Well, they got me. I’m forking over cash for Spotify now. If you haven’t heard about it already, Spotify is the newest, hottest music service on the market. I first heard about it when it was released in the United Kingdom, but now it’s here in the United States, and it’s here to stay.

How Spotify Works

When I downloaded Spotify to my MacBook, it didn’t take even ten minutes before I proclaimed it “the greatest thing ever.” That may be bold, but at least you get an idea of its impact. At its core, Spotify is a music player, similar to iTunes. It lets you play your music, create playlists, etc.

But unlike iTunes, Spotify allows you to “add” music to your library with the click of a button, and at absolutely no charge. You simply search for the artist or track or album, and “star” it, to add it to your library.  This may sound a lot like Napster or LimeWire, but with Spotify, the music you “add” to your library isn’t actually downloaded; it stays in the cloud, and can only be played through the application.

So now I have Spotify, a music player on my laptop that combines music I own and stored locally on my computer, with bookmarked music stored in the cloud. And best of all, I haven’t paid a dime for any of it. I have doubled my music library, created playlists for parties, relaxing, and more. I connected my account to Facebook, so my friends can send cool new music to my inbox. This is awesome.

Oh! Look at the time! I have class in twenty minutes so I better get a move on. Grab the books, make sure I have my phone, and I’m out the door. Now, I have quite a long walk to class, so I’m going to put my headphones in and listen to some of the new tunes I just discovered on Spot – Oh…bummer. I completely forgot that all of my music is stuck in that Spotify window on my laptop. I guess I’ll have to settle for Pandora …

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Hmm, so this is where Spotify gets ya.

While it’s great to listen to any song I want to on my computer, what I really want is to play my music on the go. I want it when I’m in the car, on my walk to school, or when I’m at my friend’s apartment. And luckily enough, I can have it … for the low fee of $9.99 per month.

With some simple arithmetic skills, I realized that Spotify Premium would cost $120 bucks a year, which seemed like a pretty solid chunk of change just to listen to music that I could buy one time and have forever. So I decided it wasn’t for me.

I reasoned with myself for a week or two. I kept telling myself that I had a wonderful iTunes library filled with music that synced between my phone and computer. Or what about Pandora Radio, which has proven to be one of the best music discovery applications. And if I’m really desperate to quench my musical thirst, there’s a good chance I can find a particular song on YouTube.

But then came the 30-day free trial.

And sure enough, thirty days later, I was hooked. The convenience and accessibility was too much for me to ignore. Now I have my music, and practically every other song ever created, everywhere I travel. I absolutely love it! Sure, I haven’t opened iTunes on my computer in weeks, and my Pandora usage has dropped off significantly. But I still listen to both, just less frequently.

I suppose it was never a question of whether or not I would like Spotify Premium, but rather I wondered if Premium was worth ten bucks a month. I must say I believe it’s worth every penny. It even made a wonderful Mother’s Day gift for my always-on-the-go mom.

If you want to try Spotify Premium for yourself, I would urge you to do so. But beware; once you give it a shot, you might just be completely satisfied with what Spotify can do.

Contact Michael Downes on Twitter @MichaelFDownes.