Following a report from the Financial Times last week claiming Google is developing a free music service to compete with Spotify, Bloomberg reported today much of the same details citing “two people with knowledge of the situation.” According to the report from Bloomberg, Google is planning to launch the subscription-based music streaming service by the third quarter and it’s already in talks with record labels:
Negotiations are under way with major record labels to license their music, said the people, who sought anonymity because the talks are confidential. Google, which also owns the YouTube video website, is also discussing renewing deals that cover the use of songs in videos made by consumers, they said.
The report added that sources said the service would work on both Android and devices running another OS.
In addition to announcing that the service is now up to 15 million active users and 4 million paying subscribers worldwide, Spotify also announced today that it is rolling out the radio streaming feature (previously only available on iOS) to Android. Same as the iPhone version, the feature provides ad-free radio streams for premium subs and ad-supported streams for free accounts. Unfortunately, the free streams are U.S. only at the moment. You can also save songs from radio streams to a “Liked from Radio” playlist.
What’s in this version:
There’s a great new radio experience in Spotify. Now you can discover and save music on the go! If your station plays a song you really like, save it with a single tap.
New: Start a radio station based on your favorite playlist, genre, album, artist or song.
New: Personalize your radio stations by voting songs up or down.
Google TV just launched iHeartRadio on its Smart TV platform in an effort to bring live radio to the big screen.
iHeartRadio is a four-year-old website and mobile radio network that aggregates local radio brands, personalities, and on-demand content. The new Google TV app offers 800 live stations and the ability to create a custom station based on an artist or track. It also sports high-resolution imagery, quick jump options, and seamless navigation for finding local broadcasts by genre or location. Moreover, the app “dims the lights,” so users can listen to music without a blaring screen in the room.
A screenshot of the app is above, while a reel of the service is below. Expand Expanding Close
After many requests from paying subscribers, the folks over at Spotify introduced a completely overhauled Android app this morning. It features an all new user interface, speed boost, and support for Android 4.0. The app formerly lacked features that the iOS app has, but now it is updated to be on par with the app on the App Store. Spotify for Android allows users to listen to unlimited music and build playlists to their liking for only $10 a month. We are huge fans, especially since Android does not have an iTunes-like solution. Unlimited music anytime, on any device — what’s not to love.
The app adds full support for Ice Cream Sandwich, allowing the latest devices in the Android ecosystem to enjoy the platform. Without ICS support, users were not able to enjoy Spotify on the latest and greatest version of Android. Now that the app is working on the latest generation of Android devices, it is a huge bonus and frankly something that should have been already included.
As you can tell in the screenshots below, the big story here is that Spotify for Android has been given a huge overhaul compared to the old version of the app. Users can use the all-new slide-out navigation, view their friends’ Facebook profiles and playlists right on the app, and view album art in high-resolution. The app also features an overall speed enhancement that is very noticeable when you fire up the app.
Spotify plans to add folders and Last.fm scrobbling to the app before it goes live on the Play Store, but it was not included in the pre-release software that we tested.
Overall, Spotify has made some great changes that allow Android users to enjoy its service. Spotify has done a great job with this app, and it is now on-par, if not surpassing, the iPhone app. Spotify plans to launch the app very soon, and we will keep you updated when the app hits the Play Store. Now we just need to hear some more information on that rumored iPad app.
Spotify, a popular music streaming service from Sweden, arrived in the United States mid-July on an invite-only basis. Today, Spotify goes live for everyone nationwide, no invitation required. Users can now sign up for an account at Spotify.com and use a mobile app for Android or iPhone to stream music over wireless and cellular networks to their phones, tag songs for offline viewing, favorite tracks, share them with friends and more. What’s best, you needn’t sign up for a paid Spotify account. Thanks to a new partnership with Facebook that Mark Zuckerberg announced at the yesterday’s developer conference (more in the clip below), anyone signing up with their Facebook account gets six months of unlimited listening. What happens when the six-month free period expires?
Popular music startup from Sweden called Spotify today kicked off its long-expected US operation. “We’re massively excited to be here”, the company wrote in a blog post. Spotify has been a huge hit in the UK and several other European territories such as Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden, with a total number of subscribers in Europe topping 10 million people. The company is planning a major push to get the word out, lining up exclusive launch partners such as Coca-Cola and Sprite, Chevrolet, Motorola, Reebok and Sonos. “These brands will be launching innovative campaigns in partnership with Spotify in the coming weeks and months”, Spotify says.
Spotify lets you stream songs free of charge, with adverts, to your computer or pay a single-digit monthly fee for unlimited, ad-free streams in high fidelity (384Kbps). A Premium account is required to stream music via the Spotify app on smartphones. Music streams on demand via wireless hotspots or 3G cellular networks so you don’t have to have gigabytes of free storage to keep the files on your device.
The company celebrated launch in the United States with the release of the free Spotify for iOS app. While Spotify for Android is not yet live in the US Android Market, we expect it anytime soon so stay tuned. Why you’ll love Spotify? Because for just ten bucks a month you can play songs from their catalog of more than fifteen million tracks to your phone or computer. That’s a sizable collection even by iTunes’ standards.
And for half the price you get a Spotify Unlimited account which removes ads, but lacks other features and encodes audio in standard quality. Premium accounts can mark entire songs, playlists or albums for offline listening when there is no network coverage.
