A friend of mine (Daniel Ek) started a company a little over two years ago called Spotify with the mission to connect people to the music they like. For all this period they’ve been in a very limited invite only beta, but today they’ve finally managed to launch their service and more and more invitations to use the service will be available – with a ad-free and freemium model, where the basic version (ad-supported) is free and with monthly subscription & day-passes to get ad-free versions.

I have been using it for a little more than a year and I must say I love it. Previously I was a big fan of Last.fm but Spotify beats it (even though it’s a bit like comparing apple & pears I use them for similar purposes – music discovery & sharing). With Spotify playback starts immediately (no buffering to be seen) and the music archive is huge (though it lacks my girlfriend’s Russian pop).

They have been working hard to enable their service to be legal, and from what I can see they have succeeded. I think they’re doing a good job (together with other sites like last.fm etc.) to bring music into the 20th century. So, go sign up and get your invitation to start listening now 🙂