Spotify | Little Things

Like they sometimes do, this week’s Little Thing post involves me sharing something new that I’ve discovered on the Internet that makes my life happier.

If you haven’t already heard about Spotify, the new way to listen to music on your computer (and your phone, but we’ll get to that later) then consider this your official introduction.

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I love Pandora, the internet radio that plays music for you based upon the artist or song you’ve chosen to listen to.

Pandora allows you to take a very hands off approach with your music, which I like very much.  When I’m working, I often just want music playing that’s enjoyable, and don’t care much about what particular songs I hear.

However, there are times when I feel like listening to an entire album, or songs by just one artist, and for those times, Spotify is awesome.

Spotify is kind of like having all of iTunes at your disposal, for you to listen to for free.  You can make and save playlists to listen to later and search for songs either by artist, song, or album.

Here’s how the people at Spotify explain things:

The basic features of Spotify are free, but there are also two levels of paying accounts: Unlimited and Premium

Here’s what is available with each kind of Spotify account:

If you’re unsure of which one is right for you, they also have a handy chart that breaks down what you get with each one and what you don’t.

I had access to a free premium account for a month and once it expired, I was hooked.

The ability to listen to music on demand on my iPhone is amazing.

Spotify works on other phones too!

Here’s an example of how you can search for a particular artist and find all their music.

Sara Bareilles has great stuff, this shows a search I did of all her songs, and a partial listing of the results.

If you’re not sure exactly what you’re in the mood for, or what song to add to your favorite playlist next, Spotify’s “Top Lists” are a great place to start.

It lists the tracks and albums that are popular at that exact moment.

The options for listening to music on the internet are only getting larger.  This article from Mashable does a good job of comparing the four main options currently available.

I have difficulty saying that I prefer Spotify over Pandora because I love different things about each of them.

I enjoy listening to an entire album on Spotify and often listen to older songs that way.  It reminds me of listening to CDs all the way through in my car the way I used to in high school when that was the only option.

If I’m doing something that I need to concentrate on or will take me a long time, I enjoy the fact that Pandora will pick songs for me and I don’t have to worry about what’s coming on next.

I’ll listen to both of them at different times throughout the day and enjoy having so many options to choose from!

At the moment, free Spotify accounts are by invitation only (if you purchase either their unlimited or premium account you can get access immediately) and all others are put on a waiting list.

When I subscribed to Spotify premium I got a few invitations to share with friends.  The first five people to comment that they’d like an invitation and include their email address will get one 🙂

Happy listening!

XOXO,

B