And here you were thinking that James Cameron’s Avatar was going to be the most important thing to happen to humankind since the invention of the iPod. Sorry folks, as cool as ten-foot-tall computer-generated aliens may indeed prove to be, they won’t be anywhere near as life-altering as the day in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future when Spotify arrives on these shores. In case you haven’t been following the daily e-mails of the lovably cranky music biz contrarian Bob Lefsetz, Spotify is a free (!) desktop application that grants users the ability to stream a massive library of 3.5 million songs from any computer. Yes, that’s right, imagine having completely legal access to listen to virtually every song ever recorded—besides songs from notoriously stringent bands like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, natch—without having to actually pay anything for the service! Amazing, right? So, the only question is this: When will Spotify arrive on these shores?
Well, see, that’s the catch. While labels in the U.K., Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, and Spain have already entered into agreements with the company, no such deals have been struck Stateside yet. However, Wired reports that the company is hopeful that a pathway will be cleared to launch the service here before the end of the year and that they’ve just received an investment of some $50 million from venture capitalists to help turn that wish into reality. However, if you can’t wait that long, here’s a sneaky way to get around those pesky restrictions:
1. Go to http://www.daveproxy.co.uk/
2. Enter spotify.com into the URL bar near the bottom of the page
3. Sign up for the service and enjoy!
Sorry, James Cameron. You *almost* had it all!
Spotify Is the Best Desktop Music Player We’ve Ever Used [Lifehacker]
