Spotify's Long-Awaited iPad App Debuts in App Store

[MacRumors]

Streaming music service Spotify, which gained a loyal following in Europe before debuting in the United States last July, has launched its highly-anticipated iPad app. The app arrives in the form of a universal version of Spotify's free existing app, although like the iPhone version a Premium subscription is required for mobile access after a brief trial period.

Today we're extremely proud to present our native iPad app in all its green-hued glory. Features include:

- Retina graphics for iPad - dazzling display, razor sharp images, richer colors
- Even easier to browse and explore Spotify's entire 18 million* song catalogue
- New 'Now Playing' full-screen view with high-definition cover art
- Search for playlists, users and music - all from the same view
- Check out what's hot and find trending playlists & songs amongst your friends
- Inbox grouped by user for easy searching
- Gapless playback and crossfade
- AirPlay integration

Spotify Premium is available through the app as a free 48-hour trial, with users able to extend the trial to 30 days by signing up through Spotify's website. Continued Premium service is priced at $9.99 per month.

Article Link: Spotify's Long-Awaited iPad App Debuts in App Store

[snackajacques]

Great work by @tobiasahlin and the team.

[davidec]

Nice.. Now please come to Australia.

[ristlin]

Or you could spend $9.99 on an album of an artist you like and add it to your collection permanently.

[snackajacques]

Originally Posted by ristlin

Or you could spend $9.99 on an album of an artist you like and add it to your collection permanently.

Spotify costs that per month for unlimited music. It's a no-brainer. How is owning ONE CD worth it?

[mp0890]

LITERALLY 10 hours after I cancelled my Spotify Premium.

Originally Posted by ristlin

Or you could spend $9.99 on an album of an artist you like and add it to your collection permanently.

That's my logic behind cancellation. It is rare that I buy more than one album in a month, it's rare that I even buy 1 album in a month. When an album comes out that I like, I'll just buy it.

[BMNB1tch]

why rent, when you can own

spotify is just a slightly better version of Rhapsody

none of these streaming services pay out artists unless you're getting millions of spins

the only way for musicians to make money these days is to tour

the best thing about my iTunes library is that I'm not interrupted by advertisements every other time I click on a song...

[Frankied22]

Fail

Spotify sucks. They dont even have a radio feature on their mobile apps for discovering like artists. MOG is way better.

[aziatiklover]

Lol @ renting musics!

[Illuminated]

Originally Posted by BMNB1tch

why rent, when you can own

spotify is just a slightly better version of Rhapsody

none of these streaming services pay out artists unless you're getting millions of spins

the only way for musicians to make money these days is to tour

the best thing about my iTunes library is that I'm not interrupted by advertisements every other time I click on a song...

Well, if you get the unlimited or premium version you won't get ads, and you'll get to listen to as much music as your hear yearns for.

[Porchland]

Given that the record labels have demonstrated a willingness to make their content available this way, I'm surprised Apple still has not made a subscription option available -- all you can eat on every device for $9.99 a month.

Same with movies and TV shows.

[MXSkier62]

have to say that ad was fantastic. actually got a smile out of me with the "just press 2x... just kidding!"

[Rogifan]

I use Spotify and love it. The last album I got off iTunes was Adele and that's only because her latest album wasn't on Spotify. Question for the audiophiles here: the stream setting of 'extreme', what is that equivalent to?

[nfl46]

HAHA! I was like, wtf when they said press 2X. I thought it was just the bigger iPhone app. That was a good one.

[danb77]

Great app!

It is missing an onscreen volume control, and most albums don't seem to have high res artwork yet.

But apart from that it is fab!

[ImageWrangler]

I did their free trial and it was the first time I thought for a brief moment "hey, this subscription thing, it's not too terrible." There is a lot of music to either discover or that I had in the recesses of my brain, entire albums I used to own on cassette (don't hate, I'm old) that I never bought on CD.

It started out as a fairly fun month going back and re-listening to music I bought in the 80s but don't have the equipment to play it. I listened to other stuff that CMJ and Paste magazine or (shudder) the pompous hypocritical windbags at Pitchfork rave about (then turn around and slam and label as sellouts if, heaven forbid someone sells a few thousand albums). It was an interesting week or two but by the second week I had run out of music I wanted to casually listen to. Furthermore they don't have a lot of songs I wanted to hear or had weird covers or worse, karaoke versions of tracks, it's pretty bizarre. I already own (legally mind you) over 30,000 songs in iTunes with a mix of them being ripped from my CDs and maybe 30% are online purchases (Apple, Amazon, etc). So by the last week of the subscription I was hard pressed to find a reason to pay $9.99 for something when I'd rather own the music.

