I have always been quite the collector of CDs over the years, but for lack of space I have been looking at other ways to continue my music collection.   Obviously iTunes has been a big help in that respect, but I was recently introduced to a piece of software called Spotify.   

What is Spotify you ask?  Spotify is a free and legal online streaming music service that uses peer-to-peer technology.  

Once you have downloaded the client and created an account it is possible to browse a large array of music whatever your tastes are.  Whilst the library is not complete at this stage and with the occasional country restriction on certain songs, music is being added all the time.

Music plays instantly so there is no waiting for the entire song to finish loading before you can play it (this will obviously depend on your internet connection) and there are no limits to the amount of times you can play anything.

For the free version, you will come upon some advertisements in the form of banners and short messages between songs, but for most part I have not found this terribly annoying as after all, it is a free service and it does not happen between every song.  As an alternative, if the advertising is really getting on your nerves or you are looking for more features that the free service does not provide, there is a paid service which costs £9.99 a month. 

Spotify is very simple to use.  Upon launching the application you will be taken to the home page will lists new music that has been added, as well as “top lists” which shows you the most popular songs users have been listening to.  You will also see an “Artists you may like” section which will recommend artists and albums based upon your searches. 

The Spotify Interface

On the left hand side below the home button you have an option to listen to Spotify’s radio service whereby you can choose which music genre you want to listen to.

Upon searching and finding the music you want, it is easy to create playlists from your searches by simply dragging the song or entire album into the playlist section on the left hand side of the screen. 

Unfortunately, Spotify is not available free for all countries at this time, however is it available for PC, Mac and Linux.  I have tried it with both PC and Mac and have not encountered any issues on either.  

Since installing Spotify I have pretty much used it every day as it gives me the opportunity to listen to my favourite albums at home or work with relative ease.

Overall I think this is a fantastic piece of software and definitely one I would recommend is worth trying if you can as Spotify is not available in every country at this time.

To learn more about Spotify please visit their official website.