Spotify Goes Live in the US by Invite Only

Spotify has gone live in the US as expected today and offers streaming music to PC, Mac and mobile devices. To help manage the huge demand Spotify’s free service requires an invite in order to get started. If you want to avoid waiting you can subscribe to the unlimited or premium packages at $4.99 or $9.99 per month respectively and get immediate access.

Spotify's apps give you access to its 15m+ catalog of music, while also allowing you to import any MP3 tracks you already have. That means you can create playlists based on both local and streaming content.

The regular, free account is ad supported, while the unlimited package gets rid of the ads and throws in unlimited streaming. If you want both higher-quality tracks and unlimited streaming then the premium plan is the one for you.

If you are a premium subscriber then you can use the Spotify mobile apps available for iOS, Android, Symbian and other platforms. The mobile apps support offline playback, with playlists optionally cached to your phone so that you can listen even without a connection.