Spotify player (www.spotify.com)
Ever since Google + Project failed to invite me to its select list of participants for its new social networking site I have been looking for a suitable way to slight it. I think I have found it in Spotify. Here is what appears to be the world’s best free and legal music site that does not tie you down to listening a track for a microsecond before asking you to buy it.
Also, Spotify is song-specific. Let me explain how. As it usually happens, yesterday I was practically paralyzed repeatedly singing a random Hindi song, this time ‘Do nainon mein aansoo bhare hein neendiya kaise samay (How do I sleep with my tear-filled eyes?)” (Lata Mangeshkar, Gulzar, R D Burman and ‘Khushboo’).
Later in the day when I was checking my email messages, I spot one from Spotify saying this: “Well, the wait is over. Here’s your invite to enjoy Spotify for free. We’d like to reward your patience with instant access to over 15
million tracks. Let the music begin.”
So with the unseemly eagerness of a generally ignored sophomore whom the most stunning blond in the class had deliberately brushed past, I downloaded Spotify instantly. Although its player’s user interface is very reminiscent of Apple’s iTunes, two immediate things stand out—how instantly the chosen song starts playing and the terrific sound quality.That Spotify can offer any of its 15-million strong collection completely and legally free is because top music companies such as Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner have signed on to this potentially history-making site. I am told Spotify is very big in Europe and it has just entered the United States.
There are three services that Spotify offers, two premium and one free. The two premium ones priced at $ 9.99 (Premium) and $ 4.99 (Unlimited) come free of ads unlike the free one which I have. It has ads that come up from time to time but then that’s the price one pays for being a cheapskate. The only catch with being a freeloader is that you have to be invited, either by Spotify or by someone who has a premium subscription.
One cool feature that Spotify offers is that it recognizes your collections in iTunes and Windows Media Player. You can see the same playlist from both and play.
Every once in a while when I fire up the player it reminds me how lucky I am to be among the chosen few in the US to have been invited. So push my luck further, I typed R D Burman in its search. At once it listed scores of his songs. I scrolled down to see what the list contained and found one that read ‘Tomate Amate Dekha Hoy Chillo’. I knew it was in Bengali and also knew that RD had composed many of his hit Hindi songs first in Bengali. I clicked on this one out of curiosity. As luck would have it, the song turned out to be the Bengali version of ‘Do nainon mein..”
So as far as I am concerned not only does Spotify work but works with embarrassing efficiency. I am sure I can find faults with it if I choose to but it would be uncivil to question someone who offers you a musical treasure free, not to mention without any possibility of jail time. I think if I stroke Spotify any more, it might just come. So let me conclude here.
