Spotify is a music player for all the music you want to stream over the internet. Use the search function, find a song and play it instantly. You do not have to download music, you can play songs directly online.
Spotify is an online music service with millions of songs on its servers. In order to listen, you can create a free Spotify account and stream free music with the desktop application or Spotify Web Player.
So you don’t download the music – which is btw possible with a premium account – but play it directly online (called streaming).
Spotify can play music from your PC, but an online jukebox with millions of songs is, of course, more interesting. Use the search box in the upper left to find artists and songs, double click and play. The sound quality is excellent and it will stream (almost) without any delay.
Limitation of Spotify is that you get to see and hear advertising in the interface. Premium users don’t get to listen to commercials.
Spotify has the following characteristics:
- free streaming music
- create and save playlists
- easy music sharing via Facebook and Twitter
- search to quickly find music
- view top lists based on popularity
- related searches for artists
- biographies of all available top artists
- shows what your Facebook friends are listening to
- deep integration with Microsoft Windows
- Spotify controls on the Windows taskbar for easy control
- Spotify client is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux
- mobile apps available for iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and Palm
Android, iOS and Windows Phone
Spotify is the well-known music app that keeps all your favorite tracks always close at hand. You can choose from millions of songs to stream to your smartphone or tablet.
With the free Spotify version, you can play artists, albums, and playlists via shuffle. You can skip songs a number of times per hour, but then you’re stuck with what Spotify gives you.
The offer of Spotify is almost unlimited, so you’ll find all your favorite bands. Note that when using a data connection, costs can add up quickly in the free version. So you can better use Spotify if you have WiFi.
The free Spotify app has since December 2013 no limit to the number of hours listening but contains occasional advertising. If you pay, you get rid of the commercials. In addition, the Premium version has better sound quality and you can download songs for offline use (because you do need to be connected to the Internet to stream the music in the free version).
Spotify Free vs Premium
| Description | Mobile Free | Desktop & Tablet Free | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuffle play any playlist or artist catalogue | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create your own playlists | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Play any song on-demand | No | Yes | Yes |
| High-quality audio | No | No | Yes |
| Ad-free | No | No | Yes |
| Download music and listen offline | No | No | Yes |