If you've not heard of Spotify then where have you been for the past few months?

Spotify is a new web based music application that launched a few months ago. We've been running it here since it launched to the public, and we think it's great!

In a nutshell, Spotify is like iTunes but instead of downloading the music to your computer you stream it from the internet instead. This means that you can listen to a whole library of music almost instantaneously.

How is it free?

It's free because it is paid for by advertisers. Around every 10 songs (30 mins) you have a short 30 second advert played to you that you cannot skip. This may sound a drag, but when you have a huge playlist of music playing and you're listening in the background you hardly notice the interruption.

There must be some bad points, right?

Well, there are a few things that you have to get used too. You don't 'own' the music, and as it's not downloaded to your computer you cannot copy it to a music player or CD. This means that you have to listen to the music at your computer. We have a large set of speakers hooked up to ours, and use Spotify like a radio - a radio that only plays stuff that we like and has less adverts than commercial stations!

The other drawback is that Spotify have had some resistance from certain record labels and recording artists. This means that there are certain albums, or entire artists discographies, that are not available. Notable omissions include big names such as Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. However, the range of music available is truly vast, and covers every genre of modern and classical music.

Who should try it?

Everyone with a computer - seriously!
It's free, you can uninstall it if you don't like it, and it doesn't use up much in the way of resources on your computer. It's the ideal solution for parents to put on the kids PC's to kerb their downloading of illegal music - and it's completely legal.

Download it now from:
http://www.spotify.co.uk