Spotify, a well-known and liked streaming music service in the UK has finally made it to our shores, and I was lucky enough to have signed up early and just got my invite over the weekend. I only have the free service, but I am impressed. Not only does the program pull all your itunes music, as well as from other sources on your computer, but you can search for a ton of albums and have it instantly streaming in it’s entirety, in decent quality. While there are some advertisements and commercials, the interruptions are minimal, especially considering you don’t have to pay a thing for it.

I don’t condone stealing music at all, but am definitely sympathetic with the justification of wanting to hear the music first. While many may see this service as a solution for listening to their music for free, I think – at least for me, it will only serve to increase my purchasing frequency by reinforcing smart purchases.

If you are a member, and would like to pay a small fee for the subscription account, you can bypass all the advertisements, stream music in higher quality, and even gain access to a mobile app. I have a feeling I will be giving into this sooner than later, as I find myself using the service as I write this.

It’s a cool app, and definitely pushes the music industry in the right direction…so start bugging people for invites today.