Spotify giving streaming music sites a run for their money — and users
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011, 1:15 a.m. — There’s a battle underway for the ears – and ear buds – of America’s hippest digerati, and the winner here is clear: Music lovers.
In July this year Spotify entered the United States’ electronic battlefield fresh from storming the United Kingdom and selected countries in Europe and Scandinavia. The service, which boasts a music library of 15 million tunes, offers different levels of service to meet the needs – and wallets – of nearly every user.
There are three user levels available in the U.S.:
Spotify Free: Users are limited to 10 hours of music; visual and audio ads are part of the service at the “free” level too. Free users cannot use Spotify on their mobile devices.
Spotify “Unlimited”: For $4.99 per month, users get unlimited streaming music without ads.
Spotify “Premium”: For $9.99 a month, users receive unlimited listening time without ads, and users have the option to taking their songs mobile – up to 3,000 tracks can be stored on your mobile computing device or telephone – no internet connection required.
SHOW ME THE MONEY. There’s considerable debate about Spotify’s business model, and if it can ever generate sufficient revenues to cover the music licensing fees – particularly when you have millions of new users listening to free music.
The service has shown substantial losses in the last couple of years, but some analysts say that Spotify has the potential to turn a profit as free users become paid users. Look for the premiums offered to the paying users to sweeten the pot to tempt free users to upgrade.
IS IT WORTH MY MONEY? The answer to that depends largely on how much you enjoy music.
In the short time I’ve used Spotify, it has given me versions of songs by my favorite artists I’ve never heard before – and that’s sold me on the service. It’s been like digging through your uncle’s attic, looking for that undiscovered LP by your favorite group – the fact that this collector can find something he hasn’t heard was a spectacular bonus. Show me more, Spotify!
Spotify gets an A+ grade from this computer geek and music lover – for its ease of use, and for the width and depth of its music catalog. It’s hard to believe anyone who enjoys music could use Spotify and not find something wonderful to listen to! Tune it, turn on – and plug in your ear buds so you don’t bother your co-workers!
For more information, and to have fun hearing music you may not have heard for years, visit www.spotify.com.
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