Spotify announces unlimited free browser music streaming less than a week ahead of Beats...

[Justin Kahn]

Last month Spotify introduced free shuffled music streaming for its mobile apps, and now the company is taking it one step further by offering free unlimited streaming on its desktop and web browser apps. While this feature has always been offered as a 6 month trial, the recent announcement ditches the streaming time limit completely for users in all countries.

While some music streaming services seem to be having a problem balancing the paid subscription based model and the ad-driven free business, Spotify fortunately is finding a way to keep things moving and profitable. 

With the launch of Beats Music service looming, the company likely feels that it will have to remain competitive to retain its position. The Beats service has a lot of industry backing and support behind it from the Beats headphones group to influential artists and industry vets like Trent Reznor and Jimmy Iovine. It also has a lot of money behind it, Beats Music streaming service is set to launch on January 21 alongside quite an intensive marketing campaign that involves a Super Bowl ad, AT&T exclusive deals and endorsements from Ellen DeGeneres, among other things.

Beats Music service will offer 20 million-plus songs for around $10 a month, which is essentially the same deal as most of the other big names in the streaming game. Only time will tell if Spotify can remain creative enough to maintain its position against the deep pockets and well-known industry personnel behind Beats.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55352-spotify-announces-unlimited-free-browser-music-streaming-less-than-a-week-ahead-of-beats-music-launc.html

 

[wastedkill]

Spotify will easily win this specially if we look at how good beats audio products are, so is spotify making premium users the loosers in all this?

If beats audio made good quality products for the prices they are currently at instead of garbage then I can see them giving spotify a run for their money but as with the current products chinese knock offs are cheaper and better lol.

 

[howzz1854]

Good. some competition will give Spotify some incentive to improve their features. maybe, and just maybe we'll have a slim chance of getting FLAC audio in the future, even if it's a slim chance, and a distant future.

 

[MrBlkfx1]

Spotify will easily win this specially if we look at how good beats audio products are, so is spotify making premium users the loosers in all this?

If beats audio made good quality products for the prices they are currently at instead of garbage then I can see them giving spotify a run for their money but as with the current products chinese knock offs are cheaper and better lol.

I don't think that this really encourages new paying users. But, I don't feel screwed over at all either. I'm a premium user because it allows us to listen to music offline. So, as long as that feature is exclusive to us, I think the paid / free options are balanced enough.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Last month Spotify introduced free shuffled music streaming for its mobile apps...

What's the deal with the songs having to be shuffled? I tired out the app and for one of my lists, it told me that it was too short so it was going to play some songs like the ones on my list mixed in. What do they have against letting us choose our music? It's not like the music they pick is indie stuff with no royalties.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

It would be nice to get a music service like either of these in this neck of the woods, maybe then I wouldn't have to pirate the songs that I can't find for love nor money legally.

 

[OliTheG]

Well, isn't that nice for Spotify.

Shame they lost my support when they decided I have to pay £10 a month to listen to music locally on my phone.

Seriously. I just uninstalled it, and am now using Google Play Music. It lets me play music I own.

Basically, what spotify has done for mobiles, is let you buy a record, let you buy a hifi setup, then decided you need to pay £120 a year to unlock the CD player DRM. I happened to use spotify because I have found the default iOS music player, and default android player to be clunky and fidgety.

SCREW. THAT.

Desktop, I still sort of use it, but very rarely now. It's a shame, Spotify used to be the only good all around client, but now that they ****ed over 99% of their mobile listeners, who cares now.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Wow just another reason I love Spotify.