Larry Magid: Spotify Streams Free On Mobile Devices

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Spotify is now letting people stream music for free on mobile devices. Previously the app was free on desktops, but only subscribers were able to listen on smartphones.

I suppose it would be too much cliché to say that it was music to my ears, but yeah, I was able to type the name of my favorite groups and listen to their music in somewhat random order.

One of the differences in the now new free account and the paid account (you can still pay $10 to upgrade) is that on the free account, the music comes out randomly so to speak, but you do get the artist of your choice.

I typed in Simon & Garfunkel, which of course shows where my musical taste is, but I got to listen to their songs, in no particular order. I don't think the songs matched the order heard on their original albums or how chronological order though.

With Pandora's free app on the other hand, you might get one song from an artist you selected, but from then on it might be a random selection of similar artists.

I have to admit I didn't listen long enough to the new, free Spotify to notice if they had any commercials, but I assume they will have them like Pandora does. Again, this is for the free version of the applications, but not the paid.

I think it's great. I listen to Pandora a lot when I drive long distances and now I'll probably listen to Spotify, because I can be more selective.

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