By Jason Venter | 07-31-2012 | 4:00PM
Perhaps the most capable competition Apple’s popular iTunes application faces comes in the form of Spotify, a service that offers free music to members who are willing to endure ads in exchange for terrific content. PC users have been enjoying Spotify radio for some time, and today the company released an updated version of its Android application that allows consumers to take the popular radio stream anywhere they bring their tablets or phones.
Naturally, Spotify offers an optional premium version that does away with the ads, but the service has a lot to offer even if you’re feeling thrifty. You can play music from playlists, or selections from favorite artists and albums. As you listen, you can also indicate whether or not you’d like to hear a specific selection again, providing an experience that is easily customized to fit your particular tastes.
While some people might typically expect consumers to simply enjoy whatever they can get for free while ignoring the premium option, the reality is that a lot of consumers do see real value in ad-free listening. Spotify’s Ken Parks, Chief Content Officer and Managing Director of the North American branch (Spotify originally launched in Europe), has said that of the company’s 15 million active users, over 4 million are paid subscribers. That’s more than 25%, an impressive conversion rate.
The Spotify service offers access to millions of tracks and is an excellent way to explore your favored music scene with minimal or no investment. If you’d like to add Spotify to your Android device, the application is available right now on Google Play. You can use it with Android devices running 2.1 and above, so odds are pretty good it will work on your particular Android device, whatever it might be.
