Peter Kafka

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Spotify (Finally) Shows Up on the iPad

You wanted a Spotify iPad app? You’ve got a Spotify iPad app.

It’s pretty, and it takes advantage of the tablet’s bigger screen to showcase artist artwork and other cool stuff. Just like you’d expect from an iPad app.

Demo video is at the bottom of this post. And, of course, the best way to see what it’s like is to download a copy from iTunes.

But if you’re still reading, a couple of notes:

  • Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has previously talked about using the iPad as more of a home-stereo controller instead of a standalone app. But while you can go ahead and connect this to your stereo or Jambox or whatever, using Airplay, this version is pretty much designed to be a solo app, just like its iPhone cousin.
  • Just like the iPhone app, the iPad app is only available to Spotify’s three million premium subscribers (though trial users can play with it, too).
  • Just like the iPhone app, the iPad app doesn’t work with all of the new Spotify apps the company has been pushing for the past few months.
  • And just like the iPhone app, the iPad app doesn’t work on the P2P network that powers the conventional Spotify desktop client. (Did you realize that when you used Spotify on your PC, you were logging into a P2P network that harnessed your computer to help provide music for other people on the network? True story!) Instead, it streams music directly from Spotify’s servers, which is the way that Spotify may/will work one day, if it moves away from desktop clients and into Web-based players.

Okeydoke. Here you go:

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