Spotify
Spotify (composed of spot and identify,) is a music streaming software, which allows the multiple encrypted direct transfer of pieces of music without delay.mode of operation and system requirements
Spotify provides the transfer of soundfiles via internet through the combination of server-based Streaming and the Peer-to-Peer-technology (P2P) (also: Cloud Computing). Even with slow internet connections there are no great delays when playing music. In these cases the rate of transmission should be at least 256 kbit/s. The soundfiles can be played as if they were installed on the hard disk of the user. For this the often used soundfiles are transferred via P2P from the Cache computer of the Spotify-user. By this the available bandwidth can be efficiently used and supported when using Streaming.The basic requirement is at least Mac OS X 10.4 as well as Windows XP or a newer operating system. Also the operating systems of Wine and Linux are supported. The used Cache-memory size can be limited by the user and the memory location of Cache can be defined. There should be a big amount of free memory on the computer hard disk, a minimum of 1 GB Cache on the local hard disk.
The user must set up an account in order to apply the software. This account can be installed on all computers at will, but not used on all computers at the same time. The software stops playing music on the computer, as soon as music is played on a second computer using the same account.
History
Spotify has been developed since 2006 by a developer team of Spotify AB, Stockholm, Sweden. The company Spotify was founded by Daniel Ek (former CTO of stardoll.com) and Martin Lorentzon (former CEO of tradedoubler in Stockholm, Sweden.Costs and availability
Spotify is freeware and can be downloaded for free. All offered pieces of music will be provided by music labels and licensed by them. The licence fees will pay for themselves by two ways: Either a subscription is paid or commercials are accepted.The user has access to tracks of all Major Labels and numerous smaller labels, the repertoire being constantly extended through new labels. The tracks can be found via search for interpreters, titles, albums, genres or the year of publication.
The users can set up (playlists) and share them or edit them together with other users (Collaborative software or Groupware). For this purpose the playlist link can directly be dragged in an email or an Instant Messaging-window. If the recipient follows the link the playlist will be downloaded on the Spotify-account of the recipient. Like normal links the playlist links can be used everywhere for example on websites. The same principle also works for single tracks, which can be used via Drag and Drop on applications and websites at will.
The tracks can also be downloaded for a fee. The Peer-to-Peer-Streaming, mostly known for illegal downloads, can now be used legally through the Spotify Software.