordinary college radio (WFUV) and the amazing Folk Alleyonce you begin
exploring, you find just the right stations for your taste and you can put them in a list of
favorites. Changed everything for me. Good luck!

43.

Gabriel GoldzweigSeptember 6, 2014

Ive just switched from spotify to deezer, but I think that I already regret my decision. Its
not the same library. I have imported lots of playlists from spotify but some songs are
missing on Deezer.
Ill use it for a month, cause I already paid for a subscription, but when it expires, Ill go
back to Spotify.
Spotify is much easier to find new songs. They dont have a Country section in Deezer,
thats absurd.

SeanMarch 28, 2015

That might be perfect
Just like Paper, Scissors, Rock
Rock always wins

44.

Capt. FrancisSeptember 5, 2014

Ive been a solid Spotify user ever since I embraced more to music streaming than
purchasing songs/albums. When Deezer was introduced in our country (due to a recent
agreement with a local company in PH) I tried Deezer. I was so surprised that Deezer
allows me to listen to almost all local music compared to a very limited selections in
Spotify.
After a week, my transition to Deezer was complete. Although Spotify really has a good
looks when it comes to appearance and such, Deezer experience is better than that of
my Spotify days.

Luisa Elago (@luisaelago)September 6, 2014

Were you able to connect your mobile? My only problem right now is that it doesnt
connect with my smart postpaid account. Gah, fail.

45.

hengAugust 1, 2014
Deezer imo is complete junk, the newly introduced flow basically regurgitate your
listening history. Their radio stations also do not refresh their playlist, so basically playing
the same songs from a month ago. Their hear this feature? They seem to never fit me at
all, and I find myself hitting the next button more often. Their chart seems to be based on
locality and is filled with Malay songs when accessed from where I reside. Their explore
feature? I dont know what makes them think Im interested in other countrys popular

songs in languages I dont comprehend. The sub par quality app on windows phone is
the nail in the coffin for me. Spotify instead is breathe of fresh air. Their plethora of
playlist selection ensures it will fit anyones taste anytime and I can finally concentrate on
my work than getting fed up with poor song selections.

EugenioAugust 8, 2014
For a personalized radio station feature I advise you to also try Mentor.FM, which takes
into account your deezer history, your last.fm history and your Facebook account.

46.

Dickie DannJuly 4, 2014

Hi Liam
6 months on .. are you still happy you switched?

47.

RogerJune 13, 2014

The one issue I have with both deezer and spotify is you pay a monthly premium
download tracks but they are not yours!
As soon as you stop paying a month later they are not available off line, I believe once
you have paid, the music should be yours.

AxelSeptember 29, 2014

The offline modus provided by deezer and spotify is only valid for some time. That is part
of their license. You could on the other hand record some tracks that you are playing on
Deezer and thus create mp3s for your private use. There are some Audio recorders like
Audials Tunebite on the market. To use these Recorders is legal even though you can
imagine spotify and deezer are not to happy about users doing just that.

OliverJuly 17, 2014

While that would be awfully convenient for the consumer, it would basically destroy the
platform and put a serious dent in an already dented industry. There would be little
reason to stay subscribed for more than a month here and there, to download as much
music as possible in bulk, effectively rendering the actual purchase of records rather
pointless for most.
It could, in theory, give you 20-30 million songs for about 10 euros. Something that, if you
went in to a record store, would cost you roughly 37 500 000 euros, about 50 000 000
dollars, or some other ridiculous amount in whatever currency (based on record prices in
Sweden).
Anyway, as far as I know, their only other source of revenue is selling commercial space
in the free version. Imagine how much space they would have to sell to cover those
losses. It would probably become rather cluttered.
Personally, I think that its way too cheap already, but at least the subscriptions bring in
some form of revenue that wont interrupt you every other song to tell you about
something you dont care about.
Lastly, I am one of the millions of people who write and record music for a living and who
makes some of their money through services like Spotify or Deezer. I can tell you that the

amount is rather insignificant as it is, but without the subscriptions, that amount could
only shrink.
Sorry about the long, possibly rather incoherent rant. Im not trying to put you in your
place or anything, I just wanted to share a different perspective.
Cheers!

