Music streaming service Spotify wins early fans

Move over, Pandora. There's a new music service in town--well, in some towns anyway.

TorrentFreak has an in-depth write-up of a new music streaming service called Spotify, which shows an awful lot of promise--so much so that the music piracy-focused blog sees it as a viable alternative to downloading pirated songs for free.

Spotify is a lean, downloadable application that lets users stream music instantly from its library--a library built with the blessing of EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and some smaller record labels. That, of course, begs the question: how does it make money? Spotify offers two ways to use its service, a free service sponsored by ads, and a paid subscription service.

Once downloaded, the service allows users to search its music catalog by artist, genre, or title, and stream the tracks on-demand any number of times.

One of the cooler features is the ability to create and share playlists (a la the now-defunct Muxtape). And the service recently added the ability to scrobble the songs you listen to through Spotify on Last.fm.

That's the good news. Now for the bad news: It isn't officially available in the U.S. yet (though a Digg commenter did provide a way for people to try it out Stateside, at least temporarily). Right now it can be accessed in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. And the company plans to roll out its service to new markets in 2009, according to its Web site.

Judging from comments on TorrentFreak, Digg, and TechCrunch, the service seems to have impressed people who have tried it with its speed, usability, and depth of songs (though it's taken dings for sound quality, frequency of commercials, and lack of portability). I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but as a music fan who got pretty fed up with the repetition of songs on Pandora's artist radio stations over the holiday break, I think this looks very promising.

As for TorrentFreak's claims that Spotify is so good that it might stop piracy in its tracks, I'm skeptical. This is a streaming service, so the songs are only available to you when you're online and connected to it. It doesn't work with portable music devices, so you can't take the songs with you on the subway or to the gym (or, for me, drop it into the iPod dock hooked up to my stereo). And since the songs aren't downloaded to your hard drive, they're not in your grand collection along with the rest of your music. Spotify might have a decent-size library, but it doesn't have all the songs I've ripped from vinyl, or the latest album from a favorite local band that happens not to have signed with a label yet. Going back and forth between a local library and a centralized library like Spotify would be annoying.

Having everything in one place and being able to take it with you wherever you go is the goal for any music fan. And until Spotify offers that ability, I don't see it magically wiping out music piracy altogether. But it does appear that this group is on the right track, from the perspective of music fans, bands, and music labels.

Has anyone spent a good deal of time with the service yet? If so, what say you? Is Spotify the wave of the future, or another Web 2.0 dud in an already cluttered arena?

Disclosure: Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET News.

[Brian_Zisk]

Spotify is fabulous.

[jbuberel]

How is it better than a paid subscription to Rhapsody.com, for example? My subscription gives me instant, on-demand access to about 3 million songs. That includes nearly 100 'radio' stations, shared playlists, and all the rest. Besides the ad-supported version of this (which is of no interest to me), what differentiates it?

[tdl185]

The user experience on Spotify is far better than any other digital service I've ever used. Initially I shared your concern, that this would become another Rhapsody / Napster style application with no clear point of difference, however having used it for a few months now I would definitely say that it is the best streaming service available. I particularly like the fact that new users can use the service free of charge (ad supported) as it gives new users the ability to trial the concept of "all you can eat" streaming services without having to sign up to a 3 month trial (or similar), to me this is a significant advance in bringing this technology and experience to mass market. Spotify have also introduced a 24 hour licence allowing users to operate the service ad free for a 24 hour period. At present this costs £0.99 in the UK and is perfect for providing entertainment at parties and functions.

[brianinmunich]

Spotify works in Europe, which is a big deal for the people here.

At the moment, Spotify doesn't offer any advantages over Rhapsody, especially if you have a Rhapsody mp3 player. Spotify desperately needs a little bit of social networking. Basic friends lists and playlist sharing through the application would make sharing music easier, rather than having to maintain a separate account at last.fm.

Spotify's potential comes from the free service. You can get your friends on the service without any money, and you can start building and sharing playlists.

[Trailblz]

It is an alternative to piracy since illegal downloading is often used to sample music. The strength indeed lies in the free service and the fact that the user experience is great for a streaming service. Exporting playlists to an MP3 serivce might be considered according to TorrentFreak, that will make it even more interesting.

I went to the website but received the following message:

"Spotify free is currently in an invitation-only beta, which means you need to have received an invitation token to access the service."

I guess I'll be looking for my invitation token...

[karpenterskids]

It's a bummer that it's not available in the USA yet...

I guess I'll be using Project Playlist in the meantime. =P

[mpotter9]

EMI the company that said that the Beatles would never make it North America.

