*Spotify* turned the world of online music streaming upside down, providing
users with access to a *massive music catalog* anyplace, anytime. Spotify
lets you search its entire *music database* in several ways (by artist,
album, genre, decade, label brand…), create as many *playlists* as you want
and share them with other users, and learn more about your favorite bands
thanks to extensive, highly detailed biographies. Spotify also helps you
*discover new music* through the "Related artists" and Radio service.
There are three types of Spotify accounts: *Open*, *Unlimited* and *Premium*.
Free is limited to 10 hours of free ad-supported a month (approximately 200
songs) and lets you play each song up to five times. Unlimited has no ads and
no playback restrictions. Finally, Premium includes high-quality MP3 (also
with no ads or restrictions) and also includes an offline mode for playlists.
The one big criticism of Spotify was the lack of social features. Luckily the
developers took note of this complaint and include a bunch of *new social
elements* in Spotify's next version – together with the Library, a
centralized area from which you can manage your music collection –
including Spotify's lists and your own MP3 files, which you can now import
into Spotify from your hard drive or your iTunes library. The brand new
features included in the latest version of Spotify now let you *manage and
sync the music in your iPod, iPhone or Android*. Also, the Spotify mobile app
has been made available for anyone, and not just Premium users. Last, but not
least, Spotify has launched its *MP3 download service*, thanks to which you
can buy and download individual songs and also your custom playlists. The
price depends on the number of songs you want to download – the longer the
playlist, the less you pay for each track. You can pay with credit card or
Paypal, though the latter is not accepted if you only purchase one song. Just
like a good wine, Spotify gets better with age. If you don't mind the
limitations in the Free version (or you're willing to pay for the
Unlimited/Premium one) it's probably time to ditch your old desktop music
player. *Spotify lets you browse, play, share and buy music, including not
only your lifelong favorite bands, but also brand new styles and
artists.*Download *Spotify 0.5.3.0* in Softonic
