This evening Daniel Ek, the founder and CEO of Spotify, revealed the brand's next evolution, App Finder, set to bring a wealth of apps to the popular music streaming platform.

According to Ek some of the "best and the brightest" contenders of the music and app industries are keen to become part of the service, with the likes of Last.fm, Rolling Stone, Songkick, Fuse and The Guardian all readying different app offerings for the platform.

All of these apps will be able to integrate with Spotify's current catalogue of 16 million tracks and the very good news is they'll be available to both free and premium users.

There are a few different ways the apps can work and the Spotify blog gives users some interesting examples:

"Let's say you're listening to a new track and you'd like to know the lyrics. Just click over to the TuneWiki app and see all the words of the song perfectly synced as you're listening.

"Maybe you want to see a gig this weekend? Check out the Songkick app to find out if any of the artists in your library are performing near you. Then get your hands on tickets with a few clicks."

The App Finder will become part of Spotify's desktop application in the left-hand toolbar, with various pop-up elements appearing on top of the usual Spotify experience.

According to recent reports the App Finder will go live next week and will be part of an automatic update for existing users.

Related: Spotify launches musical advent calendar with Pixie Lott, Primal Scream & Westlife

You get to a certain age and advent calendars just don't seem as magical anymore, especially if you get home after a bad day at the office and stuff ten of the little chocolates into your mouth (we've never done that before, honest). Well this year Spotify aims to give us back a bit of that festive fun that we've all lost somewhere over the years with the help of some of the world's top artists.

The popular music streaming service teamed up with Leona Lewis, Jason Derulo, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5, Ryan Adams, Westlife, Pixie Lott and Primal Scream and asked them to submit a personal selection of 24 songs for the run up to Christmas. All of the selections have been added to a kind of musical advent calendar, which will soon exist as a shiny Facebook app called Festive Playlist.

Each day throughout December users can visit Spotify's Festive Playlist to reveal an artist's selection for that particular day. Now don't worry, it isn't all cheesy carols and self promotion, there are a few unexpected choices thrown in along the way that might raise an eyebrow or two.

Nikki Lambert, the European marketing director at Spotify, said:

"The advent calendar ritual of opening a new door each day to discover a new treat, is one of the most fun things about the run up to Christmas. And what could be better to be revealed each day than a favourite track from your favourite artist? We have worked with some of the biggest stars in the world to make this the only Advent Calendar you'll need this year!"

The Facebook app will be going live tomorrow (awh just like a real advent calendar) on the Spotify Facebook page or at facebook.com/spotifyfestive.

We love Spotify here at Shiny HQ and spend far too much time putting together playlists to match our mood. Luckily it can sneakily be filed under research! There is an upbeat one, an indie one and an angry one...

Yet again the conversation moved on to music today and more precise motivational songs. We got onto this topic as we've just finished reading this new book called Stop Thinking Start Doing which is all about... well stop putting things off and following your dreams. If you want to do something but secretly fear you're never going to do it, whatever that might be, then this book might help you (it's only in paperback now but will be available on the Kindle very soon!)

So we set the Shiny team to the task of collating a motivational Spotify playlist for those times when you need a bit of uplifting music, whether it is a 20 mile jog in the freezing cold, keeping your blog up to date or just doing whatever it is you've been putting off for weeks.

Check out ShinyShiny's cheesetastic motivational Spotify playlist here.

Now the list is nowhere near complete so have a listen and let us know what is missing. And yes we are well aware that there are some cringe-worthy choices in there... Motivational music might make you cringe at times, but there is nothing like a bit of Bon Jovi or Survivor to lift your spirits.

There's a great story over at One Mobile Ring, which if confirmed may have a huge impact on the way we consume music on the move. The site is claiming that Virgin Media will soon be announcing that Spotify will be accessible on the Virgin Mobile phones - without incurring any data charges, or affecting the accompanying phone's data allowance.

So, let's get this straight. You will be able to listen to streamed music over 3G wherever you are and not have to pay date charges for it. Spotify works OK over 3G, but most people realise that if they do use it they will incur huge date charges. In the future, when we get 4G networks, data costs will tumble and being able to access music in this way will be a no brainer. It will work better as connections will also be faster and more robust. It is interesting to note that one of the world's most advanced 4G networks, Yota in Russia cites streamed music as one of its cores services.

