Spotify has announced today that they have reached their first major milestone, one million paying customers.
Says the streaming music company:
It seems like only yesterday we were hatching ideas for a new music service in a tiny office-cum-apartment with a broken coffee machine, and the party we threw having reached one million users almost two years ago today was one to remember.
So it’s with a sense of real pride and excitement that we can announce a new milestone today, having welcomed our millionth paying subscriber to the service. It’s a testament to our fantastic users who continue to support us and spread the Spotify word, either by telling friends or sharing some of the 200 million playlists that you’ve put together so far.
From everyone at Spotify, we’d like to give you all massive thanks. We’ll continue to focus on providing you with the best music service possible, and look forward to adding even more cool new features over the coming months. What’s really exciting is that this is only the beginning.
Overall, the company has 7 million active users and over 10 million registered users.
Spotify is aiming for a U.S. launch soon, and has reportedly signed deals with EMI and Sony Music. The service is allegedly close to signing a licensing deal with Universal Music Group, the largest label in the world.
Result for: new feature
Apple has announced today that iOS 4.2 is now available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, adding a number of new features.
Perhaps more notably is the fact that iPad users will finally get multitasking.
“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” added CEO Steve Jobs. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”
All iOS device owners will now have multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay and AirPrint.
AirPlay allows for wireless streaming of music, videos and photos from any iOS device to the Apple TV.
AirPrint lets you wirelessly print photos, email, web pages, and documents from your iPad to any AirPrint-enabled printer.
Result for: new feature
Amazon has confirmed that they will be introducing a 14-day lending period for Kindle e-books starting later this year, matching a feature the rival Barnes & Noble Nook has had since launch.
Kindle e-book owners will be able to lend out books to friends and family for two weeks, and just like with the Nook, users will not be able to read their books while they’re lent out.
Not all books will have the feature, however, as it is completely at the discretion of the publishers to enable it.
Amazon offers their new Wi-Fi-only Kindle for $139, slightly undercutting B&N’s Wi-Fi-only Nook which retails for $149.
Says Amazon:
“Later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users. Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable - this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending.”
