Spotify blows me away!

I completely missed the train this spring when betas for Spotify were given to a very select few, but the other day my brother had seen the service and was blown away! He called me and told me about it, so I just had to check into it too.

Vaguely remembering the name of the service and that some other people had mentioned it in passing to me before, I looked for all the information I had. It turned out that I had meet the CTO of Spotify at a Geek Meet (I remembered him but not where he was working), so I e-mailed him, practically begging for a beta invite. Being the nice guy that he is, he let me in, and man, am I grateful for that!

What is it then?

Spotify will, if it continues to deliver such a great experience as it currently does, revolutionize the way we access and listen to music! It’s like Joost but for music, with outstanding performance and without the stupid geographic restrictions the video service has.

Basically, it’s an iTunes-like interface where you can listen to radio adapted to what decade and music type your like, or, and this is what really blows me away, search for any song or artist you want to hear, and it is immediately streamed to you! Then you can also create playlists of any songs you like.

Just imagine the power of having any music you want to listen to just by your fingertips, without the need of transferring it to each and every computer where you want to listen to it. Imagine having all the music you ever owned, and more, available to you at any computer or location. Amazing!

Eh… How much does this cost?

Nothing! In the long run, it is supposed to be ad-sponsored in the most unobtrusive way. If they can succeed with doing this in a decent manner, there’s no end to the possibilities. Really!

I must say that this is the product with the best potential I’ve seen for a long time (hell, maybe the best software product I’ve ever seen), and if they don’t screw this up, I’m thoroughly convinced that they will change the way the world consumes music.

Keep your eyes on this!

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30 Comments

  • Scott Powers says:

    How broad is the listener base expected to be?

    I listen to a good bit of electronica music… so if I happen to search for some obscure tune that the mainstream audience wouldn't normally search for.. will it come through? Or does it look like it's going to be focused mostly on a mainstream audience?

    For instance… GTR – Mistral

    Sample tune… I keep last.fm on nearly all the time because they have no problem finding and streaming those tunes that you just don't hear on mainstream radio.

    Sounds like a great piece of software if it caters to a wide enough listener base.

  • It looks like an awesome service indeed, if you have an invite hook me up man! 🙂

  • Steven Clark says:

    Just wondering how their licensing model works – early in the year Pandora had to stop providing content to users outside the United States…

    but it sounds good and I have a decent need for such an application at the moment.

  • Chris says:

    Yes I wonder too about their licencing model…

    I also know Deezer where you can listen to nearly any music you want and that is currently financed by advertizing.

    I think copyrights are currently being revolutionized.

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  • Milo says:

    Sounds like FineTune, only different.

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Scott,

    I can't really say, but from what I understand it will be as brad as possible, and far from just mainstream. I found GTR, but not sure it was exactly what you wanted.

    josue,

    I'm very sorry, but I have no invites whatsoever. Please sign up for updates at their web site, and hopefully you will get an invite in due time.

    Steven,

    It would be really sad if that happens to Spotify. Hopefully, we won't have to see something like that.

    Chris,

    I haven't tested Deezer, but it seems like it's only web browser-based. Spotify is an application you install, and the performance is absolutely fantastic.

    <blockquote cite="http://www.robertnyman.com/2007/09/05/spotify-blows-me-away/#comment-99039"&gt;

    I think copyrights are currently being revolutionized.

    Most definitely! I'm very glad that you wrote that, because the ones who do understand that and adapt now will survive, and the other ones will be gone, sooner or later.

    Milo,

    FineTune seems web browser-based, but yes, in some sense similar.

  • […] see this presentation since it’s one of the best services I’ve seen (you can also read my review/take on Spotify)! Andreas also writes at his own web site Pieces of My […]

  • Pierro says:

    Howdy;

    sounds sooo greate, if you have the option;

    please, put me on your waitinglist for a invite . ..

    thanks so far and greetings from germany

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Pierro,

    I'm sorry, but I can't do that. You need to sign up at the Spotify web site for that.

  • q-biq says:

    would love to get a invite.. mikael@norrfors.se

  • Robert Nyman says:

    q-big,

    As stated above, you need to contact Spotify for that.

  • Yeh it worked out, got my account now.

  • Andy says:

    Is this going to be compatible with Mac? Also, I am a daily user of Pandora and Deezer, and I look forward to this next step in thinking related to technology and copyright limitations. However, I have recently started looking for a good TV website or application. I am aware of Hulu.com, but the selection isn't quite satisfying. Do you have wind of anything revolutionary coming in the video/tv genre, possibly something that could eventually replace satellite and cable services(Mac compatible)? Or has that already been accomplished?

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Mikael,

    Good!

    Andy,

    Spotify is indeed Mac-compatible. For video and TV, Joost might be something for you.

  • […] direction.  As well as LastFM there is QTrax, We7 and Spotify, which some are describing as the Joost of music. _uacct = “UA-1180157-1”; […]

  • Ivy says:

    Hey Folks,

    Don't want to spam you, but if you have great playlists in Spotify and want to share them with other Spotify users, pop over to spotifyfriends.com!

  • Matt says:

    I don’t really know what we have to wait from Spotify, since websites like http://www.deezer.com/en already offer free and legal music-on-demand, on a veeeery vast catalogue! What else?

  • peter says:

    @Matt:

    well, you didn´t understand the difference that spotify makes, right?

    here´s another review. maybe this is a helpful fo you:

    http://florianjensen.com/2008/09/17/spotify-lastf

  • […] Spotify blows me away! Posted in Fun, Personal/life, Reviews/tests, spotify | 7 comments […]

  • […] Spotify blows me away! Posted in Technology, spotify | 5 comments […]

  • Hugi says:

    I tried it, but I was just NOT impressed. I had to pay to get access, seeing that their free service is not available here. During only 2 hours of listening, I ran into so many songs, albums and artist that were not available that I just turned back to the Pirate Bay instead.

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Hugi,

    Naturally, I guess it comes down to music preferences and such, but as far as I know, Spotify has contracts with most music labels, which should also be more than any of their competitors.

  • […] Spotify blows me away! Posted in Spotify, Technology | 87 comments […]

  • Robert says:

    Spotify is amazing and the rate it has spread only goes to reinforce that it is desperately what the music industry needs.

    Unsigned artists can get their music on there free of charge as well, through http://www.dittomusic.com

    Have just put my first album on there, am very interested how it will fair in the way of profits.

    Well done Spotify!!!

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Robert,

    Nice, thanks for the tip!

  • Morag Murray says:

    I can't wait to try out Spotify but don't know how to get an invitation to the party. Cheers!

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Morag,

    Depends on where you are. In the UK, you need to invitation, it's just to start using it. In other countries, so far, you need to get an invitation from someone who has got it already.

  • Johnnyesox says:

    Hi all,

    I have been using Spotify [premium] for nearly a week now and can thoroughly recommend it.Fantastic interface and super quick search finds.I also now stream direct into my audio equipment using a very cheap transmitter [One For All] brand that was only £18 from Play.com.

    Sound quality with the premium version is said to be better i.e a higher bitrate,but all I can say is the audio through fairly good audio gear [Cyrus Spendor] like mine is acceptable and very listenable.

  • Robert Nyman says:

    Johnnesox,

    Glad you like it!

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