Spotify streaming music service now available in the U.S.

Spotify, the streaming music service that has proven to be a big hit in Europe has finally arrived stateside - and it could very well give iTunes and the upcoming iCloud a run for its money. 

Spotify has made 15 million all-you-can-eat tracks available for streaming, and its backed by the support of major record labels. If you don't care about actually owning each track, having a world's worth of music at your fingertips makes more sense than paying a buck or so for each song - something you will still have to do with Apple's upcoming iCloud. 

In addition to on-demand access to music, Spotify also features an offline mode, MP3 import and social media integration. 

Sure, there are competing services like Rhapsody, but Spotify has the advantage in terms of features and, most importantly, a free tier of service. 

There are three tiers to choose from: free, Unlimited ($4.99 per month), or Premium ($9.99 per month). The free version is currently in an invite-only phase, but customers can start a monthly subscription and get started right away. 

The free service is ad-supported and streams only to PCs or Macs. The Unlimited version is ad-free, but only the Premium version allows streaming to mobile devices (iPhone and Android are currently supported, Squeezebox support is on the way), music caching for offline play and enhanced sound quality.

From the press release:

• Spotify gives you on-demand access (with no buffering) to a library of more than 15 million songs. What’s more, you can import the MP3s you already own with just one click, to create a mighty music player. And with Spotify, there’s no need to skip tracks you don’t like. Why? Because you choose the music in the first place.
• It’s super simple to create and manage all your playlists with Spotify – our users have made and shared over 250 million of them so far. You can also discover the most popular playlists on sites like www.sharemyplaylists.com and www.bbcify.com, or use clever sites like www.spotiseek.com to create playlists of new music based on your favorite artists.
• Music is made for sharing. Simply drag and drop music to your Spotify friends, or share with them via Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS. See your friends’ top tracks, artists and playlists via their Spotify profiles, subscribe to their playlists and drop tracks into their Spotify inbox. How very sociable.
• Take your music with you by installing Spotify on your cellphone or iPod Touch. Wirelessly sync your MP3 playlists to listen offline and subscribe to Spotify Premium to combine your own music with access to our catalogue of over 15 million tracks. It’s the perfect music player.