If there were a way to improve on your TV viewing and entertainment experience then the recent news that TiVo Premiere gains Spotify would certainly be one way, which means that those who own one of these boxes and subscribe to the service will now be able to stream music direct to their TiVo Premiere boxes. Adding such a service is yet another reason why the company is able to stay one step ahead of their rivals, and we’re sure that this latest addition will be very welcome by Premiere users because it adds yet another dimensions to an already impressive service.

TiVo understand that adding Spotify to their Premiere service is a step in the right direction because they understand that their users have a thirst for entertainment, and is just another step for them to offer their customers a more complete package. Those who have the $149.99 TiVo Premiere, the $249.99 TiVo Premiere 4 and the $399.99 TiVo Premiere XL4 will all have access to Spotify digital music service on each of these devices, although they will need to keep paying $14.99 per month or lifetime fee of $499.99 in order to do so.

However, those Premium subscribers will have still pay the $9.99 per month for their Spotify Premium account as well in order to enjoy the music streaming service on their TiVo Premiere devices. It’s a simple and painless process and once the app is installed on these boxes all users need to do is sign-in with their existing TiVo account and they are ready to begin streaming.

What makes this news so great is that TiVo Premiere subscribers have been wanting Spotify on their devices for a while now, so it’s as if the company has been listening to their customer needs, but it is clear that DirecTV customers would also like the ability to enjoy Spotify on their boxes as well. Let’s just hope that TiVo and Spotify have not rushed this out because there would be nothing worse than having a great amalgamation of services only for it to be slow and have an inferior quality.

If you are a music lover, Spotify should now be part of your daily lifestyle anyway. It provides a thorough encyclopedia of all of your favorite tracks, the latest hits to some golden oldies and more. It has been available in desktop and mobile form for a long time now, but now it is branching out its tablet support.

Already available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, you’ll now be able to find it and download on the Amazon App Store as well. There’s some even better news as well, as if you don’t want to fork out on a premium subscription, you’ll still be able to download a free version, which is supported by ads but offers unlimited radio streaming.

Everyone has their favorite music apps, but we can’t really look past Spotify, it’s just that good. The obvious downside to the app is that it still isn’t available globally, with places like Hong Kong still yet to receive any love. If you were ever to make a $9.99 online purchase, you probably wouldn’t regret a subscription to Spotify Premium which gives you access to unlimited streaming without ads.

Now that Spotify has arrived on the Kindle Fire, what apps would you like to see next? Do you still see it lagging behind the iPad and now Nexus 7, or are you really happy with your $199 purchase?

If you are a regular user of the service, you’ll know that an iPad app was one of the big requests from users, especially those who fork up for a premium account. A lot of premium users are not too happy with the quality of the iPhone app compared to the desktop version, but there’s little doubt that an official iPad app would quickly put a smile back on those faces to make the subscription fee that much more worthwhile.

The image which you can see over at BGR here was uploaded to Instagram by a Swedish user, but has since vanished into thin air. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that Spotify wanted this to be kept underwraps for the event on April 18th, but we’re just hoping that they have further announcements in place, rather than just being specifically related to an app for the iPad.

As for the image itself, it looks as good as you might expect. We’re still considerably frustrated though that Spotify still isn’t available in countries like Hong Kong, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that more availability is also one of the planned announcements for Wednesday.

Spotify seems to be the one number choice for many music lovers now as far as streaming services are concerned, but what do you think about the premium subscription – is it value for money? If you have been using the paid service for a number of months now, let us know if you think it is worth it, or if you have any alternative services to recommend others.

Your distant dreams of becoming a Jedi Knight just got that much closer, as using Flutter will allow to stop and start music tracks on the iTunes and Spotify programs. It’s just for Mac OS X computers at the moment, as the app utilizes the iSight front-camera contained on those systems and it’s actually remarkable that this idea didn’t happen sooner, or wasn’t an official feature from Apple labs.

At the moment Flutter is still in alpha format, which explains why there is limited functionality at the moment. However, just imagine the possibilities that this app has – i.e being able to change tracks with other gesture movements like a hand swipe for example.

According to the makers, Flutter also works with iTunes video playback, while your gesture movements with also work from a considerable distance away from the computer. If you ever wanted to pretend to your friends that you seemingly have the magic touch of The Force, perhaps this free app is just what you need.

Check out the brief introduction video below to see how this works. We would love to see some further functionality to this and who knows – Apple may decide that this is a stroke of genius and will make the developers at Bot Square a rather sizable offer.

If you have already tried Flutter, let us know your thoughts on it – very impressive right?

It has been revealed that Spotify has now now reached 3 million paying subscribers, this has jumped massively since March 2011 when it hit the 1 million milestone and should help out massively in the long run. When you think each paying customer pays $4.99 per month for Unlimited (no ads and unlimited streaming) or $9.99 per month for Spotify Premium (no ads, unlimited streaming, offline mode and mobile capabilities) it’s fair to presume that the future is looking bright, not to mention the revenue brought in through advertising.

Spotify’s 3 million paying customers are said to represent 20% of Spotify’s active user base, there are many things which have helped out, but many believe the Facebook integration and free premium trials have helped out massively. Personally the 10 hour cap for Spotify free was what convinced me subscribe to Unlimited, now that this cap has been lifted I still pay $4.99 per month as I’m used to an ad-free service and think that it’s a small price to pay considering the amount of hours I use the service for a month.

Below we have added a statement from Ken Parks, Spotify’s US managing director:

“We have an enormous internal effort to drive conversion and engagement with the service. We are very focused on growing in our existing 12 markets as well as expanding in other markets.”

