The Spotify App: What You Need To Know

Today, we continue our look at the Spotify music service, as it comes to America. While yesterday’s report focused on the various packages available and on the Spotify application itself, today we turn our attention to the Spotify app for iPhone/iPod touch. App Abilities By Package The free Spotify app works regardless of whether you are a Spotify Free, Unlimited, or Premium member. Naturally, the better your package, the more bells and whistles you receive. For Premium users, the app allows you to wireless sync all your favorite Spotify Playlists to your phone and listen offline. In other words, once you download the music to your iPhone, you can play the songs without a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. In addition, you can go online and stream any of the 15 million tracks available. For Free or Unlimited users, the app allows you to wireless sync all of your own music files, but doesn’t give you access to Spotify’s music library. Plus, you cannot use Offline mode. Being able to sync your own music files – whether or not they were purchased through iTunes – is a great tool. However, you can obviously do the same thing via iTunes. Regardless of your package, you can also use the Spotify app to:

• Create and sync playlists
• Receive music from friends via the inbox
• Star your favorite tracks
• Scrobble tracks to Last.fm

  Details The Spotify app is arranged by Playlists, Search, and What’s New. Playlists include all of your Spotify Playlists, plus your starred songs, Inbox, and those local files you’ve synced. Search is just that, the place to go to search for songs by tracks, albums, or artists. Finally, What’s New is where you’ll find new releases, the top tracks, and the Spotify news feed. One Final Note The current Spotify app is not universal, meaning it won't look as good on an iPad. Still, it will work just fine on Apple's tablet. Hopefully, the folks behind Spotify will make the app universal very soon. Summary Like the Spotify music service itself, the free app is a great tool to listen to your own music and discover new tracks. However, its functionality is greatly enhanced when you are a Premium member. In fact, Free or Unlimited members might find the app underwhelming. For more information on Spotify USA, be sure to check out our earlier report and enjoy. In the meantime, download the free Spotify app. What do you think? Leave your comments below.

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