Spotify vs iTunes vs Omnifone

Last night I wanted to listen to a song. I’d heard it on the radio and decided I’d ‘get it’.

Normally that means a quick search on iTunes and then a ‘buy’ click. Then I need to wait a few seconds for it to actually download.

Last night I had done the iTunes search, located the song… and then I thought, ‘I’ll get it quicker, if I use [new music streaming service] Spotify‘.

So I did an Alt-Tab and typed the artist’s name into Spotify. Then I pressed play.

Job done.

The only regret… I can’t take that song with me when I’m out.

So I had a look on Spotify.com … only for Mac OS or Windows… with a Linux hack. No mention of any mobile clients. Then I saw the jobs page:

Right on.

S60? Love it. Android? Nice. iPhone? Now I wonder how nicely Apple’s App Store reviewers will play with that.

I made a switch in my mind last night — from iTunes to Spotify. I’m seriously considering the premium upgrade although I’m not entirely clear what value it gives me — interestingly, I like the ads they play.

But I’ve made a switch — huge surprise. I have always been iTunes-all-the-way. And, in reality, if I want that track to be able to listen to whilst on-the-go, I still need to be.

But it shouldn’t be long until Spotify has a mobile client I can use. And when that’s arrived, just how much of a fan will I be with iTunes?

Spotify is very similar to Omnifone‘s MusicStation music product — simply the best implementation of mobile music I’ve ever seen. I wonder what the launch of Spotify will do to their business, particularly as Spotify are clearly considering launching mobile clients.

And if they’re going to do that, how long before they knock-out some deals with desperate-to-be-cool-and-relevant mobile operators?

I love the fact that my Spotify account works on any machine I’d care to use. When I was in France the other week, I flicked up spotify.com on my Apple Air and downloaded the client, logged in with my username and password — and woosh, there were my playlists from my desktop.

Do this on mobile and it’s going to get very interesting.

At what point does iTunes do similar to Spotify? £9 per month, or similar.

We’ve almost been here before of course. Napster should have nailed it, years ago. They had the opportunity to offer us all £10/month unlimited music on your desktop/mobile/whatever. Sideloaded or over-the-air.

What now for Omnifone though? With Spotify looking like it’s about to eat their lunch?

We shall see…