The Future of Music? I think so!

Thanks to my friend Gui I have been invited to try out a cool new online music service called Spotify.

This is a music service that combines free music streaming, ala Last.fm, with an interface just like iTunes. So unlike other services that are just like radio, or where you download mp3 files for a fixed fee, this service is completely free (if you accept non-annoying audio ads every so often) or low cost. You do not download music files, but you can create your own playlists or play individual songs or albums from a very comprehensive library.

My tastes are, uh, eclectic, and even so I managed to find LOADS of songs and artists that I have never seen on other competing services.

The way Gui describes it is music in the cloud, which is a pretty good way to put the service into an internet technology context.

Think about it, we use Gmail, Google Docs, and so on, why should we have physical CD’s or download Mp3 files? Once we have ubiquitous connectivity the idea of owning music will go the way of the grammaphone.

It’s the future!

Unfortunately right now it is only available for desktop computers, but I can see it moving to iPhone and so on very quickly.

What do you think? Is this the future, or am I so wrong you just have to put me right? (and not just in music tastes!) … let me know in the comments …

Posted on November 27, 2008 by Chris Garrett 
Filed Under Content Licensing, Software Tools

Comments

7 Responses to “The Future of Music? I think so!”

  1. Karim on November 27th, 2008 3:51 pm

    I do certainly believe the idea of owning physical has become less and less prevalent. But I don’t think this piece of software brought that about. iTunes achieves the same effect. For example, I don’t really own CDs anymore, but I do download a bunch of stuff through iTunes and manage it there.

  2. Andrew on November 27th, 2008 4:15 pm

    That sounds really interesting. It could well be the future. If only I had an invite…

  3. Andrew on November 28th, 2008 4:58 pm

    Now I’ve had a chance to try this I am really liking it. Not just because I means I may be able to delete a few hundred gigs of tracks on my hard drive but because the ads aren’t intrusive and the collaborative playlist feature is amazing.

  4. Ben on November 29th, 2008 12:59 pm

    It certainly does look like an amazing service. Any idea when they will be releasing any invites? I am dying to check it out.

  5. Chris Garrett on December 4th, 2008 2:46 pm

    I think I have still got an invite left so let me know if you want to try it

  6. Move from Last.fm to Spotify and the End of MP3 : Codswallop on October 7th, 2009 1:59 pm

    [...] may recall a while ago I tried out a service called Spotify that streams music to your computer. Well, since then I have had a chance to really try it out, and here are my [...]

  7. Michael J McCann on October 9th, 2009 5:47 pm

    any invite tokens left?

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