Is true that since today Spotify is available in the U.S.A?

You are Correct! The wait is over!

I gave them my email last week and again today, but I've still gotten nothing back from them. They're not going to charge, are they?

3 plans: free, $4.99/month for unlimited, and $9.99/month for premium. If you pay, you can get in right away, otherwise by invite only.
I signed up for premium and dropped rhapsody immediately. I have some free invites if you want me to pass one along...

What's the difference between the three plans other than cost?

if you go here:
http://www.spotify.com/us/get-spotify/premium/

and scroll to the bottom, it shows you the differences in the plans on a chart. Premium gives you no ads, unlimited plays, mobile access, and full sharing capabilities, for starters.

Premium:
"The ultimate Spotify experience.
Unlimited music without ads.
Spotify on your mobile.
Offline mode for playlists.
Take your music abroad.
Enhanced sound quality."

If you don't have anyone else you want to give them to, I would take one.

no problem- I just need your email address.

listyguy@gmail.com
Thanks in advance!

Why do you think Spotify is superior to Rhapsody? I currently use Rhapsody and enjoy it a lot.

How's the selection? Is European (Non-anglophone) music more available on Spotify than on Rhapsody?

I'd take one, too, if you're just giving them away.

drewcannon3@gmail.com

If you can wait until tomorrow, ill definitely send you one. I'll still have two more free invites, if anyone else wants em.

I like the synchronization that spotify offers. All my electronic devices/family phones/iPad are on board, and I'll be able to synch my iTunes files with whatever matches their library. It also has an offline service, for playlist play without Internet/wifi connection. Plus it has an easy scribble link to lastfm.

I have nothing against rhapsody (I got a good year or two out of them)... I just feel that the service quality (ease of use, speed, sound) are superior on spotify.

As far as overall selection, I believe rhapsody still has them beat, but they've had at least 95 percent of my rhapsody playlists so far and I can only hope that will get better over time. As for international assortment, billadama, I'm afraid someone else will have to answer that... Anything in particular you want me to search for?

I'll take an invite.

I mean, do American users have access to European libraries? Does it have stuff like Cascadeur, Antonia Font, Dalriada, etc? The kind of stuff I've been finding on the RYM esoteric list?

Or, a few names I couldn't even find on Grooveshark:

Von Hertzen Brothers - Stars Aligned
Stein Torleif Bjella - Vonde visu
Caroline - Verdugo Hills
Flint Glass & Polarlight 4.1 - Zoran's Equation
Treefight for Sunlight - Treefight for Sunlight

It has the first one and the last one.

It has too: Cascadeur, Antonia Font, Dalriada, etc

listyguy - sent your invite yesterday
drewcannon - just sent yours
BillAdama- i just need your email address

I have one more invite for the next taker.

Bobthespirit (AT) gmail.com

Got it. Thank you, again. I've already gotten some use out of it.

Thanks so much, Brad - I'm hyped about this.

Finally!

This is looking awesome. Thanks! I may cancel my Rhapsody account, once I'm more certain it has a better selection. It definitely has a better selection for European music, at least.

I have to say I'm a little disappointed at first glance. Here's what I don't like:

1. The moblie app- I use an iPhone so I don't know if this applies to all mobile apps, but why isn't there a bookmark section for albums and artists? Instead I just have playlists. Every other subscription service is better in this regard.

2. No web player- I can't download a desktop app to my work computer.

3. Selection- I thought this was what made Spotify the best. I would say there are at least 3 other services that are better than what I've seen so far with Spotify.


I think that Spotify's main thing is the offline caching and social networking which are two things that I don't really care about. I do like the sound quality, and I also like how many different 3rd party tools there are. But, my main goals are selection and the mobile app both which are inferior to Mog. I gotta say I'm really disappointed because I was looking forward to this launch for a long time. Hopefully some of you can give me insight if I'm missing something especially with the mobile app.

John, why not just make an "artist placeholder" playlist?

I just found this: http://spotirama.blogspot.com/p/acclaimed-history-of-music-series.html

What is an artist placeholder playlist?

I meant that you could create a playlist with one entry for each artist you like to bookmark.

Btw, I have loads of invitations to spread.

That's still limited functionality when there really should be a way to go to an artist or album page and pick an album instead of scrolling through an artist playlist for the start of an album.

Playing around with this a little more, I can't believe that this is considered the grandaddy of unlimited streaming. Mog is so much better. I think it's because the free version used to be a lot better and people just used to that.

Ok, free Spotify sucks. Commercials interspersed with the music? Really?

Does the $4.99/month plan drop those ads?

yes, that's the only real difference between the two plans.

Not the only difference. The free plan only allows you to listen to 10 hours a month (or is it week) and limits you to 5 plays of one song forever. Spotify made it's mark with an earlier version of the free plan but it's nowhere near what it used to be. So, now it's basically just another subscription offering and like I said, it wouldn't be in my top 3.

Here's my opinion on the 4 major providers:

Mog- Good selection, good mobile app, web based UI for listening on computer, great bitrate quality

Rhapsody- Great selection, poor moblie app, web and desktop UI, poor bitrate quality

Rdio- Good selection, great mobile app, desktop UI, decent bitrate.

Spotify- Good selection, awful mobile app, desktop UI, great bitrate.

For me Mog is the clear #1 although there is plenty of room to pass them as I couldn't call Mog a great service. Rhapsody and Rdio are pretty similar but Rhapsody has a better selection and Spotify is way behind those three unless you really don't want to pay for music.

Is Spotify free for all Europeans? And did the greedy US record companies force them to make these obsurd rules, or is that standard throughout?

no, it's the same in Europe, the big companies have pressed here too.
They started charging for more than 5 listens in May 2011
Before that it was free but there were some ads. When you went premium you didn't have ads anymore.
I use a similar site called Deezer because they charge only 5 € per month ( partnership with my phone company). I can download albums on my smartphone with the premium formula. The same goes for Spotify

I'm curious what sort of music you found on Rhapsody that isn't on Spotify. So far, I haven't found anything on the former that isn't on the latter. Rhapsody tends to have just about everything with a distribution deal in the US, but almost nothing without one, and it's very anglophone-centric.

I guess I'm going by memory there, but I'm not thinking rare or non US stuff. For instance, Arcade Fire is nowhere to be found on Spotify. The only stuff I ever remember Rhapsody missing were the ones who are always missing in action (Beatles, Zeppelin, Metallica, etc..). Almost every new release I looked for was there- even box sets. The day the San Francisco Nuggets set came out, it was up on Rhapsody.