Privacy Concerns
I think both myself and many users are getting increasingly concerned about the inability to control what the public is able to see about your listening habits. I actually switched to spotify because of this and I really want to come back. Until I see the ability to hide or select who I want to see my activity I'm not sure I'll come back. This has been an issue that users have been addressing for almost a year now. Please pay attention and fix this!
Community Responses
Hi Jason,
What is the privacy concern about other people knowing what music you listen to? I love that I can point anyone with access to the web to a public profile with my music taste and listening habits.
Sam,
An exercise (taken to absurd extremes) to try to illustrate the point:
Please make sure your Facebook postings are enabled, then go play this playlist. (In fact, put it on repeat and leave it going for a few days...)
http://www.rdio.com/people/craig/playlists/8547/Ridiculous_Songs_About_Sex/
Point your friends, family (especially your Mom!) and your employers, your HR department personnel, and any teachers you may know at nearby elementary schools, to that public profile with your listening habits. Put the URL of those listening habits on resumes and submit them to potential employers! :-)
Please report back any responses (or funny looks, or warrants, or restraining orders) you get! ;-)
Now, obviously, that IS an extreme, but y'know? Sometimes people want to listen to something without having it painted across the internet. It's part of the reason we have headphones, and doors on rooms, so we can have some private time, as well as public time. Rdio has gotten the public part right, but they need to finish putting the doors on the bathroom, so that people can have some private time and not be embarrassed about some guilty-pleasure music they may happen to enjoy, but don't want everyone to know. (There ARE still Barry Manilow fans out there, according to rumors! ;-) )