Apparently Virgin Media is the only digital entertainment provider in the UK to offer the music platform across multiple services, and for the foreseeable future will be the only company to offer Spotify on 3G.

We'll be watching this story develop

The jury is very much out on Facebook's music offering - this comes after conducting a scientific search of social media reponses from two other people.

While everyone seems to love the Spotify link up, some people seem to have issues about people sharing what they are listening to in their timeline.

Personally I am all up for finding out what music other people are playing. However I think that Facebook's limited user response to this - you can either 'like' their music or add a comment - is now a bit outdated. I think it is time Zuckerberg and his pals created a few more options.

How about...

Dislike button - for mild distaste when you see someone playing Ed Sheeran.

Pathetic attempt to be a hipster button - for when people are playing Warpaint when you know they'd rather be listening to One Direction (or buying one of their phones)

Try and listen to something new you saddo button - For when they are playing Nirvana, REM or anything else that they listened to at Uni (sadly I think I might get this one a lot)

Your partner has hijacked your Spotify account button - For when the music gets much better/much worse or starts breaking into classical or jazz

We know you are playing air guitar button - Appropriate for Aerosmith, Green Day, Led Zep etc

Simon Cowell button - For when the music they play has absolutely no musical and artistic credibility, but you bet they wouldn't half fancy shagging the lead singer.

You have accidentally left Spotify running on random button - Tells the user to sort it quick before it starts playing their Genevieve Waite tracks.

Any more? What button would you want?

So what the hell is Deezer? And do you need another music streaming service in your life? Well, chances are you hadn't heard of Deezer before last night when the French company announced its role as part of Facebook's music package. Deezer however has been around for a while. It was launched as a service back in 2007 in France (before Spotify) and since then has signed up more than 20 million users and 1.3 million subscribers. It actually debuted in the UK earlier in September, but will have got a massive new number of subscribers yesterday.

But what if you have Spotify already - do you need another music streaming service? Well here are the differences between the two.

1 Deezer is web-based. Spotify is client based.

The big difference is that Deezer is a web based service. So you don't have to download any software, you simply go to the website, create your account and the music - all 13 million tracks - is waiting for you.

With Spotify you have to have a computer with the client on board for it to work. The Facebook upgrade, which lets you listen to Spotify songs on the social networking sites, doesn't actually change this. If you try to listen to a song it then downloads the client on to the PC. Very cleverly it doesn't matter who has been using the Spotify client as it automatically logs you out of someone else's account and connects to yours.

I guess the browser based nature of the service might mean that Deezer can go a few places that Spotify can't as it might be able to skip through some work firewalls.

2 The free options are different

As you probably know the free Spotify service is one, ad funded and, two comes with a few restrictions on the number of times you can play a track. With Deezer things are a little different. You can access the radio channels and Smartradio, but music on demand is limited to 30 second clips rather than the whole song. To listen to whole albums etc you have to subscribe. However when we signed in this morning we were offered a few weeks of the service for free. I am not sure how long this will be available for.

3 The mobile service is different

Deezer wins on this one. Its mobile options are easier to use and more detailed than Spotify's and includes extra features such as radio and Smartradio. You can also listen to music on your mobile via Deezer (well the radio and Smartradio) without having to pay for a subscription, Spotify only offers its mobile service to its paying customers.

Other than those three biggies the services are fairly similar.

Spotify has the edge in number of track 15 million to 13 million, however I did keep finding things on Deezer that are not on Spotify. The big names are John Lennon (his catalogue was removed from Spotify a few months back) and Pink Floyd (whose albums are being rolled out on Deezer in the next few weeks). Neither service has The Beatles or Led Zeppelin.

The interfaces and general features (like social sharing of tracks) work in a similar way. Deezer looks a little more MySpacey to Spotify's iTunes influenced design. Deezer does have Soundcloud integration, which is a very nice touch. I guess Spotify will get this soon.

