That's three new countries in just one week, Spotify is on a roll

Nov 16, 2011 15:51 GMT  ·  By

After debuting in Austria, Spotify didn't take long to conquer a couple of new countries. The popular music streaming service is now available in Belgium and Switzerland as well. The service is essentially the same as everywhere else, for better and for worse, so users in these two countries can now finally get a chance to use and pay for Spotify in a legitimate way.

"We had so much fun launching in Austria yesterday that we figured why stop there? So today we’re doubly excited to welcome both Belgium and Switzerland to the Spotify family. Hello. Hello," Spotify announced.

"Our new friends will be able to enjoy all three Spotify services - from absolutely free to paid subscriptions," it added.

If you've been using Spotify or at least have been interested in the service, you're probably familiar with the three tiers, one free to paid, it offers. But if you're new to all of this, here's what you need to know.

Spotify Free, as the name implies, is the free version of the service. It enables you to listen to any song from the millions available, to your heart's content, how many times you like, as long as you put up with the ads.

But only for the first six months, the idea is that by then you've been convinced of what a wonderful service Spotify offers and you'll want to start paying. Otherwise, you can continue listening for free, but only 10 hours per month.

If you want to get rid of the ads and have no listening limits, Spotify Unlimited offers the pure experience. You can listen to all the music you want on your computer. Spotify Unlimited is €4.99 ($6.77) in Belgium, same as everywhere else in Europe, or 6.45CHF (€5.2 or $7.10) in Switzerland.

But if you want to take your music with you when you go out, you'll have to go for the Premium option, which offers access on mobile phones, internet connected TVs and so on. Premium is €9.99 ($13.56) in Belgium and 12.95CHF (€10.44 or $14.18) in Switzerland.