Spotify for iPhone: the verdict

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

I’ve had my week reviewing Spotify’s Premium account and the iPhone app, I’ve listened to an uneclectic mix of playlists that mostly consisted of the song Africa by Toto, and I’ve used it in central London and out in Kent, with all the public transport in between.

And the verdict? I almost, nearly, don’t quite want to pay for it.

It’s not that it’s not brilliant. It is. (more…)

Spotify for iPhone: first look

Monday, September 7th, 2009

The eagerly awaited music-streaming service Spotify has today arrived on both the iPhone App Store and on Android’s Marketplace, and I’ve been granted a seven-day guest pass to see if it’s really worth that £10-a-month premium account.

Over the course of a year that does seem like a lot of money – particularly as most users will already have huge music collections of their own – but the promise of millions of tracks available on the move is certainly tempting.

Starting up

Once logged in, you’ll be delighted to see all of your desktop playlists seamlessly synced with Spotify on your phone, and if that’s what you’re after you can just dive straight in. (more…)

How to stream Spotify to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and digital radios

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Spotify may have launched its iPhone and Android apps, but how about streaming the Spotify sounds to other devices in the home, such as games consoles and digital radios? After all, many of us have expensive speaker systems connected to the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, while the speakers found on the average laptop give even Barry White the nasally whine of the Bee Gees.

Although the Spotify software itself doesn’t support streaming to other devices, it’s perfectly possible to do so with the third-party software, Jamcast. What’s more, the Jamcast software is completely free of charge and (unlike the iPhone/Android software) you don’t need a premium Spotify account to take advantage.

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The PC Pro Spotify playlist: the results

Friday, May 15th, 2009

You know it’s Friday afternoon when a hastily-written blog post asking for inspiration for PC Pro’s Spotify account gets nearly 20 responses before four in the afternoon. The result is a barkingly-mad list of music which takes in artists from The Beastie Boys to Tina Turner, and from Styx to Korn.

A quick reminder of the rules: all the songs had to have some connection to computers and they had to be found in the Spotify library. 

The winners are:

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Suggest songs for the PC Pro Computer playlist

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Here’s a bit of Friday fun: help us complete a Spotify playlist of computer-related songs.

The rules are simple:

1. The song title or artist must have a computer connection. (Kraftwerk’s Computer Love, or anything by The Commodores, for example)

2. It must be in the Spotify library  

We’ll put the best 12 suggestions into the PC Pro Computer Playlist. Add your suggestions using the comments below. 

UPDATE: Voting has now closed. Thanks for all your suggestions. See the final PC Pro playlist here. 

Can Spotify survive my padlocked wallet?

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

I love Spotify, but quite recently I seem to have become the Lex Luthor to its Superman – the two of us locked in an unceasing battle of wills.

At first this was a simple matter. I refused to pay for a premium account. I’m tight, the music’s free, I don’t see the point. That brought us to a standstill, and then Spotify wheeled out its secret weapon. Jonathan.

Any regular Spotify users will know his 10-song interjections well. If you don’t they go a little something like this: “Hi, I’m Jonathan from Spotify. We all love Spotify, and now you’ve heard me say the same thing five hundred times I’m sure you’d like to cover me in sausages and take me on safari, preferably tied to the bonnet of the jeep.”

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Spotify: free, legal music (honest)

Friday, January 16th, 2009

The PC Pro office is agog this afternoon. We’ve stumbled across Spotify – a genuinely free, legal music service that gives you unlimited streams of pretty much any track or album you can think of from the big four music labels and we’re all left wondering: what’s the catch?

All you have to do is register with the site (use this link, don’t go through the homepage, or else your name will simply be added to the waiting list) and download the desktop software, which is a mere 1.5MB.

Once installed, you’ll be presented with a piece of software that looks so similar to iTunes, I’d be amazed if Apple’s lawyers aren’t already ordering Havana cigars in anticipation. Pop the name of any band, track or album into the search box, and you’ll be presented with an impressive list of matching tracks, any of which can be played almost instantaneously with a double-click. Others can be added to the queue with a right-click. 

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