ICO/PRO is the world’s top resource for indoor cycling instructors. Their website (indoorcycleinstructor.com) provides a wealth of advice and help for thousands of indoor cycling enthusiasts, as well as cycling studio owners and health and fitness club managers. John Macgowan hosts the Indoor Cycle Instructor podcast, an internet radio show that’s listened to by fitness professionals around the world. Since music plays such [...]

Did you know you can easily stream Spotify to your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360? In fact, you can stream it to any DNLA-compliant device, such as newer Samsung and Sony Bravia TVs. Before you get too excited though, note that there’s currently no official Spotify app for either PlayStation or Xbox. Instead, you can use a service called Jamcast to capture audio playing on Spotify on your Windows PC and stream it to your living room, kitchen, [...]

Looking for something to keep your wee ankle-biters amused on long journeys? There’s plenty on Spotify to keep the pre-schoolers entertained, and with the help of, say, a SONOS system or an appropriate in-car head unit, it’s easy to send Spotify to your little tyke’s bedroom or car seat. Here’s five American and five British TV shows for young kids that have soundtrack albums on Spotify, as well as some suggested “classics” [...]

There are a few legitimate reasons why music subscription services may not be for everyone, but many people are missing out on hours and hours of flexible music listening fun just because of knee-jerk reactions. This article provides some responses to those common objections.   This is a guest post by Eddie Yasi, writer of the subscription music services blog CloudMusic. With the launch of Spotify in the US, music subscription [...]

I’ve been surfing through the Spotify catalog for a couple of years now, and in my travels I’ve come across my share of strangeness and oddities hidden in the backwaters. I’ve also noticed some unusual quirks, serendipitous playlisting and even the odd game or two. Here’s a look at ten Spotify Games & Easter Eggs to keep you amused!   1. The Warlock Of Spotify Mountain British synthpop band Hurts were the [...]

Spotify Mobile on iPhone and Android are both reasonably mature apps now, having been launched simultaneously back in September 2009. At the time, the Android version had a slight edge in terms of features, with its unique ability to Sync Over 3G, a What’s New area, and most crucially the ability to play in the background. But the iPhone version seemed to take priority at Spotify and within a few months it had caught up then taken the [...]

There are many things I believe set Spotify apart from the competition. Chief of which is that Spotify focuses on the music and leaves many of the frills to 3rd parties. Whereas other music subscription services try to bake in as many bells and whistles as possible, Spotify’s open programing interface allows anyone to build apps and websites to compliment the service. This way Spotify can concentrate on what they do best – delivering [...]

We both heard the same beat in the beginning, but where did you go from there? Perhaps you discovered one or two favorite styles then settled back to explore similar bands. Some of my friends have stayed  hovering around one genre since the day I met them, never venturing out to try something different or perhaps checking out a track or two but then scurrying back to the familiarity of the soundtrack of their youth. I’m a bit [...]

After Part I and Part II, here are ten more new Spotify tips to help you get to most out of the service!     1. Backing up Your Music The first rule on Spotify is: you don’t really need to backup anything. All your playlists are stored as links to Spotify’s library in the cloud. It’s these playlist links that are important, rather than the actual cached and encrypted music files Spotify stores on your hard disk. But if you [...]

Here’s a heads-up about a forthcoming book I’m involved with. Spotify For Dummies is a “fun and friendly guide” that walks you through how best to use Spotify. Due out in October, it’s available for pre-order now from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. Covering everything from using Spotify on smartphones to creating and sharing your own playlists, Spotify For Dummies has it all. Experienced author Kim Gilmour details [...]