Spotify? Anyone use it?

[Guest eyebedam]

Anyone use Spotify? Can u explain it to me?I keep getting invites for it? What is it & how does it work?Will it damage my laptop downloading it? Can I open the files with iTunes? Free music for my iPhone? Is it legal?

[jcj]

Anyone use Spotify? Can u explain it to me?I keep getting invites for it? What is it & how does it work?Will it damage my laptop downloading it? Can I open the files with iTunes? Free music for my iPhone? Is it legal?

Spotify is a service that will allow you to stream music from Spotify's own massive library of music. It is perfectly legal and 100% legitimate.

If you receive an invite you can install and listen to music using the desktop app for free. Streaming to other devices such as iPhone/Android requires a "premium" membership that costs a few bucks a month.

You can't open the files on iTunes or elsewhere because the music files are streamed from Spotify's servers. They're not stored on your PC.

The desktop app does have the ability to add "local music files" that you already have on your PC and share those between any device you have running Spotify. That's more of an added feature. The primary purpose is the massive amounts of music available for streaming online.

Summary: free, legitimate, legal, been in business in Europe for quite a while. Just now getting into the U.S. market.

Sign up for the free account and play with the desktop app. The monthly $$ for streaming on my phone isn't worth it to me, but it might be to you. The free account is worth having if you listen to music on the computer frequently.

[Guest nysos]

Details about the usage in previous post - my brother and a few friends have it and their biggest qualm has been that it is mainly "new" music. Whatever is in pop culture you know. I would take a look at pandora, slacker radio, or last.fm for some good streaming services that have a better variety of music in their library.

[MacGyver]

I've been using it for a couple of weeks and am pretty impressed.

[Jonnin]

If it is trying to install or harrassing you, do not get it from that location. Lots of freeware is taken by thugs and bundled up with junkware/malware/adware/etc. as a sort of trojan; you get the free stuff and a bunch of stuff you didnt want and may not be able to remove easily. If you want the program, go to its home page, read up on it, then download it from a safe location.By the way it is often possible to reroute streamed audio or video thru to your recording software if you want your own copy. One way is to jack the output of your soundcard into the input of a second card (for example if you have a real card and a built in one on the motherboard). Its like recording a song off the radio, which used to be acceptable, I do not know about the legal details of such things, just the technical possibility.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Jonnin

[jcj]

Details about the usage in previous post - my brother and a few friends have it and their biggest qualm has been that it is mainly "new" music. Whatever is in pop culture you know. I would take a look at pandora, slacker radio, or last.fm for some good streaming services that have a better variety of music in their library.

I've found a lot to listen to and I can't stand much of the new music that's out today. Plenty of Jimmy Buffett! I have found a few "newer" bands that I somewhat like and hadn't heard of before. Some of the stuff from Black Stone Cherry comes to mind. They're a very Lynyrd Skynyrd inspired group, if you're into that. There's also no shortage of Johnny Cash music. I think there's a decent variety of most genres.

[Capbyrd]

Details about the usage in previous post - my brother and a few friends have it and their biggest qualm has been that it is mainly "new" music. Whatever is in pop culture you know. I would take a look at pandora, slacker radio, or last.fm for some good streaming services that have a better variety of music in their library.

Spotify is still in the process of ingesting content. A lot of content was originally delivered to Spotify with Euro clearances only since they only did business in that part of the world. Since they opened in the US, they are going through and re-doing contracts to make sure that they have world wide rights. They will be adding content frequently. I would guess that within the year, everything available on itunes will be available on spotify, with a few exceptions (Beatles).

I am a digital distributor for music. I literally deliver music to these companies for a living.