Archive for October 7, 2009
Spotify Offers Offline Listening
Last week Spotify, the streaming music site that’s taken Europe by storm, launched a new feature for premium subscribers allowing them to listen to their playlists offline. This really ups the ante for them, as they prepare to enter the US market later this year.
As posted on their own blog, subscribers will be able to select their playlists and set them to be ‘Available offline’. Those playlists will then be synced to your computer so you can continue to listen to your favorite tunes if you have a slow connection or even if you have no connection at all. Each computer will be able to store up to 3,333 tracks at a time.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek recently stated that less than 10% of the company’s more than 1 million subscribers are paying for the premium version of the service, which costs 9.99 pounds, or about $16.40 USD. This new feature could help drive subscriptions by combining the virtually limitless Spotify music library with untethered access. Listeners can pay with credit cards, Paypal, or you can purchase subscriptions at over 500 Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven stores in Sweden.
Spotify’s unique value proposition is that it offers on-demand access to a vast music library. The station’s interface feels a lot like iTunes, and the user experience is similar as well. In Sweden, Spotify is making the labels more money than iTunes . Easy ubiquitous access, lots and lots of music, ad supported and premium offerings for listeners. Spotify could be a game changer for download services like iTunes, as listeners discover an easier way to collect and listen to their own personal music library.
