spotify posts

TubeRadio.fm turns YouTube into a powerful music player

by Jay Hathaway Oct 26th 2009

Using YouTube to listen to music is nothing new. Search for a song you want to hear, and you're very likely to find it, even if there's no official music video. YouTube isn't built to listen to music though, and that's where TubeRadio.fm comes in. It's a slick music player that lets you create playlists from YouTube, and can even find entire albums at once, using track listings and album art from Last.fm. The TubeRadio homepage describes the service as "iTunes meets YouTube meets Spotify," and that's not much of exaggeration.

TubeRadio.fm puts more emphasis on the "radio" than the "tube": the videos themselves take up very little space in the UI. More space is devoted to the tabbed info box at the bottom of the screen, which automatically pulls up lyrics and artist bios. TubeRadio does a good job of getting the album versions of songs when you use 'Discography Mode' to grab whole albums, but occasionally it will find a live version instead. Fortunately, there's another mode that searches all of YouTube, and you can manually add the version you want, if it exists.

Tags: itunes, last.fm, music, music player, music videos, MusicPlayer, MusicVideos, playlist, spotify, tuberadio.fm, youtube

Offline sync now enabled for Spotify Premium subscribers

by Paul O'Brien Oct 1st 2009

When online streaming service Spotify released their mobile clients for iPhone and Android, many users commented on how the offline synchronisation features provided for mobile users would also be useful in the Windows and Mac offerings, particularly for laptop users. Well, what do you know, Spotify have just added the exact same feature to their desktop clients!

Manifesting itself as a nice simple toggle switch (pictured above) and only available to users with a paid premium subscription (currently £9.99 / $15), the new functionality works beautifully and is a great way for Spotify to add value.

Spotify streams it's tunes in the open source OGG format, however it is not clear whether DRM is applied to the downloaded files or whether they are simply 'disguised' by way of obscure filenames.

Spotify is yet to make clear it's intentions with regards to launching in the US.

[via The Guardian]

Tags: music streaming, MusicStreaming, spotify

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Web services, Social Software

SpotifiTunes eases the iTunes to Spotify move

by Nik Fletcher Sep 21st 2009

If you're a fan or Premium user of Spotify - the hot European music streaming service - you're faced with the hassle of complementing your iTunes library with a Spotify equivalent. Whilst there's no tools out there to help replicate your iTunes library complete with playlists in Spotify (c'mon, developers!), it would be great if there were something to help ease that moving pain and that's where SpotifiTunes comes into its own. The service lets you upload your iTunes XML Library file and in return, SpotifiTunes gives you back a tonne of links for your favourite artists on Spotify.

Whilst it's not an entirely automated process for moving to Spotify, it's certainly a great way to help you on your way to building a comparable library - and particularly handy if you're one of the Premium customers able to use the Offline-capable iPhone application.

SpotifiTunes is an alpha release, and its developer warns "it might not work". But it's a super-simple way to help Spotify users easily find tunes that are already in their iTunes library.

Tags: Spotify

Filed under: Audio, Symbian, Mobile

Spotify Mobile S60 client previewed on video

by Paul O'Brien Sep 16th 2009

Hot on the heels of the release of their Android and iPhone clients, online music streaming service Spotify have posted a preview video of their forthcoming S60 client on their blog.

Aimed at Premium subscribers in the handful of European countries that Spotify currently supports, the application appears to support all of the features available in the existing mobile offerings and is a nod to Spotify's mission to support the largest possible mobile userbase - we'd like to see a Windows Mobile client next please!

Spotify is yet to make clear it's intentions with regards to launching in the US, however such a move seems highly likely provided the appropriate deal can be cut with the labels.

Tags: nokia, s60, spotify, symbian

Filed under: Audio, iPhone, Mobile, Android

Spotify music app arrives for iPhone and Android

by Jay Hathaway Sep 7th 2009

Spotify, a streaming music service that's huge in Europe, but hasn't hit the US just yet, now has apps for both iPhone and Android. Despite some worries that Apple wouldn't approve an app from such a direct iTunes Music Store competitor, Spotify is in the app store and available for download, although you won't be to use it unless you're a premium subscriber of the service. Download Squad took a look at the iPhone app's features back when it was first announced.

When Spotify arrives in the US with mobile apps in place, we'll get a chance to see whether a really well-done subscription service can draw customers away from the iTunes/Amazon pay-per-download model. Spotify's offline mode means that your music is available even when you don't have an Internet connection, and, while an iPod or iPhone might store thousands of songs, a subscription to Spotify means you can take their entire library with you. I'm predicting Spotify's going to make a big splash when it hits this side of the Atlantic.

[via Mashable]

Tags: android, iphone, music, spotify, streaming

Filed under: Audio, Apple, iPhone

Apple approves Spotify streaming music app for iPhone

by Jay Hathaway Aug 28th 2009

In a move that might have come as a surprise to some, Apple has approved an iPhone app from streaming music service Spotify. Spotify hasn't come to the US yet, but it's taking Europe by storm, and making more money for labels than the iTunes store in some countries. That's why there was some uncertainty that Apple would approve an app that seems like a strong competitor to its own music service. However, Spotify is reporting that they've been in communication with Apple and heard that their app will make it into the store.

What makes Spotify better than its streaming competitors is the ability to cache tracks into a playlist for offline listening. It's not the same thing as downloading them from a music store, but Spotify's subscription model is clearly very attractive, considering its popularity in the parts of the world where it's launched so far. The next test is whether Spotify makes it to the US in time to gain an advantage over competitors like Grooveshark and Rhapsody, both of which have submitted iPhone apps to the store.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: apple, iphone, music, spotify, streaming

Filed under: Audio, Web services, iPhone

Spotify mobile music app coming to the iPhone

by Jay Hathaway Jul 27th 2009

Spotify is one of the best streaming music services out there, and it looks like it's going to have the best iPhone app, too. Although the app is still waiting for approval from Apple, there's already a preview video up, showing off a set of phenomenal features. Streaming your music collection to your iPhone is cool enough, but being able to save tracks and entire playlists to listen to when you're not connected to the Internet is what makes this the new app I'm most looking forward to right now.

Syncing between the desktop and iPhone versions of Spotify looks seamless, with changes you make to playlists on your computer getting pushed to your phone right away. Search also looks great, and the ability to skip to the next song in the playlist by sliding the album artwork sideways is a nice touch that would be welcome in Apple's iPod app. And speaking of the iPod app, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Apple doesn't issue Spotify one of its infamous rejections for overlapping functionality with one of Apple's own apps.

Tags: iphone, music, spotify

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Microsoft, Web

Microsoft to launch internet radio service?

by Brad Linder Jul 14th 2009

A few months ago web-based music search engine and streaming media service SeeqPod dropped a hint that the company was working with Microsoft on... something. Now UK paper Telegraph is reporting that Microsoft is planning to launch a streaming music service similar to Spotify, Pandora, or Last.fm.

Microsoft could launch the service by the end of July. Users would be able to either stream songs for free over the internet or download tracks. The service will reportedly be ad-supported, but users will also have the option of paying £9.99 (about $16.30) per month for an ad-free version.

There's also a chance (I'd say a pretty good one), that the music service will be available to Xbox 360 users as well, as Microsoft continues to position the console as a multimedia hub and not just a gaming system.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: last.fm, music, pandora, seeqpod, spotify

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