The subscription deals are virtually identical with both charging £4.99 for full PC service and £9.99 if you want to take tracks with you on your mobile. Slight moan about Deezer though - their service is 4.99 and 9.99 Euros which makes it even cheaper in France. Shame they couldn't have saved us Brits a few pence too.

Overall then, do you need both? Well probably not. Is one better than the other? Not really, it is too close to call. There might come a day when one of them offers a feature that will make me change my mind, but for now both services are well worth considering. Five quid a month for all that music? Bargain!

A new online recommendation tool called Spotalike lets you quickly and easily find Spotify playlists that'll suit you.

It's very much like the music version of film and TV recommending gem Jinni (if you haven't tried Jinni yet do it NOW). Spotalike asks you to enter just one track by one artist and it'll recommend a playlist that you'll like gathered from the Last.fm vaults.

Now Spotalike can't read your mind, so if you enter a song that you know doesn't fall in line with the rest of your music tastes it won't be able to tell.

Although there are similar recommendation tools integrated within other programmes, we love Spotalike because it's just SO simple, making it ideal for a Spotify beginner who wants some ready-made playlists, or even a seasoned user searching for a little bit of inspiration.

Spotify, the award-winning music service from Sweden has finally broken into the US market after years of negotiation with record labels.

Will their subscription-based model topple the Apple iTunes? I think Apple should be getting worried.

Though Apple first broke a psychological boundary by getting music fans to pay for something virtual - a file rather than a CD; Spotify have taken the process to its natural conclusion and realised that we don't even need to pay for the file.

All we want is access to the file. The end user just wants to listen to as much music as cheaply as possible. Spotify realised that. And delivers it. Letting you listen to any of 13million tracks for £9.99 a month, a deal which kind of beats Apple's 99p a track proposition.

We just need that file for the 3 minutes we're listening to it.

I know it means I don't own the tracks like I would with iTunes. But you know what? I don't really care. I can buy a CD off Amazon if I really want something. And the playlists function is fantastic.

There's been huge demand for a service like this for a while, but Spotify are the first to have done it so well: with almost flawless technology and enough legal muscle to get the labels on board.

US readers - sign up to be notified about the US Spotify launch here

Spotify have censored an advert running on their music service that used the song "Too Drunk to Fuck" because it "encourages binge drinking".

The ad was for Kronenbourg and featured the song from The Kennedy's playing in the background. No other albums or song titles are censored and they pretty much cover the gamut of bad words. And, as everyone has pointed out - it really doesn't encourage binge drinking. The contrary in fact.

However alcohol pressure group Portmans said it breached a rule that bans advertisers from "encouraging irresponsible or immoderate drinking".

You can listen to the track normally though. Just not in the context of Kronenbourg sales.

Censorship has come up with Spotify before - they reserve the right to take down playlists with offensive or defamatory names: see No rude Playlist names say Spotify

[via NME]

A deal between Virgin Media and Spotify will open up the music service's vast library to Virgin media subscribers.

Spotify will be one of the bolt-on extras subscribers can get in their subscription packages - Spotify unlimited and Spotify premium are both on offer. We're not surprised Virgin want to bump up the music access on their service, I personally found their current catalog of music videos on the top media package available to be really limited.

Spotify is fast becoming the tech industry's music player and library of choice. See their deal with Facebook.

What's in it for Spotify? Well a bunch of money we imagine, Virgin have deep pockets. And then - there's the reach this will give them:

Andreas Liffgarden, director of business development at Spotify said:
"By teaming up with Virgin Media we're giving millions more people across the UK the chance to enjoy all the world's music at their fingertips, however they choose to listen to it - be that on their computer, mobile, and for the first time through their TV."

More details on the Virgin Media website

Facebook are making an "awesome" announcement at 10am PST today, or 6pm GMT, 7pm British Summer Time.

Timed to pull the carpet from under Google Plus - which has been dominating tech news for the past week since its launch - Zuckerberg made clear that this wasn't just any old announcement. It's going to be something awesome.

Most people are expecting a link-up with Skype and the integration of video chat into the Facebook user interface. Facebook's close ties with Microsoft (Skype's owners) make this a strong possibility.

But you know what we'd love it to be? That music service that was touted when the Facebook Spotify deal was mentioned last month. The service was tipped to launch in a few weeks, which would be, well about now.

