This post originally appeared on Spotiguide.

So you love listening to Spotify on your desktop, and you can put up with the adverts and lower streaming quality, and don’t need the offline mode, so haven’t upgraded to Premium? Fair enough. But by not upgrading to Premium you’re missing out on Spotify’s killer feature – Spotify Mobile. Putting Spotify in your pocket, Spotify Mobile is the essential reason to go Premium. Here are ten reasons why you need Spotify Mobile:

1. It’s free… As long as you have Spotify Premium. Get the app here.
2. It offers access to the entire Spotify catalogue, instantly, via your mobile phone. What’s not to like about that?
3. It’s available on iPhone, Android and Symbian (including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung) handsets. Get a full list of compatible handsets here.
4. The offline mode allows you to store 3,333 tracks on your mobile and listen to them at any time, even when you have no internet connection. That’s a huge catalogue of downloaded tracks stored on your phone.
5. The Spotify app is simple and easy to use. Features vary slightly by handset, but you can enjoy almost all of the features of the desktop version, including instant playback.
6. Sound quality, at 160kbps Ogg Vorbis (roughly equal to 192kbps mp3 and the same as Spotify Free on desktop), is very good. It’s not as high as the 320kbps Premium users enjoy on desktop, but it compares excellently against mp3s played on mobiles, and for example Spotify Mobile on the iPhone offers a better sound experience than the device’s iPod function.
7. Spotify Mobile streams over wi-fi or 2.5/3G brilliantly. Download of offline content is obviously much faster over wi-fi, but Spotify works great for those relying on 3G too.
8. Syncing between the Spotify desktop client and mobile app is instant, and very impressive. Basically, add or amend a playlist on your desktop, and it will update on your mobile – and vice versa.
9. Cover art – a longstanding annoyance for iTunes and iPod users – is never a problem on Spotify Mobile, with large, high quality cover images attached to every track in the catalogue.
10. The ability to force offline mode means you can listen to your offline content without worrying about data charges, for example when travelling abroad. You can listen to your offline content for 30 days without going back online.

In putting instant access to a huge music catalogue into your pocket, Spotify Mobile is changing the future of music consumption. There are still improvements to be made, for example the Spotify apps do not yet scrobble to Last.fm, but these are minor quibbles considering the benefits the service provides. Overall, if you like music, have a compatible mobile, and live in an area where Spotify is available, Spotify Mobile is completely essential.

Music, Technology Spotify

This post originally appeared on Spotiguide.

A lot of key music industry figures have still yet to get their head around the digital revolution, and one of of those figures seems to be Warner Music Group chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. “Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed,” said Bronfman this week. The announcement seemed to suggest that Warner is pulling its music from streaming services such as Spotify, Last.fm and We7.

Bronfman then appeared to strike a specific blow against Spotify, stating, “The ‘get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price’ strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future.”

However, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek was quick to refute suggestions that this might affect Spotify. “To be clear; WMG are not pulling out of Spotify. Media is taken things out of context. So don’t worry – be happy ,” Ek Tweeted.

Make no mistake, Warner’s huge roster of talent means that no serious music streaming service can thrive without co-operation from the label. But, by the same measure, no record label can thrive without properly embracing streaming services.

What Bronfman apparently fails to understand is that the music industry has already changed, forever. Streaming and cloud-based music is the future, and labels need to learn how to make music from streaming, either directly, or by using it as a promotional tool to encourage physical sales, including merchandise and tickets.

For the time being, Warner content is still available on Spotify (with the exception of previously-removed artists such as Oasis, and missing albums such as The Betrayed by Lostprophets), and also on Last.fm. Instead of threatening to pull its music, Warner Music should concentrate on making more of its catalogue available.

And if labels aren’t prepared to embrace streaming services, then they should go back to selling MiniDiscs and cassettes and see how far that gets them.

Music, Technology Spotify