It was rumored a few months ago that Spotify was going to release a Symbian client of their music application -- in fact, the team even put together a quick video showing a few features and whatnot. Earlier this morning, Spotify officially announced and released their Spotify for Symbian application, which supports both touchscreen and non-touchscreen Symbian-powered smartphones.
Spotify, if you’re not familiar with it, is an application that allows you to instantly enjoy nearly any music on the internet, freely and legally. The tracks are instantly streamed to your computer, and there is almost literally zero waiting or buffering. You simply search or browse for what you’re looking for, click on it, and that’s pretty much it -- it starts. You can also easily share your tracks, or put together a collaborative playlist that your friends can add tracks to.
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How Much Does It Cost?
You can use Spotify for free, with ads, or you can sign up to be a premium subscriber, which costs 9.99 GBP/month, which disables ads during playback and gives you the ability to use the service anywhere in the world (normally there are geographic limitations). Note, also, that you must be a premium subscriber to use Spotify on any mobile device (they also have clients for iPhone and Android).
The mobile version of Spotify has a neat offline feature that makes it possible to listen to tracks while disconnected, such as on a subway or an airplane. However, 10 GBP/month comes up to 120 GBP/year, which is quite expensive, in my opinion. I much prefer to use a Last.FM premium account, which is 3 GBP/month and offers unlimited streaming, as well.
What’s The Difference?
So, what’s the difference in Spotify and Last.FM, then? Spotify is great if you’re an album kind of person, whereas Last.FM is better if you’re an FM radio kind of person. For example, when I want to listen to music, I think in genres, and rarely artists. I’ll be in the mood for some country music, or for Irish drinking songs. Other people will want to listen specifically to Beastie Boys, Hannah Montana, or a specific artist.
Note that currently, without some workarounds, Spotify is only available for folks that live in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain. If you’re in one of these countries, you can get more information on your phone at m.Spotify.com.
