Now, Anyone Can Listen To Music Endlessly As Spotify Lifts Time Limits For Desktop
At one time, only people paying $10 a month could listen to music streaming on the Web indefinitely. Now, anyone can.
By Judith Yeoh — 16 Apr 2013, 02:01 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
Spotify now lets all users listen to music on its Web and desktop service without time limits
Spotify upped the anty in the music streaming game on Wednesday by getting rid of all time restrictions on Web listening. Now, users in all countries where Spotify operates can stream music for free on the Web endlessly.
techcrunch.com
"In the past, we had to restrict your listening time to some hours a month once a 6-month unlimited grace period had passed," Spotify spokesman Diego Planas Rego wrote in a blog post.
cnet.com"But now, if you haven't noticed, there's no more time limit if you are using Spotify for free. We have removed these caps completely across all platforms -- you can listen to your favourite songs as many times as you like, for as long as you want."
theverge.com
Before today, users in several countries were allowed free unlimited ad-supported streaming for six months and then were restricted to a handful of hours a week. Users that paid a $10 monthly fee didn't have any time limits. Now, that's changed. However, those users who want ad-free music can still pay the $10 monthly fee.
spotify.com
The new software, called Spotiamp, is available for Spotify Premium members and provides access to Spotify playlists, a search function and a radio
Premium Spotify subscribers using Windows machines can use the "fully functional music player" to stream music through their accounts.
technobuffalo.com
It’s super simple, just like Winamp was, and has the same interface.
"To honour the engineering skill and passion that goes into building wonderful software that millions of people enjoy we would like to share a small tribute to honour the great legacy of Winamp," said Spotify’s Channtal Fleischfresser in a blog post.
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"We hope this will give you some nice memories of the days before Spotify," she added.
Winamp was first launched in 1997 and made a huge mark in the early days of the digital music gold rush before eventually fading out and finally being canned by AOL this week.
theverge.com
The app even supports old school Winamp visualization plugins, assuming you still have them
Once loaded, simply click the “Eject” button and you’ll see all of your playlists.
technobuffalo.com
Spotify said you can also click “O” or right click on Spotiamp to access settings, and that the app has Shoutcast built-in for streaming media from any Shoutcast server to any device, such as a Sonos.
n3rdabl3.co.uk
The best feature? Plugins. Yep, Spotiamp supports all of the old Winamp plugins, provided you’ve dumped them into the right folder.
theverge.com
Everything You Need To Know About Spotify's Free Mobile Offering
Spotify on Wednesday expanded the free tier of its service to all devices, including smartphones and tablets.
In the past, free Spotify users could only access Spotify Radio on mobile devices and tablets, but like other radio services, this prevented them from listening to a specific artist or music in their own playlists
stuff.co.nz
The new offering expands on-demand listening to free users on tablets, and allows smartphone users to listen to their own playlists or music from a specific artist in shuffle mode. Spotify created the following chart, which shows the access options that users have:
mashable.com
You can listen to any song you want, and in any order, if you use Spotify on a tablet. On iOS, this means the iPad or iPad mini. On Android, Spotify is setting 7-inches in diagonal as the screen minimum for tablets. The app will determine which version of the experience you see in Android.
csmonitor.comOn the tablet, the play-on-demand feature works the same as it does on desktop. You will have ads every five to six songs, and you can't save playlists for offline listening. Spotify decided to treat the tablet as a desktop after observing how people use the product.
in.com
You can now listen to music from any artist in "shuffle" mode; this means you can search for an artist, then instantly listen to a station that only features that particular artist. It's a big switch from typical online radio services, such as Pandora and iTunes Radio, which may let you create a station around an artist, but wind up having other artists in the mix, too.
forbes.comFree users can create their own playlists or add songs to existing playlists in the app; this means if you want to add a track from Spotify Discover to an existing playlist, you can do so without having to worry. You can also create new playlists with music or artists you come across.
mashable.com
To get started with the free Mobile offering, make sure you are running the latest version of Spotify for iOS or Android, and the option is available now. For free users, browsing artists or accessing your playlists will show an option to "Shuffle Play."
csmonitor.comA Free Version Of Spotify May Be Coming To Your Phone On December 11
Spotify AB is planning a free, ad-supported version of its streaming-music service on mobile devices, according to people familiar with the matter, after previously making mobile users pay a monthly fee.
