Posted on August 29, 2012 by Benjamin Shapiro

Spotify is a streaming music platform that give its users the ability to access virtually at any song any time using either their PC or mobile device. As it is a streaming music service, as long as you have an internet connection, using Spotify means you’ll never have to wait to download a file to hear your favorite songs. Spotify also gives its users an in-depth musical experience by enabling access to music from your personal collection and a catalog of millions of other song.

To use Spotify, first, install the Spotify application for their website. After installation, the Spotify desktop application will automatically import the music you have saved on your computer, along with any playlists you may have setup from programs. After getting setup, like its competitor iTunes, Spotify is very simple to use. You can scan your music, search for something new or create a playlists with just a few clicks without interrupting the currently playing song. Along the right side of the screen you can also see what your what Facebook friends are listening to.

Different subscription levels to Spotify determine exactly what you can do with it. The free membership provides unlimited streaming music and the ability to organize and share your own collection. It is supported by occasional advertisements. After six months of free membership, streaming time is limited to 10 hours per month. From there, you can upgrade to the Unlimited membership. For $4.99 per month, the time limits are removed, as are the ads. With the Premium membership at $9.99 per month, a slew of extra options are added, including higher bit rate streaming, the availability to play music on your mobile devices, and an offline mode to play music even without an Internet connection. Rdio, another similar streaming music service, also provides different levels of subscriptions, and it the closest alternative to Spotify, though their library is not as extensive. Pandora, Last.fm and other streaming radio services give users the ability to listen to music without downloading, but they do not let you put together your own playlist, merely playing songs of a similar type or genre.

If you are looking for a place to play entire songs – not just clips or related song like some other players – and combine your music collection with much more, Spotify could be the application for you.

Keep Rockin’!!!
Spotify  by Dekuwa taken on January 29, 2009
iPad – Spotify by Blixt A. taken on April 9, 2010
Spotify & Blackberry by Dekuwa taken on November 4, 2009

Tags: spotify, music streaming, desktop, smartphone