Spotify update rolling out today

A couple of weeks ago we announced that Spotify would be receiving a major update to the desktop app and today, Spotify announced that the update has started to roll out. The update brings Spotify up to version 0.8.0. and includes Spotify Apps and an improved Spotify Radio. Other new features include an updated “What’s New” page, predictive search results, playlist search, new “Buddy List”, Add to Favorites, and full-screen support for OS X Lion.
The update will take a few day to reach everybody so if you don’t get the notification update, fret not. However, if you want to download the latest version manually, you can always head over to the Spotify website. Spotify users – let us know what you think of the new update especially with the addition of Spotify Apps.

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Spotify Radio gets a big makeover, goes truly unlimited

Spotify has already had a busy year, what with international roll-outs, its Facebook tie-up and its recent ‘Spotify as a platform for apps’ announcement.
Now, Spotify has given one of its earliest features a complete makeover. Spotify Radio has been given a top-to-bottom overhaul “making it bigger, smarter and an altogether cooler music discovery experience”.
The radio features will include:

• Unlimited stations: Choose a track, artist or genre and Spotify will instantly create a station of similar music. Your station will keep playing music based on your initial choice. Plus there’s no limit to the number of stations you can create.
• Unlimited skips: Don’t like a track? Skip it. As many times as you like.
• All-new intelligent recommendation engine: Spotify has put some clever new kit under the hood of Spotify Radio to let users access a better music discovery service.
• Unlimited access: With over 15m tracks to choose from, you’ve never had a bigger song library to enjoy.
• Available to all: Spotify Radio will be available to everyone – both free users and subscribers.

“Spotify Radio is an amazing new radio experience, offering unlimited stations and unlimited skips”, said Ken Parks, Spotify’s Chief Content Officer. “With our new intelligent recommendation engine and multi-million track library, the new Spotify Radio is a music discovery experience without equal.”
Spotify Radio will start rolling out alongside Spotify Apps over the next few days. You can get a special preview now, however, by visiting here: http://www.spotify.com/download/previews.

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Spotify introduces Predictive Search, Playlist Search and more features

In a week that saw Spotify launch as a platform for third party apps, in addition to its new App Finder feature, it’s also rolling out a bunch of other new features.
Today, Spotify announced that it would unveil a new Predictive Search feature in its next update, meaning that as soon as you start typing in the name of a song, artist, album or playlist, it will take a guess at what you’re looking for as you type.
There will also be a new Playlist Search feature, which will let you hunt down publicly available playlists from other Spotify users around the world. And it has also thrown in a new ‘Buddy List’ feature, which lets you see what your friends are listening to at the moment, and you can see and hear your friends’ starred tracks, and what music they’re adding to their playlists.
The ‘What’s New’ page has also been given an overhaul, and here you’ll also be able to find trending playlists and top tracks amongst your friends:

Finally, good news for Mac users…Spotify will now have full-screen support for Mac OS X Lion.
The next update will be rolling off the conveyor belt soon, but you can get your hands on these new features now via the preview version which is out now.

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Spotify Gift Cards arrive in UK stores

It has been possible to buy Spotify e-cards as gifts for a while, with users able to email or print the cards off. But Spotify has announced that gift cards will be available in-store too, in what seems like could just be the UK to begin with, though it would make sense that it will be rolled out across the board shortly.
The cards will first be available in the Morrisons’ supermarket chain from today, though Spotify will be “adding many more retail shops in the near future”.

The gift cards will come in three different denominations: £10, £30 and £50, and the recipient can redeem the card for a Spotify subscription, or download tracks to keep. To redeem a card you need to head over to the ‘Redeem your code‘ page and enter the PIN number on the back of the card.
By way of an example, a £10 card will get you 1 month of Spotify Premium access, 2 months of Spotify Unlimited or 15 tracks to download.
Given the monumental success of iTunes gift cards, it was only a matter of time before Spotify jumped on the bandwagon too and, coming up to Christmas, the timing couldn’t be better, a fact not lost on the good people at Spotify. Andres Sehr says in the blog post today: “Spotify Gift Cards are the perfect present for birthdays, Christmas – in fact, any occasion!”

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