The integration with Spotify isn't just some random feature - this music library will be core to Facebook's strategy of becoming the place to share and discover content. They started it with the Like Button, and importing a vast library of content like music will be a significant next step.

And could mean people turning less to places like Youtube to share music. Youtube being owned by Google of course.

IMHO, music sharing services ARE awesome. More awesome than video chat I think.

The hitch? Well when the Spotify deal was raised a couple of weeks ago, it was stated that only places that already have Spotify will get the Facebook integration. That would cut out the US, because Spotify is only available in the UK and Europe. Apparently Facebook are in talks with American partners which could power their service there, but given how slow record labels are in making changes, it's hard to see how they could have pulled that off already.

And it's inconceivable that Facebook will make a big deal out of a service that's not available in the US.

Other big suggestions for the reveal are:

Integration with Skype - video chat

An iPad app - Facebook have one, and they promised to launch it soon

A better mobile app that makes it much easier to share pictures, Instagram-style

Facebook's Project Sparta - a suite of html5 apps that could rival Apple's app store

As Spotity is rumoured to be joining forces with Facebook, another music service is eyeing up social networks as a way to get ahead. Last.fm's plans are that its users will be able to sign in from Facebook, and they can also share tracks with their Facebook friends. The same system will make it easier to find your friends on Last.fm and see what they are listening to.

Sounds like we can expect some competition in the music streaming arena. Last.fm has about 30 million monthly users, and charges £3 per month in subscription fees. The group faces strong competition from Spotify and free services, meaning plans are in the works to make itself unique:

"I know we have a lot of work to do, but we want to become the connective tissue between services like Spotify and iTunes and the place where people publish their music taste online," Vice President of Product at Last.fm, Matthew Hawn, told BBC News. "If Foursquare is where you publish your location, and Facebook is where you socially connect, Last.fm should be where you publish your taste in music."

Last.fm is now going to try and make its service more mainstream, added Hawn - this includes a redesign of the site and again running live music events.

Music service Spotify is rumoured to be closing a deal with Facebook that will see the music player deeply embedded in the social network. Spotify icons would appear on the homepage of every Facebook user and Facebookers would be able to browse, listen to and share Spotify's 10million songs.

Spotify has been making some big changes lately - cutting its free service & letting people download music onto iPods and phones - but this is a bit of a thunderbolt.

Having Spotify as a browsable music library for Facebook would cement the new "we're a music discovery service" spiel from Spotify. It meant that when you heard a cool new song you could post it on your friends' walls, they'd be able to listen to it, and yes - buy it if they wanted to. It makes Spotify the default Facebook music player. You could share a Youtube video too of course- but Google own that, and well it doesn't really monetise in the same way.

Could the deal breathe new life into the Spotify Free model? We'd like to think so. Facebook has a potent network of advertisers for starters, and even if Spotify doesn't get a direct cut of Facebook advertising, it offers advertisers much more information about who they're targeting. And having the Spotify icon on the home page of Facebook is a massive coup that will drive loads of people to the service. Perhaps more users would mean more ad revenue = more free music.

I mean if anyone knows how to monetise a completely free service - it's Facebook.

I could see listening time being limited on Facebook. But I just can't imagine a service on Facebook cutting you out for listening to a song more than 5 times. Maybe this much hated feature of the new Spotify

People talk about music all the time on Facebook - it's a very natural pairing for a site that aims to be a hub for interests and entertainment. Spotify Social - the current Facebook integration that lets you share friends' playlists - is one of the best uses of Facebook Connect that I've ever seen.

It would square Facebook up to Apple more by providing a very potent rival to iTunes with enormous reach.

Expect an announcement in two weeks.. though only in the countries where Spotify is currently available.

Related: Spotify Explain: Why we cut the Free Service..

[via Forbes]

At the beginning of May, Spotify changed the terms of their Free account and made a lot of people upset. We got a bunch of comments on our articles about the changes so we decided to interview Spotify about why they'd done it, and whether they still believed in their Free service.

It was the power users of their Free service that took the hit when their listening time was halved to 10 hours a month and a 5 play-only limit was imposed on all songs.

