Much unlike many a magazine editor who recommends you buy all sorts of crap that they most likely got for free, your Jezebel staff doesn’t get jack shit (other than books, unsolicited). And that’s how it should be. But on our own time, in our personal lives, we still buy stuff. So this is Worth It, our daily recommendation of random things that we’ve actually spent our own money on. These are the things we buy regularly or really like, things we’d actually tell our friends about. And now we’re telling you.
What if you could immediately listen to any song that pops into your head? With the online music service Spotify, it’s not only possible, it’s free. Even better, Spotify keeps track of your playlists across any devices on which you use it.
I’m a bit of an iTunes die-hard: you know, one of those people with a million carefully-curated playlists, backed up onto two separate hard drives in case catastrophe strikes. Spotify, however, has rendered my obsessive behavior moot. So what is it? A simple music streaming service a la Pandora; download an app and off you go. But what makes Spotify far superior is that the first time you open the program on your computer, it will automatically sync with every music file on your hard drive. It’s not pulling or copying the files or anything; Spotify basically takes inventory of what you’ve got and grabs those songs from its catalog so you can access them through the application. And just like that, your entire catalog of music is “stored” with Spotify, across any device with which you use the service. My work computer, my home computer — it’s all synced. And unlike Pandora, you can stream full albums at any time — you’re not confined to suggested playlists or anything. You, control freak, are in control. Swoon.
A free Spotify account is pretty wonderful; you get almost all of the benefits of a paid account except every 20-30 minutes you’re interrupted two relatively harmless ads for Spotify. Upgrading to a premium account, at $9.99 per month, allows you to access all of this wonderfulness on mobile devices and magically stream your music whether you’re offline or not. I recently upgraded to the premium service, as I’ve realized that my friends and I need unfettered access to horrible-good 90s songs at the drop of a hat. This comes in quite handy, actually —your instant playlist will make you the hero of the party.
Spotify account, free, Spotify.com
Spotify Premium account, $9.99/month, Spotify.com
Worth It only features things we paid for ourselves and actually like. Don’t send us stuff.
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