Spotify Music - Noteworthy additions, apps, partnerships, updates, etc.

[SomethingMore]

I know there's Spotify threads in Tech Talk and Music Talk, but I think starting a fresh thread here is a good idea. Here's just a few things that are worth mentioning today.

Software Updates
02 Sept 2012 - Facebook account no longer required to sign up.

19 April 2012 - The latest update is that the new Android Beta app is out! As any Android user knows, the Spotify app was sorely out-of-date. The new version's UI is in line with Google's new ICS standards, so it's much prettier and more functional (still no playlist folders, though!)
Get it here: http://download.spotify.com/android/PreviewSpotifyAndroid.apk (remember to uninstall your existing version first, and enable Unknown Sources if you haven't already)

11 April 2012 - The Play Button (https://developer.spotify.com/technologies/spotify-play-button/). An embedded button, much like YouTube embedded videos, that plays music directly from Spotify on any web page. Currently only works for registered Spotify users who are logged in to the desktop application. I tried to embed a button here in DVDTalk, but it doesn't seem to work. Probably some sort of vBulletin compatibility issue.
<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:3a2tuvXCHbW5nuUckuHkKT" width="300" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>

Noteworthy additions
13 April 2012 - Red Hot Chili Peppers (http://open.spotify.com/artist/0L8ExT028jH3ddEcZwqJJ5) have partnered with Spotify to provide access to their entire back catalog. If you're a RHCP fan, this is great. I'm not too fond of their more recent work, but it's nice to see them (and Arcade Fire (http://open.spotify.com/artist/3kjuyTCjPG1WMFCiyc5IuB)) embrace music streaming.

Desktop Apps
Spotify now has 26 Apps that can be added to the main desktop application; all free. Personally, I'm fond of the following:
Filtr - lets you choose up to four filters for a playlist. So, I created one that had Classical, Post-rock, Canadian, and Mathcore. It randomizes a bunch of tracks from those options (going from Beethoven to Dillinger Escape Plan to Metric is jarring, yet awesome). You can select specific artists, years, genres, etc. Cool stuff.
We Are Hunted - Creates charts based on current popularity within certain genres.
Last.fm - links to your last.fm profile to give you better suggestions.

[SomethingMore]

Looks like the Play Button works, but sometimes loads incredibly slow. Cool!

[The Bus]

It worked for me after it stated "Spotify is not available in your country"... :lol:

[RichC2]

Spotify went from being one of the weakest pay apps on Android to one of the best. Really really nice overhaul. I hope they add the radio feature from the PC software though.

[The Bus]

There's even a BlackBerry app for it now.

[RichC2]

They finally added Spotify Radio to the Android App.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/31/spotify-radio-streaming-its-android-app/

[D.Pham4GLTE (>60GB)]

They finally added Spotify Radio to the Android App.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/31/spotify-radio-streaming-its-android-app/

I read that it was supposed to allow 320kbps,but even set on extreme setting, it is only streaming at about 192kbps. Was anyone else having this problem?

[RichC2]

Dunno, how are you monitoring it?

[D.Pham4GLTE (>60GB)]

Dunno, how are you monitoring it?

On my gs3,i go to Settings - data usage, then select spotify and adjust it to. today, and ran it for an hour, then saw how much data was used and converted.

[SomethingMore]

Here's a little trick worth mentioning for those with Android phones that have external SD cards (like the GS3)

The current Android app does not allow you to save music to your external SD. This is a feature that was taken out of the app, as it is available in the older version. But, if you specifically upgrade from the old version to the new version, it will retain the storage location that you choose. So...

1. Clear all your data from your current Spotify app, then uninstall it. It's important that you clear the data, as the current settings could adversely affect the old app when you install it.
2. Install the old app. Here's a link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62287331/SpotifyOLD.apk (you will obviously need to enable the ability to install apps not acquired from the Play store)
3. Start the app, but don't log in!
4. Press the Menu button on your phone, it'll bring up two options, one of which is SD_Card. Select that.
5. Enter the root directory of your External SD card. If you don't know it, use a file explorer like Astro or Root Explorer to find it. Most of the time it's /mnt/external_sd/ or /mnt/ExtSDcard/ or something like that.
6. Accept the changes. If the directory doesn't exist, Spotify will say so.
7. Close the app.
8. Go to the Play store and update to the new version of the Spotify app.
9. Open the app and log in.
10. Now, cached songs or offline playlists will be stored to your external SD instead of your internal SD.

enjoy. :)