Spotify Accepting Signups for US Launch

[MacRumors]

Spotify is officially coming to the United States. Domestic visitors to Spotify.com are now redirected to a signup page where users can enter an email address to "be one of the first to get Spotify."

Spotify is a Sweden-based streaming music service that offers music from a number of major and independent record labels. It has hitherto been available only in western Europe.

There are free subscriptions limited by hours of listening time, and then paid subscriptions that offer features such as offline mode, the ability to download songs to iPods and more. Subscription fees range from €5 to €10 per month. Spotify recently raised a $100 million venture round at a $1 billion valuation.

Spotify can be used as a replacement for iTunes, iTunes Match and the iTunes Store. Instead of letting users listen to music they have purchased or acquired from other sources, Spotify allows listeners to stream any songs Spotify has licensed.

It is quite a bit more expensive than iTunes Match will be, costing €60-€120/year in Europe, versus $25/year for iTunes Match. US pricing has not been announced yet.

Sign up on Spotify.com to get an invite when the site finally opens.

Article Link: Spotify Accepting Signups for US Launch

 

[MacBoucher]

catalog

I just wonder how deep the catalog will be compared to iTunes... I signed up anyway.

 

[Consultant]

Hope it doesn't go the way of the adware pandora.

Radio has fewer ads than Pandora now.

 

[salazr]

I still can't figure out why this particular service gets so much launch related buzz when Rdio is already out there kicking ass.

No mention of Rdio at all? Come on.

 

[EnderTW]

I just wonder how deep the catalog will be compared to iTunes... I signed up anyway.

You're comparing a streaming service to a pay per song service..

 

[griz]

Quite a bit more expensive than iTunes Match, but don't you get access to the entire catalog rather than just what you already own? Seems to me like the streaming service that everyone had expected to see from Apple.
But 60-100 euro seems a little steep. That's $86-$143/year. Could buy an album a month at that price and own it. I don't think I come across more than an album a month that I would find worthy of buying.

 

[poseidon84]

Hope it doesn't go the way of the adware pandora.

Radio has fewer ads than Pandora now.

If they go the same model they have now you get either free streaming and ads or pay and no ads. Also they have limitations when it comes to the amount of hours playing, unlimited when paying for it of course.

 

[EnderTW]

I still can't figure out why this particular service gets so much launch related buzz when Rdio is already out there kicking ass.

No mention of Rdio at all? Come on.

Spotify has over 12 million songs, Rhapsody comes close at 10 million, Radio is under 9.

It's easy to see why people are hyped about this.

 

[kurzz]

With this service, you're basically renting songs, just like Netflix, you don't get to keep any songs after unsubscribing.

 

[EnderTW]

Quite a bit more expensive than iTunes Match, but don't you get access to the entire catalog rather than just what you already own? Seems to me like the streaming service that everyone had expected to see from Apple.
But 60-100 euro seems a little steep. That's $86-$143/year. Could buy an album a month at that price and own it. I don't think I come across more than an album a month that I would find worthy of buying.

True, however rhapsody and MOG are 9.99 a month, so I'm pretty sure it's going to come in at 9.99 for ipad/iphone.

 

[EnderTW]

With this service, you're basically renting songs, just like Netflix, you don't get to keep any songs after unsubscribing.

Uh sure, except for netflix it's not as accessible and you only get 1-4 physical versions. You're renting 12 million songs all the time.

 

[Popeye206]

Maybe I don't get it.... streaming music could be nice, but I can get basically free music of my choice from my direct TV, or from 1000 other internet radio stations out there.

I want to be able to own (i.e. take with me anywhere - away from the internet) music I like. So even though a streaming service may be nice for variety, I need something that allows me to step away from the internet.

What am I missing????

 

[kurzz]

Maybe I don't get it.... streaming music could be nice, but I can get basically free music of my choice from my direct TV, or from 1000 other internet radio stations out there.

I want to be able to own (i.e. take with me anywhere - away from the internet) music I like. So even though a streaming service may be nice for variety, I need something that allows me to step away from the internet.

What am I missing????

With these services (Spotify, Rdio, Mog etc) they let you put those songs on your music player too, e.g. play it "offline". Of course, the files are DRM.

 

[Daveoc64]

I want to be able to own (i.e. take with me anywhere - away from the internet) music I like. So even though a streaming service may be nice for variety, I need something that allows me to step away from the internet.

What makes you think that you need to own music to listen to it offline?

 

[Popeye206]

With this service, you're basically renting songs, just like Netflix, you don't get to keep any songs after unsubscribing.

But they say "Stream".... to me that means nothing is kept local.... it's given essentially on-demand and then gone after play.

Can you go pick out 500 songs and have them local on your iPhone with this? Active as long as you pay your subscription? Or is streamed 4-5 at a time in a revolving door?

 

[leon44]

If it wasn't for all the music Spotify hasn't got, like The Beatles and Oasis, and my terribly slow internet connection at home, and the fact that it's not quite as seamless and inbuilt in your iPhone/iPod as the iPod and iTunes (specially with iTunes match), then I'd happily let it replace iTunes for me.

 

[Cander]

What am I missing????

The fact that you get to CHOOSE what song you want to listen to and not just what is currently playing.

 

[Daveoc64]

Can you go pick out 500 songs and have them local on your iPhone with this? Active as long as you pay your subscription?

That's exactly what you can do (any number of songs up to 3333)

 

[haiggy]

Thanks to MR, I now know what hitherto means.

Seriously, wtf lol Why would you use that word how many people know what it means without looking it up?

 

[Cander]

Thanks to MR, I now know what hitherto means.

Seriously, wtf lol Why would you use that word how many people know what it means without looking it up?

I do.

/deletes browsing history

 

[Small White Car]

You're comparing a streaming service to a pay per song service..

Well what's he supposed to compare it to? Pizza?

The question is "Should I use this and stop buying songs on iTunes?" That's a pretty normal question, I'm not sure why you think it's an unreasonable thing to ask about.

 

[Popeye206]

That's exactly what you can do (any number of songs up to 3333)

Cool... Now I get it... the term "stream" made it sound like a live connection was needed all the time.

Not sure it would be for me. Right now my music bill is less than $3 a month. I might add one or two songs from time to time to my collection. So, not for me.

 

[darbus69]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

free streaming for variety and discovery; iTunes for purchase, storage, distribution amongst devices-I cannot justify 80-150 more per year for music-starts cutting into beer money! For all you Alternative fans check out NME-on iTunes radio or on the web...

 

[smithrh]

....

 

[blackpond]

How does this compare to the torrent + iTunes Match model?