Nick PretzelFebruary 5, 2016

Dont apologize, I didnt think you were ranting, nor did I think you were incoherent. I am
a musician myself and I agree with what you said. Having said that, I used Deezer largely
to replace the records and CDs that a former girlfriend stole from me. As such, I feel that
I have already paid for the right to listen to these records offline. I do also record some of
the albums that I have on Deezer. However, I will continue to pay my subscription fees, I
dont intend to just download what I want and cancel my subscription.

EugenioJuly 18, 2014

Oliver gets the point: its already too cheap years ago people could legally purchase
just one album (or even less) per month with 10 now with 10 they can access 30
million songs and they still complain.I dont get it.

48.

Kay L.June 4, 2014

i test spotify a few month ago, but i dont realy remember what was the reason that i dont
use it anymore.
since the last days i tested deezer, because i saw a icon in shazam and so i start a try.
i use it under iOS on a 5s and be realy happy about, that the player is completly
integrated. mean, it is possible to put the phone in standby mode and the music dont
stop (if i remember right, with spotify it dosent work, if i get out from the spotify app, the
music stopps)
so i tried to bind my phone with my audi music interface via bluetooth and i was surprised
that i was able to hear the music from deezer over bluetooth in my car.
thats the biggest like for me

joe blogsAugust 1, 2015

spotify does not stop if you come out the app you can change songs from your home
screen and notification bar just like deezer.

49.

TupsyMay 28, 2014

I used to have Spotify for more then a year.
I really liked it, specially the feature of sharing playlist with facebook friends.
Only real problem was the Spotify app on my 4 Logitech Squuezeboxes. REALLY
unstable.

And no support from Spotify or Logitech to solve it.

So I tryed Deezer.
100% stable on Squeezebox and I like the missing desktop app. Start the browser,
login and ready.

Only thing missing is the easy way to find new great playlists made by users. (al least I
have not found the way yet.)
An also missing the music sharing with facebook friends. (But that most because not
many in Denmark is using Deezer. )
So because of the stable Squeezebox app I will stay on Deezer.

50.

ChrisMay 15, 2014

Currently, you cannot sort tracks on Spotify using the PC version. This follows one of
those fashionable updates when some idiot in the marketing department jumps on the
bandwagon of less equals more. Remove features people care about and well get more
customers! Well, I for one have dumped my premium membership of Spotify.

joe blogsAugust 1, 2015

yeah i really would like that feature you would expect it to be a given but no. but its not a
am not paying thing for me without a streaming service i dont have any music!!

51.

natella111April 24, 2014

Im liking Deezer so far, although Discovery feature was not really helpful, but it might be
due to the fact that I just started using it. I might need to tell it more what kind of music I
like.
One minus for me is that in Explore and Charts tabs I get a lot of Turkish and Russian
music, which I dont really like. Their suggestions are probably based on my geo location,
but nothing close to my real taste.

52.

johnnyApril 1, 2014
Im actually speaking from experience: had a Deezer premium account for about a year
now, and I must say that Im switching back to Spotify. Deezer is clogged with vague
album compilations with karaoke or cover version of artists/songs instead of the real
thing (no wonder they claim to have more songs..). The radio function really sucks and is
focussed on French audience. Most irritating, for some unknown reason you cant skip
songs in playlists. By far they dont have the variety of artists found on Spotify.

53.

ViniciusMarch 21, 2014

Deezer dont have led zeppelin

54.

BenMarch 6, 2014
I used to be signed up to Spotify, however, I switched over to Deezer as it was provided
for free with my mobile phone contract. One area that Deezer really kicks the ass of

Spotify is in album/artist/playlist management in the mobile app I have a lot of playlists

for listening to albums offline and sorting them was a manual affair in Spotify, whereas, in
Deezer they are auto sorted to show synced playlists at the top and all in alphabetical
order..I like order.

