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Tweet The latest Spotify desktop client update includes the most-requested feature on the support forums: gapless playback! It seems this update was strongly driven by community user requests, as several other new features – crossfading, persistent play queues, hiding of “purchase” buttons – have all been requested by users in the past. Here’s a brief look at the key new features:   Gapless Playback and Crossfade Gapless [...]

Tweet Spotify is now over three years old but the debate rages on in some quarters about whether it’s a “good thing” for artists to have their music available for streaming. Has is moved enough music fans from illegal torrent sites? Does it cannibalize physical and download sales? Do the marketing and promotional benefits outweigh any potential loss of sales? Over what period of time should album profits now be measured? Each record [...]

Tweet Spotify recently soft-launched a new community forum at community.spotify.com. Built on the Lithium platform, this Official Spotify Community is a forum for Spotify users to help each other out, but it’s also frequented by several Spotify staffers keen to point users in the right direction. Community Manager Rorey says the forum’s goal is “to give folks a place to collaborate and support each other when using Spotify, [...]

Tweet My HTC Desire and 7” Samsung Galaxy Tab went on ebay at the end of 2011 to fund my purchase of an Asus Transformer Prime. Through a £499 pre-order on ebuyer.com, I was lucky enough to receive this amazing Android tablet a few days before the official UK release and have now had a week or so to play about with it. Here are my impressions!   Hardware The UK version of Asus Transformer Prime is the 32GB Prime + Dock combo, tightly [...]

Tweet Lots of great new Spotify sites, apps and plugins launched over the past few weeks: here’s a look at some of them!   Utubify Android – Spotify Music Videos The makers of Utibify (the site that lets you watch music videos on YouTube based on your Spotify playlists) now have a super-slick Android app. Just enter your Spotify username to start watching full-screen music videos of all the songs in your published playlists. [...]

Tweet Here’s an end-of-year list of my favorite movies, TV shows, books and games from 2011. I’ve added links to Spotify where soundtracks are available. Happy New Year!   My Favorite Movies of 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes Attack the Blocks Source Code Drive Midnight In Paris Hanna The Adjustment Bureau Limitless X-Men: First Class Trollhunter   My Favorite TV Shows of 2011 Game of Thrones Breaking Bad Justified Spartacus: [...]

Tweet In 2011 I must have listened to over 100 new electronic albums, give or take. And while I felt the quantity of good synthpop releases had fallen compared with previous years, the number of quality electronic albums in general was a joy and inspiration. Here then are my Top 20 Electronic Albums of 2011, covering synthpop, electro-industrial, psy-trance, “hauntronica” and all the synthetic sounds in between.   20. Michael [...]

Tweet Here’s my video review Soundrop, the new Spotify App for listening to music with friends.   Also check out our Spotify Apps page, listing all available apps along with a sneak peak at what’s coming soon.

Tweet Here’s my video review of the new Guardian app for Spotify:   Also check out our new Spotify Apps page, listing all available apps along with a sneak peak at what’s coming soon.

Tweet The Spotify Platform beta is out now, and it’s fully-loaded with not only a selection of brand-new Spotify Apps but also a whole host of other new features, tweaks and general polish. After accepting the new Ts&Cs, you’ll see a redesigned homepage using a new HTML5 template. A new Apps section is in the left sidebar near the top. Click the App Finder link in Apps area to view the current list of eleven launch apps: Add [...]