Spotify
by Volker Weber
This is a playlist. It was created on Spotify. As you can imagine, I am not listening to it on my computer. But unfortunately I cannot get clearance from Sonos to write about a feature they already announced. I tried. So let's talk about Spotify instead.
Spotify is not available in my country. But with a little help* from my friends (Ben, Federico) I have an account and I am "travelling". From the Spotify FAQ:
I’m going to travel outside my profile country, can I use Spotify there?
If you are a free user you can log in abroad for up to 14 days. If you are traveling for a longer period, you might consider a Premium subscription. Premium users are licensed for unlimited travel. You would be able to enjoy Spotify, without ads, in any country…
Spotify has millions of tracks available for you to listen to. It gets interesting when you subscribe to playlists created by your peers. There are three types of accounts, but only the premium account gets the job done for me.
I find Spotify to be a very interesting service. But the restrictions imposed make life too complicated for me. For instance, I cannot download the Spotify client to my iPhone, since it's not available in my app store. I would need to set up a separate account in the UK or elsewhere. Can you remember when you could buy a record abroad and bring it home? Oh wait ...
*) This is actually the most delightful part of the story. I have not asked for Federico's help. He just stepped up, put some money forward and I was flying. Thank you.
Comments
However, once you have everything setup (iPhone App from UK, desktop client for Mac and Linux) it is beautiful. Listening to my playlists streamed over 3G or downloaded for offline usage in a plane is awesome -- offline is available as well for the desktop app.
The offline feature is available to Spotify premium users only, but it's worth the money.
@Martin Grund
Wo kann ich einen Premium-Account kaufen? Meine Kreditkarten und Paypal-Accounts werden immer abgelehnt. VPN-Verbindung über Schweden oder UK habe ich zur Verfügung. D.h. Anmeldung und Benutzung des Desktop-Clients klappen. Die Android-App habe ich auch. Mir fehlt nur der Premium-Account um unterwegs mit dem Handy zu hören. Danke!
Hat schon jemand versucht, Spotify Premium mit einer Entropay Virtual Visa Card die auf englische Pfund ausgestellt ist zu bezahlen?
Hab selbst keine mehr, da Ryanair die nicht mehr als gebuehrenfreie Zahlweise aktzeptiert.
Offline kann man Spofify Premium Voucher-Codes bei 7-Eleven oder Pressbyrån in SE kaufen. Beim nächsten Urlaub mit einplanen. Von Online-Resellern ist mir nichts bekannt.
Mein Spotify-Premium habe ich als Option zu meinem Mobilfunkvertrag bekommen. Kostet 1/3 vom normalen Preis und der Spotify Datenverkehr ist nicht begrenzt.
Fernando - I presume you live in Spain?? If so, which provider gives the Spotify Premium option with their mobile contracts? (I will be moving to Spain soon and want to subscribe when I arrive).
Sorry - old age setting in - Federico I meant to ask... /J
John, Federico lives in Sverige.
Before anyone gets any funny ideas: I do not think you will be able to setup Spotify on your Sonos, if you did not register it in a country where Spotify is available.
No harm, John. And Volker is right about Sweden. The provider is Telia in this case.
I use Spotify client on iPod Touch and Android and have always preferred the latter - it's also just an .apk file if there happen to be any geographic restrictions :O)
Yes, there is a restriction. You know where to drop the .apk. :-)
