Popular European music streaming service Spotify today announced a major new initiative to take on Apple's iTunes, launching a new download service and software support for syncing music to non-iOS iPods.
You've been telling us how much you love discovering, sharing and talking about music in Spotify - and you've created well over 200 million playlists to prove it. But you've also said you're listening to a huge amount of music on your iPods, and that getting your Spotify playlists onto them as MP3s has been a serious hassle, forcing you to juggle multiple music players. That's until now...
As of today, Spotify is making it possible for everyone to take their playlists with them in one lean, green music machine.
The new download service allows users to purchase entire playlists with a single click, bundling tracks to lower costs to as little as 50p per song. The Spotify software also now directly syncs with all iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle models, with the device simply showing up in the Spotify sidebar when connected via USB.
Finally, Spotify has opened up its iPhone and Android apps to all Spotify users, expanding on the original Premium access to offer to all users support for wireless syncing of playlists.
Spotify has missed a number goal dates for launching its service in the United States as it has struggled to reach agreements with major music labels. The company has, however, finally struck deals with EMI and Sony, moving it closer to securing the consent of the four major labels essentially required to debut in the U.S. Universal and Warner Music represent the two major labels not yet on board with Spotify's plans.
