Tech Report: Spotify Takes Off Stateside

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – After months of delays, a new streaming music service called Spotify, which has become a huge hit in Europe, is now available in the US.

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid said that he believes it will be a huge hit in America.

"First of all they've got a free service, which is a little bit limited. It's advertising supported and you're limited to 10 hours a month and you can only play one song five times," said Magid. "But I'm trying out the premium service, and it couldn't be easier to use."

Magid said that the premium version of Spotify is $10 per month and the customer is permitted to listen to the music on their cell phone. You can also choose which songs to listen to, unlike with the Oakland-based free streaming music station Pandora. You can also listen to your own personal music collection as well, with Spotify integrating what's on your PC into the stream.

KCBS' Technology Analyst Larry Magid Comments:

"The timing is very interesting because Apple just announced its iCloud service, and I'm not worried about Apple's fortunes because they're going to do well, but I think there are going to be a significant number of people who are going to prefer this method to iTunes," said Magid.

You have to have an Internet connection to use Spotify.

You can hear Larry Magid's Tech Report Monday through Friday at 3:50pm on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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