Spotify
is a Swedish streaming music service founded in 2006. With a catalogue
containing over 16 millions tracks from all major labels and most small labels Spotify
is likely to have the music you are looking for.
Streams
You can stream all music for free. Songs start without any lag, so it feels
like you have millions of songs on your hard disk. On first try you will have a
"kid in a candy store" feeling for sure.
Downloads
Should you feel the need to download some songs, you can buy them in MP3 format. Spotify
thus combines streaming en downloading in a unique way. Sort of an iTunes Music
Store with an emphasis on listening in stead of buying.
Import, play and sync your iPod
You can also import your existing music collection in Spotify and use the
Spotify client to sync your iPod.
Subscription plans
Spotify Free gives you unlimited use for 6 months but you will have to cope with some adds in between the songs. After 6 months you can only listen for 10 hours each month and you can play an individual track five times max.
But if you want to get rid of the ads and limitations you can subscribe to:
- Spotify Unlimited: ($ 4.99 per month ) Unlimited use and no ads.
- Spotify Premium: ($ 9.99 per month) A Premium account not only frees you from the commercials, it has more advantages like off-line listening on your smartphone, laptop or pc, better sound quality.
Excellent sound quality
All streams are delivered in Ogg format 160 kbps. Spotify Premium even supplies 320 kbps streams. Link your computer with your audio system and you can enjoy the immense catalogue in an excellent sound quality.
Spotify uses a desktop client that can be easily installed. It looks a bit like iTunes and is easy to use.
P2P supported streams
Songs start right away without buffering and playback doesn't suffer from hick ups. Spotify uses P2P technology to accomplish this. Users unnoticeably upload parts of the data to guarantee a prefect stream.
Catalogue
With 16+ millions songs there is not much to complain. Still you will not find The Beatles or Pink Floyd to name a few big names. Not Spotify's fault, some artists and labels just refuse to allow streaming. But you will probably have their songs on your computer already so you can listen them using Spotify anyhow.
Download store
Spotify's download feature provides high quality 320 kbps MP3.
You can buy individual tracks but that makes it a bit expensive ($ 1.59 per track). When you buy a bundle it makes the tracks cheaper. A 60 dollar bundle is good for 100 downloads, but you will have to download these 100 tracks within one month or buy an extra bundle.
You can pay by credit card or PayPal.
Want to give Spotify a try? Read our Spotify user guide