Digital radios: Spotify: listen to free streamed music online Download and install Spotify
Spotify invitations
Originally Spotify could only be accessed if you received an invitation. However in May 2010 Spotify launched the free Spotify Open service. This is open to all users without the need for an invitation, and gives full access to the Spotify music catalogue. Spotify Open users are, however, limited to listening to 20 hours of music per month, and the music stream will include occasional adverts.
Changes were announced to the free service in April 2011. Spotify Open listeners are now only able to listen to up to 10 hours of free music a month. However, itf you're new to Spotify Open you will be able to access 20 hours of free music a month for the first 6 months.
Spotify launched Spotify Unlimited at the same time as Spotify Open. It offers unlimited ad-free music on PCs or Macs for £4.99 per month.
Free users can log into Spotify while abroad for up to 14 days – if you want to use it while travelling for a longer period, the Spotify Premium subscription allows unlimited travel.
Spotify on mobile devices
A Spotify mobile phone app for iPhone and Android is available to all Spotify users. Spotify Premium users can add playlists to devices to listen to them offline. Those not on the premium subscription can purchase playlists from Spotify and listen to them on mobile devices.
Users can also manage iPods using Spotify - a feature added in May 2011. Connect up an iPod Classic, Nano or Shuffle and MP3s in your Spotify account can be added to the iPod, or purchase tracks in Spotify and add them straight to an iPod.
Spotify options
The Spotify subscription options available are:
Spotify Open
- Free - with advertising
- No invitation required
- Limited to 20 hours of listening per month, reduced to 10 hours per month after the first 6 months.
- After the first 6 months, you'll only be able to listen to a track for free up to 5 times.
Spotify Unlimited
- £4.99 per month - no advertising
- No invitation required
- Unlimited listening but only on PCs or Macs
Spotify Premium
- £9.99 per month - no advertising
- No invitation required
- Unlimited listening on PCs, Macs and mobiles
- Offline listening to playlists
- Listen to Spotify abroad
- Improved sound quality - bitrates up to 320kbps
Download Spotify software
Spotify is available to download in Windows and Mac versions. The free download file is reasonably small at 1.5MB.
Save the downloaded file and open the installer. You’ll need to register with a username and password, but these will be saved so you don’t need to type them in each time you start the Spotify software.
Getting started with Spotify
Once you've installed Spotify, it'll take only a few minutes to start listening to music.
When you first start Spotify the ‘Home screen’ appears, showing album covers of the latest music available on the service, including popular new releases. Clicking on an album cover immediately brings up the track listing for that album.
The next step is to start creating a personal playlist, or personalise a radio station.
For more on this and other things to do online, see our book Internet Made Easy for the Over 50s.