wsj.comThe free version is said to be ad-supported and focused around playing personalized radio like Pandora or Rdio's Stations feature, though users will also be able to play a limited number of songs on demand — it's otherwise unclear how the free tier will differ from the existing Radio feature.
theverge.com
Spotify sent out invites for the December 11th event on December 3rd, but didn’t say what would be launched. It simply noted “We’re having a media event. Like to come? There will be donuts.”
techcrunch.com
The spokesperson went further, saying users can pick tracks and put them in a playlist.
go.com
Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich pull music from Spotify; While Spotify thanks customer with custom playlist featuring a secret message
Nigel Godrich and Thom Yorke have just removed the Atoms for Peace album Amok and Yorke's The Eraser from Spotify. In a series of tweets, Godrich explained that the move is in protest of Spotify's business model.
pitchfork.com
"The reason is that new artists get paid fuck all with this model. It's an equation that just doesn't work," he writes. Yorke added, "Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will not get paid. meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it. Simples."
pitchfork.com
Here's a customer-service story that will be music to your ears. Someone on the Spotify team created a custom playlist yesterday thanking user Jelena Woehr for some positive feedback she gave the music service.
Spotify launches in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong
Spotify is the biggest music streaming site in the world. It boasts over 20 million users, 5 million of whom subscribe to one of the service’s paid plans.
Image via omgubuntu.co.uk
After years of teasing and forcing Malaysians to go through a VPN just to access the service, Spotify is finally available in Malaysia.
Image via lowyat.netSpotify is finally available in Malaysia. The leading music streaming service from Sweden now opens its 20 Million track database to Malaysians for absolutely nothing.
lowyat.net“We want to be live everywhere. Let it be known, we want to be everywhere”, they will focus their attention on the three countries, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
e27.co
Spotify’s arrival in Asia marks one of the first times a paid streaming service has come to the region. Others such as Netflix and Pandora are missing.
techcrunch.com
Enjoy free streaming or go Premium for RM14.90 a month. Would you pay?
Spotify Free - Completely free, users can enjoy on-demand, buffer-free access to more than 16 million songs on their computer with occasional advertising.
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Spotify Premium - You get no ads, the ability to download your tracks to a mobile app so you can listen to songs on the go as well as enhanced sound quality.
lowyat.netPremium users also listen at 320 kbps, while free accounts stream at 160 kbps.
techcrunch.com
Spotify's Premium account: Your playlist and downloaded music is everywhere, on your phone, tablets, desktop for RM14.90 a month.
Image via imgur.comThe Spotify app is also now available on Google Play, as well as on the Apple App Store, so you can enjoy your favorite music and radio stations on-the-go or for offline listening.
hardwarezone.com.my
Spotify, the 'alternative' to pirated music. Will Malaysians convert?
"Piracy is very big in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, we know that. Spotify was founded to actually be a more convenient alternative to piracy. So we are here to combat piracy," said Sriram.
cnet.com
Sriram Krishnan said the founder of Spotify, Daniel Ek wanted "to create a service that would be completely legal so that we can get people away from piracy."
In the past four years, we gave back $500 million to the music industry. This year, we will give back another $500 million. Having reached this scale, we’re now taken seriously."
techcrunch.com
Spotify vs BitTorent: Which is better?
Well, if you can put up with a few commercial breaks, the free version of Spotify gives you a whole heap of other advantages over bit-torrenting. Here’s how.
Image via imgur.comWhat is Spotify? Why is it so big?
Spotify offers streaming music from major and independent record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal.
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Spotify does come for free, but it premium users will be able to use its mobile apps, and get functions like offline caching, where songs are stored in devices and can be played without an Internet connection. Premium users also listen at 320 kbps, while free accounts stream at 160 kbps.
Image via imgur.comLaunched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010, about 2.5 million of whom were paying members.
It’s not just big in userbase. The company say that some 10,000 new tracks are being added to its online library each and every day, expanding on the 15 million tracks already available.
omgubuntu.co.uk
Paying subscribers: Over 6 million.
Active users: Over 24 million*.
Ratio of paying subscribers to active free users: Over 20%.
Number of songs: Over 20 million