The long-awaited mobile version of Spotify – the much-talked about ‘universal jukebox’ that’s had techy music lovers in raptures for some time now – finally launched today. With versions available for the iPhone and Google’s Android operating system (and a version for Nokia’s S60 in the works), can it live up to the hype, save the music industry and persuade people to abandon iTunes, all in one fell swoop?
Of course it can’t – that’s the problem with hype. But it is undoubtedly a slick and well-made application which could well become the music player of choice for some, and a useful addition for many others.
We tried out the version of the app for Android, on an HTC Hero phone (aka the G2 Touch, for T-Mobile customers). While it’ll need considerably more playing with to form a final judgment, here are our first impressions…
The interface is smooth and intuitive – bearing only a passing resemblance to the Spotify desktop app, it fits neatly onto the mobile screen, putting all the key functions you want within a touch or two. On Android, there’s a nice draggable tab to switch between the currently playing track and the search and playlist views.
Playlists you’ve created on the desktop version will appear in the mobile version, and adding tracks to playlists on the go is a doddle.
Over a 3G connection, as you’d expect, you’ll experience some pauses between songs while they load up. While the caching of the tracks generally does a decent job of meaning that moving through the occasional reception blackspot won’t affect your playback, we found that too long spent in the underground food hall of the Kensington High Street M&S resulted in an extremely glitchy version of Kenickie’s Punka.
While the 3G is passable, depending on the quality of your operator’s coverage, there’s no doubt that the mobile Spotify plays best with a wifi connection – which can be sadly limiting for somebody on the move, in our free wifi-averse country.
The big attraction of the Spotify app, however, is its ability to store your playlists so you can listen to them while completely offline – on the Underground, on a plane, or wherever. For this, you definitely need wifi, and the foresight to remember to sync your playlists before you leave. Syncing is relatively speedy – about five minutes for twenty-odd songs – but still, if you want to have anything more than a couple of albums’ worth of tracks, you’ll need to set aside some quality time for them to download.
Android phone owners get a significant benefit over iPhone users, in that they can run Spotify in the background while using other applications – which allows your music to continue uninterrupted while you check emails, browse the internet, and boast on Twitter about how you’re listening to Spotify while boasting on Twitter.
Of course, all this musical fun needs power. Having only had it for half a day, it’s a little early to say exactly what the effect of streaming music over the air will be on your average smartphone battery – but we’re guessing, based on what we’ve seen so far, that the answer is ‘not good’.
Overall, is it worth the £9.99 a month you’ll need to shell out for Spotify’s Premium membership (free members don’t get to use the mobile version)? If you’re a compulsive playlist maker, happy to download your latest virtual mixtape before you leave the house in the morning, then yes. Likewise, if you live in a world of plentiful wifi or extremely good 3G reception, it should all work fairly seamlessly. For most other people, stuck with patchy 3G and occasional wifi, it probably won’t replace their regular MP3 players… yet.
