Spotify: Everything you need to know!
Have an unquenchable thirst for music? Spotify can help you out.
Spotify is one of the most popular streaming services in the world. According to Business Insider by way of Edison Research, it's the second most popular audio streaming service next to Pandora. It pretty much has it all, from the biggest artists of today and yesteryear to the indie artists that only your cool cousin Chaz has heard of.
Here's everything you need to know about Spotify!
May 25, 2018: Spotify is rolling back its XXXTentacion policy after backlash
On May 10, Spotify announced it would endeavor to eradicate hate speech and punish artists for misconduct, but following backlash from artists and some of its own employees, it plans to change the nascent policy going forward, though no final decisions have been made.
From Bloomberg:
The company singled out R. Kelly, the R&B singer who has been dogged by accusations of statutory rape, as well as XXXTentacion, a rapper charged with battering a pregnant woman.
Spotify stopped including the artists in its playlists, though customers can still find the music on their own.
Being two months shy of its stock market debut, Spotify is now reconsidering things in order to make amends with artists. Reps for various artists, including Kendrick Lamar, threatened to pull their music if Spotify goes forward with current policy.
Stemming from the #MeToo movement, Spotify's policy has been condemned over censorship complaints and has even sparked some internal dissent, according to Bloomberg's sources.
Spotify revamps its mobile app, adds on-demand listening for free users
During a recent event in New York City, Spotify talked about a heap of new goodies that are in the works for its mobile app and free users.
Looking first at the new app, there are visual changes in tow for just about everything – including the search page, now playing tab, and more. The bottom navigation bar is also less cluttered, and Spotify says it's currently in the process of pushing the new UI to all of its users.
Spotify's main focus was clearly on its free members, however, and there's a lot in the pipeline for them.
Perhaps the biggest feature for free users is the ability to listen to certain titles on-demand. Free Spotify members have previously been limited to listening to only shuffled playlists, but now they'll be able to pick and choose which songs they want to listen to as many times as they'd like – as long as those songs are offered in one of Spotify's personalized playlists (such as Discover Weekly, Daily Mix, etc.)
Speaking of playlists, Spotify's also adding "assisted playlisting" to the free version of its mobile app. Previously reserved for Premium subscribers, this will show recommended tracks to add to a playlist you're creating based on what's currently in it.
Along with all this, free members will also be able to turn on a new data-saver mode that'll decrease data usage by as much as 75%.
While these new features for Spotify's free service are great to see, there are still plenty of reasons to pay for its Premium offering. If you want to get rid of ads, listen to any song on-demand, or download your tunes for offline listening, you'll still need to cough up 10 bucks each month.
What is Spotify?
It's quite simply a music streaming library. Think of it like your music library on your phone or computer, but instead of being physically stored on your device, it's in an online repository, so you need an internet connection to access it. It features streaming radio stations, as well as millions of songs by many thousands of artists. Heard this one song one time 10 years ago? Chances are you'll be able to find it on Spotify.
Just how many songs are in Spotify's library?
There are over 30 million songs in the Spotify library. That's one song for every second of every day for almost a year (347 days).
Is it free?
Ostensibly, yes. Streaming on Spotify is absolutely free, but there are certain features that you miss out on. You can skip tracks, but only a certain number. After that, you're stuck listening to the song that's playing for a certain period of time. You'll also hear ads between tracks and have some other on-demand limitations.
A paid subscription is $9.99 per month, which gives you total access to everything Spotify has to offer, including offline listening and Spotify Connect, which lets you use your Spotify app as a remote to play Spotify on supported devices.
Are there family and student rates?
Yup. The family rate is $14.99 per month, and up to 6 users can enjoy full access to Spotify, including their own playlists, which follow you if you choose to upgrade.
The student rate is $4.99 per month; you just need to prove you're a student with your student number. Your account will revert to a regular Premium account after 12 months, which is how Spotify keeps tabs on who's still a student and who's just milking their account. The student rate is available in only 34 countries.
I live in (insert country here). Can I use Spotify?
Spotify is available in over 60 countries. You can check with Spotify to find it if it's available for you.
Which devices support Spotify?
Spotify works on just about any device within reason. Here are all the Apple devices that Spotify supports:
- iPhone 4s or newer running iOS 8 or higher
- iPad 2 or newer running iOS 8 or higher
- iPod Touch 5th generation or newer running iOS 8 or higher
- Mac running OS X 10.9 or newer
Each device must have a minimum of 100MB of free space.
How does it compare to the other big music streaming services?
As far as all the other music streaming services are concerned, Spotify is a BIG deal. It has over 100 million active monthly users and over 50 million paying subscribers as of March, 2017.
Let's take a closer look:
| Spotify | Apple Music | Google Play Music | Amazon Prime Music | Pandora | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial period | 30 days | 3 months | 30 days | 30 days (with Prime membership) | 30 days for Premium, 7 days for Plus |
| Price | $9.99/month ($14.99 for family up to 6 people) | $9.99/month ($14.99 for family up to 6 people) | $9.99 ($14.99 for family up to 6 people) | Comes with Prime membership ($99/year), $7.99/month for Unlimited | Pandora Premium: $4.99/month, $54.89/year Pandora Plus: $9.99/month, $109.89/year |
| Library size | ~ 30 million songs | ~ 40 million songs | ~ 40 million songs | ~ 2 million (may differ depending on location), ~ 40 million (Unlimited) | ~ 40 million |
| Number of countries supported | Over 60 | Over 110 | Over 60 | See Amazon | Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A. |
Should I subscribe to Spotify?
If you're not married to the whole Apple ecosystem, then absolutely. Its autoplay features and Daily Mixes and Discover Weekly playlists are wonderful and if you love discovering new music or just listening to other albums from artists you love, then I can't say enough great things about it. Plus, it has a fantastic desktop app for Mac and PC that works with your keyboard playback controls.
Questions?
Got a question about Spotify? Sound off in the comments.
from iMore - Learn more. Be more. http://bit.ly/2nsYuvd
Powered by IOSCUBE
No comments: