Spotify, an online music streaming service that allows users to browse through a large catalog of music, and play any song on-demand, has announced today that it is getting the business of streaming radio. In the new Spotify iOS app, users will be able to choose a song, artist, album, or playlist, and Spotify will create a "radio" station based on that selection. The station will play songs that are similar to the selection made originally, and will alter its selections based on likes and dislikes users give to specific songs. This seems like an open attack at Pandora, which does exactly the same thing, and has been doing so for close to 6 years.
Spotify is free to use in the U.S., with premium subscriptions available, but the iOS app only offers limited features to non-paying customers. The new iOS app, which is out now, offers the new radio feature to all costumers, even non-paying ones, however, non-premium costumers will occasionally be interrupted by audio ads.
Spotify's radio service differs from Pandora is a few ways. For example, users can save songs played on the radio in one tap. They can also create new stations based on their friends shared playlists.
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| Radio on Spotify |
This new Spotify feature can be found in their iOS app on both iPhone and iPad, which can be downloaded here.