We questioned Spotify closely about why they'd done it, and whether they were giving up on the freemium model. UK PR Manager Sally Whately replied to us.

Two points stick out:
- Apparently only 3/10 Spotify Free users reached the 20 hour limit on the previous
- Spotify are still committed to having Free users: but they see it as a music player (import your MP3s from your computer) and a "discovery" service, rather than the previous listen to free music set-up that we knew and loved.

Still - is it wise to hit your most dedicated users like that? Was the old Spotify too good to last? What do you think? Tell us in the comments.

1) A lot of people were very upset about your changes to Spotify Free. Why did you decide that the previous 20hr, ad-supported model Spotify Free level wasn't sustainable?

Spotify: We've shown that the model is doing extremely well, but as things stand we need to tweak the service to ensure everyone continues to have access to legal music.

We have been required to put these changes in place to ensure we are able to continue to offer the Spotify service to as many people as possible and we are confident only the small percentage of heavier users of free will be affected.

2) Was it because you're thinking about moving into the US and that American record labels drove a very hard deal on free listening?

Spotify:No, this decision has nothing to do with our plans to move into the US. In terms of this, nothing is set yet but we will have both free and paid options when we launch in the US.

3) Are you trying to make the majority of your users payers rather than ad-supported listeners?

Spotify:Absolutely not. We are committed to delivering the best possible service that everyone can enjoy. We have worked very hard to ensure that everyone has the ability to listen to, discover, share and manage their music legally and that has required us to put some limits in place.

4) What do you say to people who say that the new Spotify Free is untenable to use as a regular music service? (-ie it's not just a reduction, but a complete change in how people can use it - for example people are only able to listen to playlists they've made 5 times)

Spotify:Spotify Free is still a fantastic service. Our free users have access to a catalogue of over 13 million tracks, with 10,000 additional tracks added every single day. That's still an amazing offer and all for free.

The changes we have made primarily affect heavier Spotify Free/Open users as most free users mainly use Spotify to discover new music, so not only do our free users still have a massive catalogue to choose from but Spotify remains a great way to discover new music as well sharing and managing music.

The average user won't reach the limit on plays for the vast majority of tracks (7 out of 10) and we'll continue to bring users the biggest and most diverse music catalogue available. And the majority of users of the free service discover around 50 new tracks per month. Our users are using Spotify to find new tracks to enjoy and share with friends and the changes to the service won't get in their way of doing that.

In addition, with the latest upgrade to the service (http://www.spotify.com/uk/blog/archives/2011/05/04/spotify-says-hello-to-the-ipod), we announced new features, which are available to all free users and include:
· The ability for users to manage their iPod in Spotify

· The all new Spotify download service, offering some of the most competitive MP3 prices available

· The Spotify Mobile app now available to all to sync MP3 playlists

These new features mean that Spotify is the only music player our users need to manage all of their music.

5) Do you have any plans to change the 5 listens to one song ever rule? That has been flagged up as the harshest thing about the changes.

Spotify:We're always looking at our service to make sure it is the best we can offer for everyone.

6) Has Spotify given up on the Freemium model? Do you think an ad-supported music player can ever work?

Spotify:Absolutely not - we have not given up on the Freemium model. It's crucial that we continue to offer our users a free service that gives them access to all the world's music with thousands of tracks added daily.

We want to have a model that can work for everyone and not just a one size fits all. Having both a free and paid service that ensures that everyone has the ability to listen to, discover, share and manage their music legally. The Freemium model is crucial to Spotify's continued growth and success.

7) Would you do any more flexible pricing options? I know you do a £5 a month deal but I actually got a message from a student asking if you could do a £3/£2 one for more limited amounts of music? it does sound a bit ridiculous to me - but someone did ask..

Spotify: We want to offer the widest possible choice of options for all our users and we recently announced an upgrade to our service, which includes a download service. This new MP3 download service makes it possible for our users to own their playlists - all in one easy step. By introducing a range of MP3 bundles, we've been able to offer some of the most competitive prices available - from as little as 50p per song. Our service is geared towards playlist building and buying - however it is still possible to buy a la carte on Spotify.