It may be great for some people, I have friends who don't own a lot of music and/or financially at $10 a month it's more worth it for them. But for many the reality is it's better to just own the music and not pay to rent it. There's a reason so many of the past rental-type music stores have gone the way of the dodo, as a business model it doesn't really jazz most people.

I will say this though about Spotify, I do like it better than Pandora (free version). Pandora does let your create channels and stuff and I think or thought Spotify is going to bring something similar. At the moment though I'd like more control over what I'm hearing and Pandora's algorithm keeps playing songs and artists I thumbs down repeatedly, which is annoying.

This said I do wish the best for Spotify as it's an option for some, and options are good, and they've put a lot of effort into it, and from time to time I want to hear a (one) song that I don't want to buy, hence going to the computer and launching the free Spotify app and listening to that one song is satisfying enough.

[doobybiggs]

pandora is still one of the better music streamers I think

[ristlin]

Originally Posted by snackajacques

Spotify costs that per month for unlimited music. It's a no-brainer. How is owning ONE CD worth it?

If you can listen to "unlimited" music each month, then I guess its worth it. Usually, if there is something I have an urge to listen to once I can turn to Grooveshark, Youtube, or the free Spotify service on the desktop. On the other hand, there are only a few artist that I enjoy and could conceivably listen to over and over. For those, I buy the album and have it forever.

[mobi]

Volume up, very nice... Might need a dedicated musical iPad soon

[ristlin]

Originally Posted by ImageWrangler

I did their free trial and it was the first time I thought for a brief moment "hey, this subscription thing, it's not too terrible." There is a lot of music to either discover or that I had in the recesses of my brain, entire albums I used to own on cassette (don't hate, I'm old) that I never bought on CD.

It started out as a fairly fun month going back and re-listening to music I bought in the 80s but don't have the equipment to play it. I listened to other stuff that CMJ and Paste magazine or (shudder) the pompous hypocritical windbags at Pitchfork rave about (then turn around and slam and label as sellouts if, heaven forbid someone sells a few thousand albums). It was an interesting week or two but by the second week I had run out of music I wanted to casually listen to. Furthermore they don't have a lot of songs I wanted to hear or had weird covers or worse, karaoke versions of tracks, it's pretty bizarre. I already own (legally mind you) over 30,000 songs in iTunes with a mix of them being ripped from my CDs and maybe 30% are online purchases (Apple, Amazon, etc). So by the last week of the subscription I was hard pressed to find a reason to pay $9.99 for something when I'd rather own the music.

It may be great for some people, I have friends who don't own a lot of music and/or financially at $10 a month it's more worth it for them. But for many the reality is it's better to just own the music and not pay to rent it. There's a reason so many of the past rental-type music stores have gone the way of the dodo, as a business model it doesn't really jazz most people.

I will say this though about Spotify, I do like it better than Pandora (free version). Pandora does let your create channels and stuff and I think or thought Spotify is going to bring something similar. At the moment though I'd like more control over what I'm hearing and Pandora's algorithm keeps playing songs and artists I thumbs down repeatedly, which is annoying.

This said I do wish the best for Spotify as it's an option for some, and options are good, and they've put a lot of effort into it, and from time to time I want to hear a (one) song that I don't want to buy, hence going to the computer and launching the free Spotify app and listening to that one song is satisfying enough.

The free Spotify service is also at the top of my list. The Mac app alone makes it worth getting and occasionally listening to ads. The sharing features and getting to see what your friends are listening to just adds to the fun.

[Frosticus]

Finally releasing a proper Spotify iPad app = win.

Spotify website not working so I'm unable to re-establish my premium account = fail.

[dude-x]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

I use Spotify and love it. The last album I got off iTunes was Adele and that's only because her latest album wasn't on Spotify. Question for the audiophiles here: the stream setting of 'extreme', what is that equivalent to?

Extreme is 320Kbit audio.

----------

Will gapless playback come to the iPhone app as well?
It seems that in general most iPhone apps with looping or continuous music don't support gapless playback.

[Frankied22]

MOG is far superior; and they have a artist radio function on their mobile apps.

[lifeinhd]

As long as Spotify requires a Facebook account to work, they can go **** themselves. Not getting a FB for some lousy music rental service.

[Frankied22]

Originally Posted by lifeinhd

As long as Spotify requires a Facebook account to work, they can go **** themselves. Not getting a FB for some lousy music rental service.

Agreed