Alex Tran

Over the past couple of months I’ve been on the hunt for a music subscription service worthy of my $5/month.

With the release of Spotify in the US, I’ve now used Pandora, Rdio, MOG and Spotify.

Here are my thoughts about each.

Pandora

Pros

• Custom stations that actually play similar music.
• Terrific genre stations.

Cons

• Limited song selection (800,000).
• Can’t play songs on-demand.

I love Pandora because it chooses what I listen to and it does a ridiculously great job at it. I can create a new Pandora station with a few artists I’m in the mood for and be confident the resulting station is going to be exactly what I want. And if not, I can thumbs up/down songs to tweak the results.

The only problem I have with Pandora is it’s limited song selection (800,000). After awhile songs begin to be repeated.

Relative to others music fans, I don’t have a wide range of music I listen to so this becomes a problem.

Enter the other services: Rdio, Spotify and MOG…

Rdio

Pros

• Great design, user experience.
• Solid Mac desktop app.
• 9 million tracks.
• Great for finding new music/connecting with other music fans.

Cons

• Custom stations not very good at picking related music (at least compared to Pandora).

I’m going to start with Rdio because it’s approach is fundamentally different than MOG/Spotify in two ways: social and discovery.

Rdio describes themselves as a “social music service.” Rdio is built on top of a social network. You can follow users and stalk their listening habits.

This feature goes hand-in-hand with Rdio being a music discovery service as well. Rdio continually encourages you to listen to music as evidence of the main page being what they call “Heavy Rotation.” It shows you what you’ve been listening to the most and lets you see what others are listening to in your network (or site wide). It will also recommend other artists based on what you’ve listened to.

One thing that stands out about Rdio is the design. It’s pretty on the eyes, easy to use and their Mac desktop app is great.

It does not have any pre-built stations like Pandora, but you can create a custom station based on a specific artist, what’s in your Heavy Rotation or what’s saved in your collection (think of it as your favorites). My experiences with these custom stations were lack-luster. I wasn’t pleased with the selection (and there’s no way to influence the station) so I rarely used that feature.

MOG

Pro

• 11 million tracks.
• More control over custom stations (but feature still not usable overall).

Cons

• Horrible site design/layout. Using site is like having a root canal.
• No native desktop app (have to use browser-based player).

What was impressive about MOG was it’s catalog of 11 million songs (until Spotify released in the US). Unfortunately, that’s about it.

The site is poorly designed and a pain to interact with.

One feature MOG does have, however, over Rdio/Spotify is the ability to create custom stations and influence the station by rating songs or using a slider which gradually goes from playing just songs from the artist to slowly introducing other similar artists. But like Rdio, it’s recommendations engine was sub-par.

Finding new music through MOG is done through perusing the Editor Picks or browsing through playlists that have been created. So music discovery is not nearly as strong as it is in Rdio.

Spotify

Pros

• 15 million tracks.
• Good Mac desktop app.
• Integrates well with existing music library.

Cons

• No web-based player.
• Virtually non-existent music recommendations.
• No ability to play custom stations.

Where Rdio is on one extreme of social music and music discovery, Spotify is on the opposite. There’s no social and no music discovery. If you use Spotify, you pretty much have to know what you want to listen to.

One unique feature Spotify does have is their desktop client. It’s designed to replace iTunes. It’ll scan/add your current music library to the app and let you sync your iPhone/iPod using it.

So which is best?

After using them all, I really miss Pandora and how good it’s music recommendation engine was. It fit my music-listening habits well. I just want to listen to music that sounds like ______, but I don’t want to explicitly choose everything I want to listen to.

But, alas, Pandora’s music catalog kills it, so I have to choose one of the other three.

MOG is definitely out of the picture because of it’s horrible site, but rumor has it they’re rolling out a new design soon. Perhaps I’ll take another look when that happens.

Lately, I’ve been using Rdio, but will most likely switch to Spotify (because of it’s larger music catalog). If I cared about the social aspects or discovering new music, then Rdio is the clear winner.

But for my needs, I just want to listen to music. So in my head, the more music I have access to, the better. Rdio doesn’t provide anything I have to have.

In an ideal world, a music service would exist with the music recommendation engine of Pandora, the song selection of Spotify and the design of Rdio. ;)

What are your thoughts? Which service do you prefer and why?

John 12:3-8 (NIV)
³ Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. […]

⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? […]

⁸ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. […] ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

There’s no question Jesus has called us to serve the poor.

But this story in John demonstrates something interesting. Namely, how obeying a commandment such as feeding the poor may not glorify God as much as you’d think.

Imagine what would have happened if Mary had sold the perfume and the disciples used the money to meet the needs of the poor? That would have been awesome. It would have totally honored and glorified God (Matthew 25:40).