Many of our users don't have smartphones, or they don't want the monthly expense of a subscription. What most do have is a device to play their music on the go, so offering downloads is a natural progression for us in order to ensure that everyone can access their favourite music whenever and wherever they are.

8) What do you say to the idea that cutting the number of Free users affects the service that paying subscribers get? For example reducing the number of playlists available (from friends, music blogs) and the amount of social interaction on the service.

Spotify:It's important to remember that the average user won't reach the limit on plays for the vast majority of tracks and our free users discover around 50 new tracks per month, even after using Spotify for a year. The changes won't get in the way of our users finding new tracks to enjoy and share with friends.

9) Do you know when Spotify is moving to the US?

Spotify:We're working hard to get the service to the US as soon as possible. All we can say right now is watch this space.

Related: The cut to Spotify Free makes the service worse for paying users too

Seems like some people have been thinking up rude names for their playlists on Spotify: as the music service has gone so far to explicitly ban it in their new End User Agreement. The document states that you can be withdrawn from Spotify Social if you are found to be writing rude things.

"Examples of unacceptable behaviour include, but are not limited to: giving playlists offensive, abusive, defamatory, pornographic or obscene titles;" [section 11]

I wonder what people were doing? In the interest of investigation I just made a playlist called "Fuck this Shit". That seemed to be fine. Plus lots of songs have really rude names so I guess the bar will have to be set pretty low...

Anyone been blocked for these reasons?

Related: The cut to Spotify Free makes the service worse for paying users too

I'm a big Spotify fan, I pay £10 a month for it, and listen everyday, as I have for about a year and a half.

I was sad to hear about the cuts to the Spotify Free service. It has been well documented how hard it has hit the Free users. They're now only allowed to listen to 10 hours of music a month and - worst of all - play a song five times. Five times ever.

Okay, I hear you - people should pay for music, those records don't pay for themselves and someone has to keep new bands in synths and studio time. But I still don't think this is the right way for Spotify to go. They have made their Free service essentially useless. It's more of a cruel tease than a viable service now and basically - lots of people have stopped using it.

And that affects more than just the free Spotify users. It affect the paying ones too. And this is why Spotify should reconsider these moves.

For me it is the social playlists that made Spotify truly great. That Spotify Social development which synced up your account with your Facebook friends was a master stroke of genius, that let me browse and pillage the playlists of all my friends. I didn't just get to hear about the new band they love, but about all the bands they loved, laid out in playlists that I could just switch on and browse through whenever I wanted.

Blogs would make Spotify playlists too. I have discovered so much new music that way.

But since the 1st of May - or rather 3 days later when their allowances ran out - my friends have stopped using Spotify. If they can't listen to a playlist they've made more than 5 times, there's not much reason for them to make it in the first place. So they've stopped doing it, and I'm running out of playlists. And that takes away one of the main pleasures of the service for me.

Spotify - you made the Freemium model popular - stick with it. Don't squeeze out your free customers out to the point where the service is more of a tease than a decent service in its own right. That 10 hours a month, 5 plays of a song ever deal is just too harsh to keep people using it.

Comments on the blog post announcing the cuts are telling. Average Spotify blog posts get around 100 comments.

This one got 9085 comments and runs to 182 pages. Some are supportive. Many are not: "Bye bye Spotify." Others specifically lament the maximum 5 plays for any song ever.

We'll get in touch with Spotify to see what they have to say about this and what changes are likely in the future...

In the meantime, let us know if you have any comments on this...

The ability to sync your Spotify music to your iPod/iPhone/Android phone has just been extended to Spotify free users. However, users of Free Spotify won't be able to stream their music on their iPods - they'll just be able to transfer tracks they've already bought.

Announced today on the Spotify blog , the company explained:

"As of today, everyone can download the Spotify Mobile iPhone & Android apps to wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists in Spotify from your computer to your phone. Fire up your mobile app and see your phone appear in the 'Devices' section of the Spotify sidebar, ready to rock and roll. No cables required! And did we mention it's now possible to wirelessly sync these playlists to your iPod touch?"

The change makes it more worthwhile for people to buy tracks on Spotify, but it's not a very significant alteration to the service.

