Spotify for iPhone gets thumbs up from Apple, subscription music with offline playlists is a go

Streaming and subscription music services are a dime a dozen on iPhone, and they seem to get past Apple's app store approval hurdles with relative ease. But Spotify was one whose fate wasn't so clear cut, given its offline playlist function -- which as the name suggests downloads songs ahead of time for you to listen to when there's no WiFi or phone service to stream from -- could very easily fall into the category of "duplication of core iPhone functionality" and get deep-sixed at the drop of a hat. Turns out that's not the case here, as an Apple spokesperson has told paidContent UK that the app's been given the metaphorical stamp of approval and would be hitting the store "very soon." A premium subscription will run about £9.99 ($16.20) per month, with an option to pay annually coming at a later date. Of course, there's a catch, as Spotify's service is only available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain for now. The company expects to invade America sometime later this year, but that means another round of app store approvals -- and with Apple's track record on consistency, there's no telling how that'll turn out.

[who Posted Aug 27th 2009 6:34PM]

"subscription music services are a dime a dozen on iPhone"

Can you give me some examples?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 6:52PM]

The offline playlist is a great feature, but unless you have a jailbroken phone, you can't run it in the background.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 28th 2009 4:51AM]

Its a good stuff.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 28th 2009 1:17AM]

Damn you spotify.
You demoed the Android app months ago and now you tease us HTC Hero owners by releasing it for the iPhone first ?
Spotify - give me this app now and I will pay your damned £10 a month. You hear me ? Money !

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 28th 2009 9:47AM]

spotify is amazing. they need to come to the USA so i can stop using this bootleg proxy.