Alex Jubien (@AlexJubien)March 25, 2014

Thx Ben, glad to read that the way things are sorted pleases you. In fact, this choice was
quite simple when we started to work on that part: a playlist you synced is obviously a
playlist you like a lot or you plan to listen to often, so its quite near a favorite playlist and
it should be placed on top for easy access but also for ease to add tracks. Simple yet
powerful paradigm, thought mobile 1st a long time ago (in 2009 if I recall).

55.

Andrew GMarch 2, 2014

My mobile network contract gives me Deezer mobile for free, and whilst it was limiting
that I would have to pay extra for PC use, this is not an issue now because tablets use
the mobile app and subscription. So for financially practical reasons Spotify isnt in the
running for me.
The update to Deezer is a big improvement, I have the new version on my Xperia Z1, but
it hasnt yet come to Amazon App Store for my Kindle Fire, so I also use the old app, and
there are really major improvements in place.

JuliaJuly 24, 2014

How do you know when your paying for albums is it easy to spot,
Im thinking of joining through my mobile,
And how much data

56.

MoiFebruary 1, 2014
This electronic artist Im quite fond of is not much available on deezer Glass Candy, but
deeply on spotify. Just a random instance

57.

Jason CookeDecember 23, 2013

Id like to hear more feedback on the sound quality and bitrate. A deal breaker for me. Im
currently on the Deezer 4.99 month deal, it ends in 5 months, but Id switch to Spotify if
its a higher quality. Personally I dont believe Deezer plays at a 320 bitrate.

58.

B-a LimDecember 10, 2013

I love my Deezer, on my Android and also on its website. The local selections are
amazing too (for Malaysia). So far so good.

59.

David JouarisseDecember 9, 2013

Deezer enables repeat one song in a playlist, not Spotify. You can listen to your Deezer
Music in Russia, not Spotify (and Spotify in the US, not Deezer..). But in Russia, as you
may well use in France for free, the app and site VK, with totally free music and videos;
for those who want to pay none of Spotify, Deezer or Netflix Personally I made the
choice a long time back to pay 10/month as a sort of personal tax for the music industry
instead of buying music here and there once in a while.

60.

EugenioDecember 8, 2013
Hello Liam and thanks for your very interesting analysis.
A new service has been launched two weeks ago in partnership with Deezer: Mentor.FM;
it is basically a one-click listening and discovering radio, you can give it a try
here: http://mentor.fm. Disclaimer: I am the author.
As a developer, I must say that the ecosystem that Deezer provides, while not perfect, its
way better than than the Spotify counterpart: building apps just inside the spotify main
application is a huge limit in my opinion.

61.

Angel ArtStyleDecember 4, 2013

First of all, Deezer has always been my decent pick because Spotify nor Rdio doesnt
support in my country,although I can use a proxy but thats not an option because it has
to do with streamings speed . Rdio has never been my choice because doesnt support
offline mode,although it has better GUI than both of them (it sucks). How about the sound
quality? I couldnt easily tell which service sounded better,both of deezer and spotify
claim up to 320kbps bitrate

62.

David RyanDecember 3, 2013

A great shootout especially because Ive been an Rdio user for the last year or so and
havent kept up with the other horses in the race. I need to take some time this weekend
to check them out, and see if theres any apps available for my poor Boxee

63.

Lorenzo Nizzi Grifi (@neuromante74)December 3, 2013

Deezer is an excellent service BUT the iphone app still has a major bug and lacks an
important feature. The major bug affects the impossibility to play songs longer than 16
minutesFurthermore no gapless playback. Rdio is perfect.

Stefan RakhorstApril 27, 2014

http://support.deezer.com/customer/portal/articles/621163-gapless-playback

Daniele S.November 27, 2014

Unfortunately the proposed solution, to achieve gapless playback
(http://support.deezer.com/hc/en-gb/articles/201331941-Gapless-Playback?
input_string=Gapless%20Playback) is to have a 10s long crossfade, which is something
quite different from gapless playback.

64.