As blog commenter sdg pointed out: "Premium is still the only way to get music that you don't own to your mobile devices. This new free addition is just for MP3s people have bought."

It does show however that the music service is actively pushing its users towards spending money on the site, encourage them to buy the music they usually listen to for free. Spotify offer 50p a song bundles as well.

In reality the change is small one, but it's been billed as an aggressive move against iTunes, with the Guardian describing it as a "rival". We'll explore this in another blog post.

IMHO a bigger recent move was Spotify's cut to free listening allowances down from 20 hours to 10 hours: You'd better start paying for Spotify soon guys - free listening time halve

Music streaming service Spotify has just been valued at $1 billion according to Sky News. Facebook backers DST and Kleiner Perkins are two of the big investors willing to bet that that sum is accurate and put their money behind the service.

Founded in Sweden in October 2008, Spotify offers a free music streaming service supported by ads or a subscription service letting people stream or store music on apps on their computers or mobile phones. Integration with Facebook has allowed users to share music and collaborate on playlists.

From personal experience, it has been one of my favourite web services of the past few years.

[via Forbes]

Laura Yates writes

When it comes to music streaming services, the market is certainly becoming somewhat crowded. Spotify is probably the most intimidating major player out there, but could American streaming MOG.com, soon to launch in the UK, be the one to watch out for?

Launched in December 2009, MOG is a relatively new online music service which is currently only available in the US and lets you listen instantly to music directly from your computer's web browser. With a catalogue of over 8 million songs legally obtained from every major music label and thousands of lesser known indie labels, you can easily tailor your music listening experience exactly to your taste. It also has a radio feature, which allows you to either listen to one artist or a mixture of artists whose music is a similar style or genre as the artist you've already chosen.

Sounds a little like Spotify right? Well, no as firstly MOG is entirely web-based meaning that you don't have to download the service. Perhaps the distinct difference however is that MOG doesn't have an ad-funded service and instead is planning on providing consumers a free taster and allow them to use the service for free for a few days with the hope that they will become hooked and subscribe. MOG also features blogs, news and features sections, making it more geared towards discovering new music and artists than Spotify and thus providing a richer entertainment experience.

When launched in the UK which is rumoured to be at the end of summer this year, MOG's CEO David Hyman is intent on offering a cheaper subscription price than that of Spotify which is £10 per month. The MOG subscription price is likely to be around £5 per month and the service will also be iPhone and Android compatible though the subscription for this upgrade will increase to approximately £10 per month.

While we hope you haven't exactly been holding your breath, the good news is that online music service Rdio - which you may have heard about way back in 2009 - has finally arrived. Well, in the US, anyway. But according to their blog this Spotify rival will be available in other parts of the world 'soon'.

Rdio is the brainchild of Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the pair who created the controversial file-sharing service Kazaa and later redeemed themselves (and paid the legal bills, presumably) with Skype. For a monthly charge, users can access a catalogue of major label music, streaming or saving their favourite tracks to PCs, iPhones and Blackberrys. Don't panic if you're an Android user - word on the street is that an app is on its way for you, too.

$9.99 will get you Rdio Unlimited, giving you both web and mobile usage, while a $4.99 gets you the web-only Rdio Web package. A caching feature means you'll be able to store music on your mobile without blowing the 3G budget, and with Warner Music Group backing the service we guess you could soon be listening to anyone from The Doors to Red Hot Chilli Peppers on or offline. (Unfortunately, Michael Buble is probably an option, too.) There are also suggestions that EMI and indies Orchard and INgrooves could soon be a part of the Rdio package.

Rdio's competitors are likely to be Rhapsody, Napster and the lesser known Mog All Access. And of course Spotify when it launches Stateside. But, with all eyes - and ears - on Spotify in the UK, what can Rdio really do to recommend itself to the discerning British listener? Well, it seems that this music service will include several social elements. So you'll be able to follow friends and find out what they're listening, and hijack other people's playlists when you're lacking inspiration. This does however mean you'll have to give up that filthy Nickelback habit.

Will you be tuning in to Rdio when it touches down in the UK? Or, in the time they've taken to get up and running, has Spotify already won your heart?