What is Spotify?
Well, imagine all your music in iTunes PLUS all the other music in the world… well, almost all of the other music in the world… all in ONE location. That’s right! All in one location!
So, of course, I had to try it out! I signed up (sign-up here), got in, and am now one of the beta users for Spotify-US. You see, Spotify has been available in parts of Europe since 2008. As of September 15, 2010, Spotify had approximately ten million users, of which one million of them were paid users. People who travel back and forth between the USA and Europe have been clamoring for the service to be come available in the USA for quite a while. As of this July, Spotify is ONLY in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Now, as of July 14, 2011, Spotify is here in the USA!
What Does That Mean for Me
Spotify was finally able to make deals with the major record labels (Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal) and because they were able to make these agreements regarding their USA dealings, we now have Spotify in the USA.
Imagine an online music service where you can search for any artist, genre, album, etc. and have a massive list created right before your very eyes! You can play music online, create favorites, make and share playlists, find out the top 100 songs and albums that have been recently released, as well as download playlists that Spotify shares as well! Try their “Welcome to the U.S.A.” playlist, this has some real classics!
With Spotify, you can connect your iDevices or smartphones and share music with yourself, when you’re on the go. You can also connect Spotify with your Facebook account and share playlists with friends. One drawback… if you have an Android device (like I do) you can only use the Spotify App on your phone if you have purchased the premium service. Oh, well. Guess I can’t have everything!
Within Spotify
When you’re in Spotify, you can sync Spotify with your iTunes account as well as your iDevices. In fact, as soon as you download the app, and log in, your device will instantly be recognized within the program on your computer. (Just so you know, whether you are using a Mac or a Windows based machine, Spotify is available to you.) Once you have logged in on your device, it will show up on your computer screen and your computer will ask you if you want to sync the two accounts. One click, it’s that easy.
Your playlists from iTunes will also automatically transfer over. How nice is that?!
Searching in Spotify
Now, one thing to be aware of… they DO allow songs with explicit lyrics. HOWEVER, these songs are clearly – CLEARLY – marked as explicit. For example, I searched for “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keyes. My search returned 100s and 100s of tunes. Some of the songs were by Alicia Keyes, some with Jay-Z [EXPLICIT], some with Jay-Z that were edited for radio play, as well as remakes of the song for Karaoke, and even other artists who have recorded the song.
What All Can I Do in Spotify
Well… check out this video!
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I’m still in the playing mode… how would YOU use Spotify?