As you can see it looks like there’s new plans on the horizon, so what would you like to see in 2012 from Spotify? Why not release a Spotify-branded car stereo? Bring Spotify to consoles via apps? Add better social features to Spotfy to more seamlessly connect with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Google Plus – feel free to share your ideas.

Do you pay for Spotify?

The company has revealed it has now reached 2.5 million paying customers for its online music service. According to SlashGear Spotify hasn’t reveled where these customers are mainly based or how many free users the service has either. But the figures are quite impressive when you consider the amount of options there are for consumers, which can cost very little to nothing at all.

It has managed to convince consumers to its music service by offering a solid option to them. It has been helped by adding Facebook integration with its recent US launch, which would have tempted even more users to its service. It will be interesting to see how it fairs in the coming months as more free options become available.

In its favor though it has a strong user interface with a large library of music, which is coupled with a no strings subscription that puts Spotify in a strong position. The company has also announced an upcoming press event on November 30th, which is thought to be about what the company is planning next for the service.

The service has been launched on more mobile devices as well that opens the service up to even more people. Are you currently using Spotify? If so are you paying for it?

Customers who are new or agree to a new contract taking the 30Mb, 59Mb, or 100Mb service will get Spotify Premium for no charge for the first six months, and according to What Hi-Fi this is a saving of almost £60. This will allow customers to get access to Spotify’s massive music library, and also get a range of exclusive content via a new VM Music tab found in the Spotify app.

Broadband customers agreeing to a new monthly Virgin Mobile contract will get a free Spotify Premium subscription for their handset for three months, which is a saving of £30. Users will also not have to pay any data charges when streaming or downloading tracks via Spotify to their handset.

The company also plans to offer a Spotify service for its TiVo video on demand set top box, which will allow customers to get Spotify content through their TV or home cinema equipment.

Customers of Virgin Media that are new to Spotify or already have Spotify accounts will also be able to get offers of a three or six month extension to their existing subscription for free. Once the free period is over customers can continue to subscribe to Spotify Premium via Virgin, or their accounts will go back to the ad-supported free Spotify service.

Many users of the service probably thought the Spotify service would never arrive, but now finally the Swedish music streaming company has released a preview build of the app that anyone can download. Electricpig are reporting that all the normal Spotify mobile features are promised, which include offline playlists, Last.fm, and search.

Of course you will also need a Spotify Premium subscription to use the service, but also the correct BlackBerry device. This is where the problem currently lies as the new service will only work on GSM devices, so users in the US are out of luck for now. The only devices the service will work on include the BlackBerry Bold 9780, Bold 9700, Curve 9300, Bold 9000, and Curve 8520.

This will mean anyone owning the more recent BlackBerry 7 or the Torch and Storm touchscreen devices can’t get the service for the time being. The press image revealing the service does show two devices running Blackberry 7 though.

Spotify at the moment are not revealing if extra devices are to be added soon, but did announce the application will be put onto the App World when it leaves the beta stage. Will you be downloading the beat for Spotify?

It appears that the service is to be rebranded and launched as Boinc, in a bid to take on the online music market which is currently dominated by the likes of Spotify and Apple with iTunes. The company intend on having Boinc launched as an app for mobile devices as well as being built into to some phones and PCs, making it unique to other similar services.

The fact that it will be built in to some devices suggests that the service will be free to some users, at least to the point of access. Rupert Murdoch’s company owns a 23% stake in Boinc since investing $9.2m (£5.6m) in April last year so will be hoping to make a profit. This suggests Boinc will be subscription based or a paid-for application for Android smartphones and iPhones.

Reports suggest that the music service founder and chief executive, Adam Kidron had previously come close to securing deals with major record labels; EMI, Sony, Warner Music and Universal back in March, but since then talks have broken down. This was due to a higher percentage payment demand from each of the labels. Now the rights holders will receive 70% of the annual profit as well as royalties per play. You can check out more details about the service over at the Guardian.

Will you be interesting in signing up for this new music service or are you happy with existing ones such as iTunes and Spotify?

The creators of Spotify have decided to make the free version of Spotify US invite only, so you’ll need to obtain a code from a friend who has a subscription to the service, or by getting a code via other avenues available on the internet – there are many.

The important thing to note here though, is that you do not need a code if you want to jump into a paid-for subscription straight away. Prices for Spotify start from $4.99 or $9.99 per month depending on if you want the Unlimited or Premium version, and you can cancel your subscription after one month and use the free version afterwards if you prefer – thus eliminating the need for an invite altogether.

So, the all important question that most of you are asking right now is ‘how do i get myself an elusive code?’ Well, while we don’t have the direct codes for you here since we’re located in the UK and Spotify is free, we do have some locations where you can leave your email address with Spotify so you can be mailed a code.

You better act quick though, because these invites are getting snapped up by the second, with eager music lovers desperately trying to get their hands on one. If you want our opinion though, pay $4.99 for a one month subscription and then move on to the free version afterwards, it’s well worth it and you’ll love how easy it is to use Spotify and the vast library of songs available as soon as you’ve created your account.

Below you’ll find the link where you can put your email address and hope you get invited by Spotify. We’ll add more as soon as we find more links, so don’t be too disappointed if you don’t gain access straight away. In the meantime, we’re hoping Spotify won’t stay in this format forever, as it’s a bit tedious requiring an invite on the very first launch day, especially when similar services such as Grooveshark are available for free, without the need for any invitations.

Let us know how you get on, and you have found some alternative methods to gain an invite to Spotify.

Free invites available here
Alternative Link