14 DAY TRIAL // Spotify, one of the hottest startups on the online music scene, is diversifying its offering and launching in one more country. No, it’s not the US as many have been anticipating, the Netherlands joins the short list of countries where the music-streaming service is available. At the same time, the service is launching two new products, Spotify Open and Spotify Unlimited, which slot into the existing lineup making for a more diverse offering.
“A few weeks back we released the next generation of Spotify and today we’re excited to offer you even more ways to get the most out of Spotify with the introduction of Spotify Open and Spotify Unlimited,” Spotify’s Andres Sehr announced. “We’re really excited to offer more choices for users and existing users who are happy with their current plan won’t be affected by these updates.”
Spotify now comes in four flavors, each with its own limitations and advantages. From the most basic to the full-options product, they are Spotify Open, Spotify Free, Spotify Unlimited and Spotify Premium.
A new product, Spotify Open, is on the lower end of the scale. It is now the base offering for the service. It’s free and doesn’t require an invitation, so it’s open to anyone, hence the name. However, it has a 20-hour monthly streaming limit, which isn’t that bad, but not enough for any serious listener. It’s also lacking the ‘radio’ feature.
Next on the list is Spotify Free. As the name would suggest, it is also free and has been around ever since the service launched. It is now invitation-only, so you have to have a friend who is already on Spotify to get in. It doesn’t have the monthly streaming limit and also gets the Spotify radio, unlike Spotify Open. It’s a proposition much better than the first option, if you can get your hands on an invite.
The name, Spotify Unlimited, sounds good on paper and, at €5 (£4.99 in the UK) per month, it is starting to look rather enticing. Until you realize that Unlimited is actually a bit more limited than the long-time Premium offering. Still, it’s an interesting option. At half the price of Spotify Premium, you get unlimited streaming on your PC and no advertising, a pure streaming service for the music fan. It also enables you to use Spotify abroad indefinitely, whereas the free options have a 14-day limit.
Finally, you get Spotify Premium. This is the full-blown service, coming in at €10 (£9.99 in the UK). It has unlimited streaming and no ads, like Unlimited, but also a lot of extra perks. For one, you get access to the Spotify mobile apps allowing you to listen to your favorite songs on the go. You also get offline access to your music on your desktop and mobile phone. Finally, you can even listen to your own, local files using the Spotify player. You can get an overview of all versions at Spotify's product page.