A guide to Spotify

Streaming songs wherever you go

By Cazzy Lewchuk, Staff Writer

Spotify is an app and music-streaming service finally available in Canada. It currently has 60-million users around the world, a quarter of whom opt for the paid subscription. I personally believe Spotify is the greatest and most effective way to access music today: it’s legal, convenient, and pays royalties for every stream to the artist. Personally, I have completely stopped downloading music for free since I got this app.

Upon getting Spotify, you will be asked to create an account. This is completely optional, but allows you to keep track of all your music. Spotify keeps a record of all your recent songs, as well as giving you the option to save artists, playlists, and albums to the account. It also allows you to keep track of your customized music when switching devices. Spotify can also be played on any computer, tablet, or smartphone.

One of the best ways to discover new music on Spotify is through the playlists. The home page features a wide selection of playlists based on moods, genres, charts, and decades. You are given the option to “follow” the playlist which allows you to save it for later—generally the more followers the better the playlist is likely to be. You can also create your own playlist with any songs you want on it. Spotify also has multiple radio options for all genres and artists. Effectively it is the same as a playlist, but more random.

A “queue” option also exists, in which you click on a track and select “add to queue.” This plays the track after the next song, and with a few minutes of effort, you can set up all the songs you want for hours.

Spotify’s selection is truly extensive. With the notable exceptions of Taylor Swift and the Beatles, they have literally almost everything.

One of the most useful aspects of Spotify is its incorporation of MP3 files when played from a computer. It gives you the option to import your music already saved from iTunes or any other MP3s, and then saves them to your own account to create a playlist for later use. Spotify also has many collaborative options, meaning two user accounts can share a playlist and add to it, which is a great way to make music with friends for a party or road trip.

Although Spotify is free, I highly recommend paying the $10/month for the Premium option (the first month is free). The biggest feature this gives you is the option to save all your music offline to the device―a great way to save on data and have music stored whenever you want (and hey, it sure beats paying $0.99 a song). In addition, it removes all of the 30-second ads that annoyingly play at random between songs.

It’s a legal source of all the music you could possibly want, and easily allows integration and discovering of new artists. Give Spotify (and Spotify Premium) a try. It will change your music habits forever.