[Painterroy]

The best music site I've found so far is Imeen.com It has a great library, good actual recordings (not some individuals upload with tinny sound like you have on youtube. And if you know how to use audacity
you can copy the songs to your computer & add 1000's of songs to your library for free.

[MTGrizzly]

"scrooble" ????

The English language is dead, long live the scrooble...

[Sam Papelbon]

well, to be fair, it is a pretty dumb-sounding word, but what existing word would you use to refer to the process of having a program automatically upload information on a digital music file you are currently playing for archival and social networking purposes?

[lorcro2000]

Spotify is liked by its users because it gets a lot right - it's quick and responsive, it doesn't make you jump through hoops (once you get an account in the first place) and everything they have available is available to everyone, at any time, for any number of plays. There is no cumbersome DRM you need to deal with directly and the ads aren't that bothersome either... it's basically a music player with the music stored in the cloud.

It won't replace having your own music on your own hardware - for instance, you can't use Spotify on the run very easily - but for what it is, it is brilliantly implemented and, unlike DRM infested music files you download, very consumer friendly instead of consumer hostile.

[Dirk VanNerden]

I know it's only 96kbps, but you could do pretty much the same thing by surfing Myspace. Even though the name alone is enough to make some people cringe, it still has tons of good music.

[lorcro2000]

Yes but spotify has full albums by the artists, and I mean even new stuff that comes out continuously. Admittedly most new music is talentless and then they slaughter it in the final mastering stage by annihilating any shred of dynamic range by trying to make it as loud as possible (stop doing that, you moronic imbecilic cretins in the music industry!) but you can actually play very current full albums from Spotify.

Myspace has quite a bit of good music on there, true, but it's no Spotify.

[Xoulimas]

Spotify is a great application/service. I have test it och written about it on my blog: http://www.din-it-kunskap.com
I even got some spotify invites from the spotify-team that I distributed to my readers. I can get enough of it. With Spotify you have the world musik at your desk. And I am just talking about the free version. The premium version contains no ads and is even better.
By the way i am not paid to say this, it just my opinion.
Here is my rcension of Spotify (in swedish but be translated): http://www.din-it-kunskap.com/2008/12/05/spotify-ar-en-grym-musiktjanst-skaffa-den/

[lrbegge]

electricaid.org has 200 invitations for those who want one. It´s a electric car support site so I guess the karma is better if you agree with their goals ;-)

[LOQuent]

I've had it for a year and it's the hands down best service I've ever seen for streaming. There is no delay when you click on a song for buffering and you can skip around in it like it's an mp3 in iTunes. The commercials can be annoying but their overall concept is great and only going to get better plus the ability to link to either a specific song or your own playlist is the truth. As soon as they drop their iPhone app for this it's a done deal.

[paulinepip]

anyone got some free invitations for spotify?

[pl4tinumpink]

Come share your playlists at spotiSHARE!

spotiSHARE is a place where you can come and share your creative awesomeness with others around the globe. You can share your Spotify playlists with ANYONE!

http://www.spotishare.ws

[jonnypuma]

Spotify is the revolution! (From a swedish user)
I've been using both Last.FM and other streaming services but last night I got an invitation (yes it's so popular now that they have to limit the expansion) and it keept me listening for hours.

I've got a quite new HTPC setup in my livingroom and recently bought a used high end cd-player for my old CD's because I felt that what I miss with the digital music is the moment were you sit down and listen to a whole CD, read the booklet and figure out what they really mean with their work.¨

With Spotify the information about the album and the group or person is presented in this way and you're amazed by how easy everything is. In acouple of hours I've put up playlists with the complete albumlist of most big bands (U2, Bruce Springsteen etc.) and I've started to discover new as well.

The qality of the music is improved with the latest version and it's for most people. I found that when sercing info about the compressionrate of the music. Spotify is sent with 160kbit and using Vorbis codec. (I can't hear a difference to my CD's)

I haven't been this amazed by an internet service since it started and I'm already addicted...
Right now I'm using the free version and there is an ad once every 30min or so but I will definately buy the subscription for 99SEK ($10) a month when I've tested this a little bit more.
Sorry that you can't test it in the US yet...

[mythomas75]

Unfortunately Spotify runs processes behind the sceneary that jams your internet connection. Apperantly they use peer-to-peer technoogy to improve overall speed, but at the cost of your own machine. It runs even when you close the Spotify program. When accepting the terms you give Spotify the right to do so.

[leeman10]

Spotify is an amazing service and here in the UK has around 1 million users already. Its spread so fast , the only thing that would slow it down would be labels removing content.


http://www.dittomusic.com are also putting unsigned content onto Spotify free or charge which is great for unsigned bands.


I systematically use Spotify for everything i can get my hands on, iTunes for anything i cant!!!