{"id":1,"date":"2011-02-07T23:46:51","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T06:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/?p=1"},"modified":"2011-07-25T10:49:03","modified_gmt":"2011-07-25T16:49:03","slug":"get-spotified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/get-spotified\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Spotified"},"content":{"rendered":"

<Post edited to reflect that Spotify now allows US accounts><\/p>\n

Have you heard of Spotify? \u00a0It’s essentially the realization of a utopian vision: a massive jukebox in the sky with every song you ever heard. \u00a0It’s awesome. \u00a0If you’ve read about it, you know some of this. \u00a0If not, you have to try it. \u00a0Imagine iTunes with not only all of your music, but you can listen to anything in the Store too. \u00a0For free, if you’re willing to put up with a few ads.<\/p>\n

I wanted to try Spotify, but they have basic checks in place related to their rights to distribute music. <\/span> Spotify is now available in the US through invitation (www.spotify.com<\/a>), so I’ve updated this post to focus on streaming your new Spotify music through iTunes to your Airport Express or Apple TV.<\/p>\n

Some background on why it took Spotify so long to enter the US market:\u00a0 If you’re not familiar with the total and complete mess that is music digital rights, you can read this\u00a0article<\/a> (short) or this article <\/a>(long) for background. \u00a0In short, its a local problem and you have to do deals all over the world to have a global service. \u00a0Spotify hasn’t been able to do the requisite deals in the US, so no soup for us.<\/p>\n

So, the solution? \u00a0Simple. Now it’s a three-step process:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Visit www.spotify.com<\/a> and request an invite<\/li>\n
  2. Wait for approval<\/li>\n
  3. Respond to your approval email by creating your account and downloading the Spotify client<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you had gone through the original back-door process, just edit your account details on Spotify to indicate your country is the US.<\/p>\n

    Here’s a 5 step process to get your own Spotify account from the US:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Look up a UK postal code (here’s BBC Radio 1’s: W1N 4DJ)<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Visit daveproxy.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Type Spotify.com in the address box<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Go through the sign-up for the free Spotify service (paid and paid trial [required for mobile] need a UK or other euro credit card)<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Install the Spotify client app<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Bonus Points<\/strong> : Turn Spotify into a streaming radio station on your AirPlay devices. \u00a0(This should work for any other audio player or Adobe Flash content like YouTube. \u00a0I haven’t tested these, so YMMV.)
      \n       bit.ly<\/a> link bundle to required files
      \nFor Windows<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Exit Spotify<\/li>\n
      2. Get iTunes if you don’t already have it (but why would you have an AirPlay device?)<\/li>\n
      3. Get lame_enc.dll file through bit.ly link<\/li>\n
      4. Get DSBridge .dll and .ini files through bit.ly link<\/li>\n
      5. Drop the three files \u00a0into your Spotify Program Folder and <\/strong><\/em>Flash folder (e.g., c:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\Macromed\\Flash)<\/li>\n
      6. Start Spotify<\/li>\n
      7. Hop to iTunes, tune in (Advanced>Open Audio Stream…) http:\/\/localhost:8124\/ and pick your AirPlay speakers<\/li>\n
      8. rock out<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        For the Mac, I was desperately seeking a solution that didn’t run through Airfoil<\/a> from Rogue Amoeba, but there just isn’t any competition. (DSBridge has no Mac equivalent) \u00a0I have decided to think of this project as saving buku bucks on music, so the $25 to a long-time independent Mac developer is a pretty good deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Steps to get Spotify in the US and play it on your home stereo using AirPlay. Mac and Windows. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15],"tags":[12,13,10,11],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-plug","tag-airtunes","tag-licensing","tag-music-2","tag-spotify"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digital-tracks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}