Newbie guide to Spotify.

I hate being recommended things sometimes. I don't know if I just prefer to discover things for myself, or I like to be minimalist and stick with what already works ok for me, or just be different. I still don't have a smart phone. But I joined Spotify anyway, with much resentment and doubt. I was hooked by the second day. Luckily the new office bandwidth is large.

Requirements: Internet, a facebook account, thirst for music.

What it does: streams music off the internet. It's like itunes crossed with the radio with a little bit of facebook. In fact, the radio application is what I love the most, you can click on a song that matches your mood and then start a radio station from it, and all the songs fit the style/mood. If you get something dud you click next. But also, you can have playlists, like in itunes. So once I've found a new song I like, I save it to a list so that I can thrash it obsessively for 3 days. The facebook part comes in when spotify occasionally tells all your facebook friends what you are listening to.

Is it fair to artists: well, some musicians opt out, which is fair enough. But I reckon if they get almost nothing from each listen, that's more than many of them would have ever got without spotify, because I'm listening to lots of people I would never have heard of on mainstream radio or anywhere. So now indi folk and folktronica artists from all around the world are getting something where before they got nothing, because I wasn't aware of their existance at all. Randoms go on high rotation for a few weeks, then on to somebody new. And there are songs that I've discovered that I do plan on buying once I get an itunes card, so there will be a percentage of artists that get a return beyond spotify. Because after all, owning is still different from just listening. Frankly, I would buy more on itunes if it was not so expensive in $AU but that's another rant.

Privacy: I used to use the private sessions thing, but then I realised, I don't care what other people are listening to, therefore I bet they care zero about my music taste too. Also, if anyone is stalking, my music taste is 90% awesome (in my opinion), so the bit that is daggy is clearly in an ironic context. (Not really, but that's what I want people to think.) Also, if the artists get more publicity out of it that's a good thing for them, I'm happy to help.

My tip: If you care a little bit what people think, you want to be careful what the last song you listen to is. That is the one that shows up to your facebook/spotify friends as what you were "recently" listening to, forever and ever and ever, until you listen to spotify again.