As you’re no doubt aware, Spotify recently made changes to its terms of use that put in place much heavier restrictions for users of the free service.  Can’t really blame them.  Though ad supported, their free service was pretty tolerable.  You could quite easily leave it streaming all weekend, initially getting an ad every 6 – 8 tacks was quite tolerable for free unlimited music.

That can increase to an ad every 2-3 tracks with continued use (or at least has for me).  Combined with their introduction of a 10 hour listen limit, it’s getting to the point where the new restrictions make the service unappealing.  Only using it for occasionally for work, I don’t really justify paying for it.  In it’s current form, with a 30-40 second ad every 3 tracks, I’ll simply move back to listening to my mp3 collection.

That’s not forgetting of course that there’s a great streaming music service I’ve been using for years, that I rarely hear anyone mention these days.  An advertising free app, unlimited minutes music player with millions of artists, tracks and features that is totally free to use.  It doesn’t seem to get as much press or media time as Spotify has in recent months (maybe because of the label interest in Spotify) but  I’ve been using it for years and remains one of my favorite web services.

Scobbling and the social aspects mean, like Spotify, I can keep track of my friends beats and explore who’s bopping to what.   No, it doesn’t allow you to listen to the Lady Gaga or Take That album on repeat five time, it forces you to discover new artists, no doubt a scary prospect for many of the crowd following pop sheep, and probably one of the reasons I think the masses haven’t adopted it.

Guessed yet? Last.fm.

And no, I’m not a sponsor, employee or sell out.  Just a satisfied (non-paying) customer that has been using a great service for years and doesn’t think it really get its dues.

To get you started, if you want some beats while you’re working, checkout some DJ Food bops.  You’ll get advertising through the web service though, so install the desktop app and away you go.