Spotify

Popular programs in Streaming

What is Spotify

No matter how much depth your music collection has, Spotify can deliver millions of additional songs, and the music streaming service's collection continues to grow. Spotify helps users discover new music through suggestions and social networking features. Users can stream entire albums, singles and even obscure EPs. While Spotify offers a premium subscription service, its free features are robust enough to keep even casual music fans addicted to the streaming music service.

Radio and Recommendations

Using any song as your starting point, you can create a Spotify radio station that will play similar songs and help you discover new music. You can create multiple radio stations to suit your mood and fine-tune your stations using Spotify's "Like" and "Dislike" buttons.

In addition to receiving recommendations through radio station, you can also use Spotify's "Discover" option to stream entire albums recommended by the music service. Preview buttons allow you to click and hold on a recommended album to hear a sample of the music it contains; when you release your mouse, the music ends.

Liked and Starred

Songs you recommend with Spotify's "Like" button are added to your "Like from Radio" playlist, a list of songs you can stream at any time. If a song you don't care for appears in one of your radio stations, you can "Dislike" it to take it out of the rotation. Spotify uses your likes and dislikes to improve your station, making better recommendations for you based on your feedback. If you're in love with a song, you can mark it with a star and save it to your favorites list.

Social Networking Features

Spotify is big on social interaction between its users, but you can opt to keep your listening sessions private. You can synchronize your Spotify account with social media profiles you've created through sites like Facebook. From there, you can follow members of your social network on Spotify. Learn what songs they've been listening to, recommend new music and exchange messages with your social circle. You can also follow artists on Spotify and receive updates from them as they post messages or release new music.

The Verdict

With tens of millions of users worldwide, Spotify's music streaming service has won the hearts of the masses through sleek user interfaces and a seemingly bottomless collection of streaming music. The service is available on just about any device that's capable of connecting to the Internet. Spotify offers its service as a web, desktop and mobile app.

Pros

• Stunningly large music archive
• Sleek and intuitive user interface
• Custom radio stations and recommendations
• Social networking enhancements

Cons

• Repetitive commercials sour the free version
• Social networking features may not appeal to everyone