The problem, as Jesus said, is that the poor will always be around. But Jesus and the opportunity Mary had would not be.

While there would be countless Christians able to serve and meet the needs of the poor, Mary was the only one uniquely positioned to anoint Jesus with perfume.

And she seized it to Jesus’ honor.

John 17:4 (NIV)
⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you asked me to do.

God is glorified when we are obedient to his voice.

The truth is, I could spend the rest of my life crusading and fighting against human sex trafficking but bring God zero glory. Similar to if Mary had sold the perfume and fed the poor. There are plenty of other Christians who God has called to that. I’m just not one of them.

In my own way, I can, however, anoint Jesus with perfume.

What has God asked you to do? What has God uniquely positioned you for? What jar of perfume do you have?

John 12:3b (NIV)
³ . . . And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

I pray our lives glorify God with the fragrance of that perfume.

Let’s compare lists and find out!

I’ve grouped movies into three categories: great, very good and good. Since there’s a bazillion movies out there, I’ve selected only movies made after 2000 and that are in IMDb’s Top 250.

Each section below is sorted alphabetically. There’s no internal ranking in each group.

Great

• Batman Begins (2005)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Inception (2010)
• Monsters, Inc. (2001)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• Star Trek (2009)
• The Dark Knight (2008)

Very Good

• Gran Torino (2008)
• How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
• Ip Man (2008)
• Memento (2000)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Snatch (2000)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
• The Departed (2006)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• The Prestige (2006)
• The Social Network (2010)
• There Will Be Blood (2007)
• Toy Story 3 (2010)
• Up (2009)
• WALL·E (2008)

Good

• Amélie (2001)
• Avatar (2009)
• Big Fish (2003)
• Black Swan (2010)
• District 9 (2009)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Gladiator (2000)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• In Bruges (2008)
• Inglourious Basterds (2009)
• Into the Wild (2007)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
• Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
• Million Dollar Baby (2004)
• Mystic River (2003)
• Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
• Shutter Island (2010)
• Sin City (2005)
• Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
• Spirited Away (2001)
• The Wrestler (2008)
• V for Vendetta (2006)
• X-Men: First Class (2011)

Movies I’ve Watched But Didn’t Make the Cut

• Children of Men (2006)
• City of God (2002)
• Downfall (2004)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
• Infernal Affairs (2002)
• Let the Right One In (2008)
• Mary and Max (2009)
• Oldboy (2003)
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
• The Lives of Others (2006)
• The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

Movies I Have Not Watched

• Amores Perros (2000)
• Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003)
• The King’s Speech (2010)
• The Pianist (2002)

What do you think? Do we have similar movie tastes? Any movies you think I should watch?

As I’ve been reading through the Psalms lately, there’s been a major theme I’ve noticed.

Many start off with a less-than-ideal circumstance; enemies surround me, wicked prospering while the righteous struggle, prayers falling on deaf ears, etc., but they inevitably end with a declaration of trust in God.

I love the Psalms for their transparency. They are a realistic portrayal of what it’s like to live as a Christian desiring after God’s heart.

The Psalmists do an amazing job of expressing that peace and trust despite the circumstances that surround them.

Psalm 55 (NIV)
[…]
² My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
³ because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
[…]
¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
[…]
²² Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
²³ […]
But as for me, I trust in you.

You’ll notice the first part of this Psalm explains the situation. It’s pretty bad. Sounds like the Psalmist is on the verge of breaking.

But it ends with a simple, yet powerful phrase. “But as for me, I trust in you.” It is that trust, I’m confident, provides the peace to live in a troubled world (John 16:33).

Never be afraid to have a realistic view of your current situation; no matter how good or bad. But also never forget to have a realistic expectation of the God we serve.

According to this Psalm, we serve a God that saves us, hears us, rescues us, sustains us and never lets us be shaken.

But as for me, I trust in you.

Who can you ask? Who can you bring along? What can you do together?

I’m a pretty strong introvert, so I tend to want to do most things by myself. Unfortunately, the discipleship process is not an introverted, single person activity. It requires we engage in the lives of others.

We follow Christ in our lives, therefore, we should teach others to follow Him as well.

An easy, informal way to do that is by answering the questions above. When you look at your spiritual life, what are some areas/things that could be done with another person?

Here are some things I could ask someone else to do with me.

• Weekly Scripture memory.
• Follow the same Bible reading plan.
• Do a S.O.A.P. devotional once a week together (journal privately, but share openly).
• Have a night of prayer and worship.
• Attend a small group.
• Do something fun.

Taking what we already do and bringing someone along is a sure-fire, easy way to spiritually impact someone’s life.

It’s as simple as asking.

Jesus asked his disciples to follow him. That simple act was the start of a long-term, fruitful relationship (minus Judas Iscariot).

All with a simple question.