I couldn't understand criticising it beyond a certain point really, not when its currently free to use.

I'm sure I've noticed it before, but the feature I love is the ability to make Spotify album links.

This link opens "Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits" in your Spotify
And this one plays the song "Tunnel of Love" from that album

It's pure genius!

I've included such links with every album I've reviewed when they've been available :)

I use Spotify when I can't find an album on the net but it's hit rate is 50/50 for me. I am also frustrated that it doesn't have recommendations for similar bands. Last. FM does but I only use that in archival/stats sense.

However Spotify has thrown up a few bands that I have got into and is easy to use, plus you can make playlists to dip into anytime without actually owning the tracks.

Same about the part when you can't find an album. I also use it to listen to albums I get recommended, and if I like them I'll download them so I can listen to it on my iPod! It's a win win situation, unless the album isn't there... :(

Here's a screenshot for you, with a bonus red box and crudely drawn arrow.

http://i50.tinypic.com/ieles8.png

I don't actually use Spotify actively much myself. Usually, it's for visitors .. I keep the music I wanna listen to in my media library.

It really is excellent if you have people over and you don't have a particular song they wanna listen to or an album they'd like to show you.

And it's still only for the UK. I hate US Copyright prudes.

It works perfectly fine in Norway. ;)

Some time ago, I was hoping it would be possible to make a spotify tag which would work almost like the [URL] tags, only it would play that song in Spotify when you click the link. A bit like this :

[spotify=Artist,Album,Song]Text string[/URL]

ex.

[spotify=Prince,Parade,Kiss]Prince - Kiss[/spotify]

Unfortunately, Spotify is not as universal as I'd like and the current musicbanter policy regarding BBCodes is "no custom tags!".

A man can dream, though .. A man can dream!

I know this has already been mentioned but i was a little confused that you said that Spotify doesnt display similar bands. It does but however, alot of the time they arent exactly very accurate suggestions.

I can find very rare tracks on Spotify.