It looks like Facebook integration is greatly helping MOG. Some interesting stats in the article from VentureBeat:

• They had 160,000 new users register since the month of October
• That is a 246% jump from their former monthly average, meaning their former monthly average was approximately 65,000
• They expect 2 to 3% of these users to convert to paying “premium” users

It’s always surprising when a company with lots of smart people working there doesn’t realize that their customers always prefer to have options, especially when privacy/sharing is involved!  Good to see Spotify accommodating the concerns people have.

Follow the title link above to a PC Magazine article with further details.

Unlike MOG and rdio, which will be offering a non-time-limited free tier of service as part of their Facebook integration, Rhapsody will offer a 30 day free trial that includes all functionality, including mobile apps, for that time period. 

While less flexible in the long term, this does let someone fully sample all features, includfing cell phone music access and downloading, during the 30 days.  Of course the downside is that after those 30 days you’re left paying for the service.  (And, if you want more than one mobile device that payment is $15/month rather than the $10/month of their competitors.)

I’m a little worried that Rhapsody still sees itself as being worth a premium in price compared to Spotify, MOG, and rdio. While they do have some solid features (best browsing of new releases by genre and a larger catalog of music - at least in the US), they don’t justify that extra cost.  

They may also find that in the long term anyone interested in Facebook integration will gravitate to the other services with a free offering that their friends who don’t want to pay money can use indefinitely.

This article has a more detailed description of exactly how the Spotify/Facebook integration will work. 

Interesting point: you’ll be able to click on a song in Facebook and stay in Facebook while Spotify fires up in the background to play the song.

I remain skeptical of the usefulness of this for me because:

1. I don’t want my friends to see a running list of EVERYTHING I listen to, I want to choose which songs to share.
2. My music tastes don’t overlap much with my Facebook friends so the usefulness may also be limited. (But, this probably isn’t true of MOST people.)

In any case it’ll be fun to try out once it’s fully functional.

Mog has posted an entry on their blog formally announcing their integration with Facebook. No particularly interesting details, but you can check it out by following the title link above.

According to this article on FT Tech Hub Spotify is now saying they have over 2 million subscribers in total, 400,000 of which are in the US.  That would make them 1/2 the size of Rhapsody, but they’ve reached that size after only a couple months of availability.

The upcoming tighter integration with Facebook will be interesting to watch in order to see how many new subscribers might then join.  However other music services like Rhapsody, Mog, rdio, and more will all be piling on the Facebook wagon too.  

This ZDNet article describes some updates Rhapsody has made to their web site to go along with the added social features all the music services seem to be doing as part of their upcoming integration with Facebook.

One interesting feature will be ‘My Radio’ which will be a playlist comprised of the last 150 songs you’ve listened to.

Facebook will be partnering with Spotify, Mog, Rhapsody, Slacker, and rdio amongst others to more tightly integrate listening to and sharing music with your friends and family. 

Seems like a bit of a yawn to me because for the most part the people I know on Facebook aren’t the ones I share music tastes with, but it will be interesting to see where this goes.