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What is it?
Spotify is a streaming service for music, audio books and other audio content with unlimited song access. There's a dedicated software / app for every device from computers to cellphones.
How much is it?
Spotify is available as a free and as a premium service. Free access provides less features (online access only, fixed order of played songs, lower sound quality) and features commercial breaks. Premium access is available as a monthly subscription for $9.99 and doesn't have these restrictions.
Does it have every song?
Not every song but certainly the majority of songs. More than 30 million songs cover most of your music needs. Some titles may be missing mainly because record companies and Spotify couldn't come to a financial agreement and some artists have exclusive contracts with other streaming providers (and are legally bound to keep their songs out of Spotify).
What does it look like?
The user interface is intuitive and provides a joyful listening experience in a matter of minutes. Users are frequently presented with similar bands or entire playlists all part of a vast music repertoire. Nice: Spotify Connect allows you to remotely control devices such as TVs or set-top boxes like Amazon Fire TV via your smartphone.
Where can I get it?
Spotify is available for nearly all operating systems / devices, current TVs and a few of the latest cars from popular brands (BMW, Mini, Volvo, etc.). All you need to do is install Spotify on your device.
Do I own the songs? What about offline access?
No, you can only access them. This is not your classic music collection with a slew of MP3s. You either listen to songs online (with full access to the entire collection) or create individual playlists, have the affected songs stored on your device and then access them through the Spotify app. This means you have to load your smartphone with playlists, i.e. songs, before your train trip.
Can I burn my songs to CD or store them on my MP3 player?
You can't. You're not downloading MP3s or similar files, all playback is handled by the Spotify Player app. You might take a detour and record what you hear but not only would this be a step back, it would also be borderline illegal.
What else do you need to know?
Services such as Spotify are highly controversial in the music industry with bands like Portishead claiming that they received a meager €2,300 after 34 million streamed songs. It's obvious that artists make more off CD sales and online song purchases. You have to make up your own mind.
Is it worth it?
Music lovers will get their money's worth with Spotify (or alternatives like Deezer, Napster, Apple Music, etc.) at a fair price. Youtube, Last.fm and other online services also work but offer not nearly as many songs as conveniently. If you're undecided, simply take the free 1-month trial and decide afterwards.
Thanks for the nice sharing! For Spotify music, if you want to listen to them offline, then you could give a try to using a tool named DRmare Spotify Music Converter for Mac. Hope it can help you.
THIS NEEDS TO BE A REGULAR COLUMN. IT NEEDS TO BE IT'S OWN SITE. THIS WAS REALLY WELL WRITTEN. THERE IS A GREAT NEED FOR THIS.
Music is a touchy subject and a must have for younger people. I remember when I used to borrow a friends record and copied it to my $800 Marantz Dbx, Dolby cassette recorder. On Sony Philips metal tapes. That was piracy too. Sony made the tapes to do so.
Now I am thinking of uploading some of my own tracks to Sound Cloud and would be happy if I get a few like clicks. Maybe I actually need to pay someone to listen.
That is the point. IF you like something enough, buy it if you think its worth the price. If not sure copy it.
Just a viewpoint from an oldie...
Regards Bernie.
Should be a yearly fee ( discount) or one only fee.
AS monthly causes extra bank fee's on some account's.
THANK YOU
Lots and lots of complaints about Spotify. I cancelled and they kept billing my debit card. I could NOT find a contact us on the site. Had to go through Twitter. Finally they checked and I hadn't even been on the site and deleted their software for 6 months. Finally got 6 months of refunds.
Be VERY careful with this company.
Chuck
And I thougt I was too stupid to find a contact adress. ^^
I subscribe to Spotify & there is a wealth of music there. I listen mainly to "classical" music & my main complaint with it is that frequently a piece of music breaks for a second or two then resumes. This has a terrible effect on listening pleasure. I have a pretty good quality cable broadband connection. Another complaint is that in a say four movement work, the movements often aren't in order so you can't listen to a multi-movement work without jumping up to click on the correct next movement.
Spotify still gives me the opportunity to listen to versions of music that I would otherwise have to buy, just to try. A lot of music has disappeared from Youtube.
I currently use Googles Play Music Service which is the same price but I also get free offers and discounts on any music I buy to keep. It also has access to around the same number of tracks. I don't think there's much to choose between them though. Most services are about the same!
Artists have always received higher royalties from sales that they did from AM/FM radio. Take a typical national radio with affiliates back in the pre internet days. The number of listeners could have been in the millions and with the top 40 rotation of those days the number of listeners listening to the same tune in a 24 hour period would easily surpass Spotify's plays.
Now here is the big difference. Only a handful of radio's major market air plays are logged. Even though all radio stations pay royalties the majority of money went to the major record companies who controlled the top 40. Lesser known artists that got airplay on the medium and low marker radio got little or nothing because there logs were never collected or compiled
At least with spotify those bands that would never have received a penny are getting something even if the CD sales a zero. Portishead would have not have had major radio exposure and therefore should be grateful they are getting anything.
Until All radio stations terrestrial and online logs are compiled the system will remain corrupt.
Time for a change in the way royalties are collected. The old ways no longer apply.
A great service, but as state, not every artist is available, especially from the 70's and 80's.
Quality of the free version is fine for most needs.
I find it a great service, especially with the capability to set up your own playlists.
Already use Spotify - and would recommend it for those "hard to get/not heard for years" tracks: obviously current tracks are available - but it has helped me and thousands of others to re-live their musical past.