Alex.December 3, 2013
I believe that the discovery issue is one of the main reason Deezer and Spotify are
building those in-app ecosystems. Now that both have been successful in content
licensing, they need to find smart ways to let listeners explore it (and avoid churn).
Letting hungry and foolish start-ups (disclosure, Im co-founder of one of them, building
seevl) experiment and build products in the area is a good way to see what works, and to
explore the possibilities that online music discovery can offer.
That said, I feel that Deezers Hear This is very good at this! And theyre indeed very
friendly and open to talk to app developers, so a big +1 for them!

65.

Ouriel OhayonDecember 2, 2013

Liam i would not burry Rdio so quickly. they are the second highest grossing music app
in the US after Pandora and are showing in the top 50http://glui.me/?
i=yzrhikbj5r8k8w3/2013-12-02_at_8.49_AM.png/
For me Both Deezer and Spotify still are behind in terms of what they could do with
Discovery. Discovery should be designed for lazy people and passive consumption and
the best place to do this is WHILE listening. no one is doing this for now and once this
happens it will be a game changer (Youtube is already playing with that).

Liam BoogarDecember 2, 2013

Your generalization of both Deezer & Spotify leads me to suggest that you havent tried
Deezer again in the past few weeks.

I really do believe that the update that Deezer made to its feed has improved the product
about as much as their PR team would like you to bleieve that is, a whole lot.
I dont like Spotifys discovery, and I thought Deezers would be on the same level. But its
not I dont know why, but it just isnt. Its better, and Im letting Deezer decide what I
listen to much more than I ever did with Spotify.
I would argue that Deezers discovery experience is on par with Pandoras (or at least, as
good as it was in 2010 havent used in in France, obviously).

66.

Colin Cheng (@seocolin)December 2, 2013

I use Deezer over Spotify (mostly because it originally came free with my mobile phone
subscription in the UK). Over the past year it really has come on leaps and bounds and
the web interface is great I love the new Hear This feed its great. The number of songs
has also improved and I think theyre doing a great job at sourcing overseas music (I
listen to a lot of Asian music). I have noticed that sometimes theres a bigger delay in
getting the latest songs compared to Spotify and searching is very limited and actually
annoying. If you misspell a songs name or an artist, Deezer doesnt match it up for you
Spotify is much better at this. Overall, I really like Deezer to the point where I now pay
for it outside of my free service with my phone. It was also only 4.99 when I signed up
which is a lot cheaper than Spotify.
Good post though! Nice comparison

67.

Emmanuel Bellity (@ebellity)December 2, 2013

Did it end up improving for the mobile offline mode in the subway ? Thats a dealbreaker
for me

Liam BoogarDecember 2, 2013

The Mobile/Offline works just fine -it has the same sync feature as Spotify (if youre
familiar).
The problem is making sure to take the time, when youre at home/office, to tell Deezer to
sync your songs. I just kept running into the problem where I only used the mobile app
when I had no network, and then my songs couldnt sync.
Other than that, the services are identical.

Emmanuel Bellity (@ebellity)December 2, 2013

Yep, I have the exact same problem than you with Spotify

Also the sync doesnt

seem to work flawlessly now

Brad PattersonDecember 2, 2013

Interesting read with feedback for both platforms. Nice that you gave Deezer a full go
despite your hesitation in the beginning, and that, by the end, your experience actually
made you switch over.

Deezer was free with my Orange subscription so I gave it a go, and the offline mode was
actually something that kept me going with it. Easy to choose songs/artists that I wanted
to hear more of, and on the go w/o a connection.
I agree with Paulin below that discovery still has a way to go though on both platforms.
What my friends are listening to on spotify is a pretty cool move in that direction, but
unfortunately as Deezers not-US-based yet, thats not an option. Will have to check out
Hear this

68.

PaulinDecember 2, 2013
I have the same feeling about discovery in spotify : it sucks. I have a playlist full of very
diverse music, and the playlists radio now only plays traditional spanish music maybe I
liked a similar track once and now the playlist seems stuck forever