Spotify: First Impressions

Spotify, the music service which has been popular in Europe, has finally arrived in the States. For those of you that don't know, Spotify is a service that allows you to stream music to your computer via a desktop client (free with advertisements) or to your mobile device (paid premium account). What separates this service from other streaming music providers, such as Pandora, is that you can search the Spotify database for specific songs and artist.

The desktop client is laid out nicely and is easy to navigate. It should be intuitive to anyone who has used music clients, like iTunes, in the past. After searching for music or artists, you can easily create playlists that are saved within the client. The free account has visual and audio ads which is a small price to pay for access to Spotify's vast catalog of over 15 million songs. You can also find and play the music stored on your local machine from the same interface.

Initially, I was skeptical of the service, expecting that it would be another Pandora or Slacker Radio. After using  Spotify for a week I have quickly changed my mind and it may become my primary music service of choice.

Currently, the free version of Spotify is invite only in the United States. You can apply now for an invite or skip the invite and pay for one of the premium accounts.