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Spotify announces AirPlay-like Spotify Connect
Spotify has come a long way since it first sprouted up as an invite-only music-streaming service. Now that the company's quest for world domination is well on its way, Spotify has announced its latest expansion, Spotify Connect. Connect is a service that allows users to directly stream their music from their smartphones or tablets to their stereo, which is similar to Apple's AirPlay. Spotify Connect is launching on iOS devices first, with Android and desktop computer updates coming later on. The system's app allows you to pick which room of the house your music will play in or allow you to switch to a different device on the go. In addition, it allows you to make and receive calls or play a game on your phone without interruptions to your music. Of course you'll have to buy a new stereo for all this to work, but buying in is part of most new technology. Philips, Denon, Marantz, Hama, Pioneer, Bang & Olufsen, Revo, Yamaha and Argon are all building compatible systems, which will be marked on shelves with the Spotify Connect logo. You can find Spotify's launch video for Connect below.
Spotify's new Connect feature seems as good an excuse as any to throw a party
This is a sort of hardware / software announcement for Spotify, a hardware partnership with a number of big names in audio like Philips, Pioneer, Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Marantz and Yamaha that allows you to keep the party going on those Spotify playlists. Start playing one on your handset, click play on a compatible speaker system, and it will keep streaming on the speaker without interruption -- even when you take a call or leave the vicinity of your WiFi network. The audio system will actually start streaming music directly from the cloud. That means you can, say, turn on an iPad in another room and let your party guests skip songs -- though, granted, that might not be the greatest idea, depending on who you invite. Specific devices have yet to be named, though compatible systems will be branded with a Spotify Connect logo, so you'll know what you're getting yourself into. Those should be arriving in a late-October / early-November timeframe. Spotify will be holding up its end of the bargain by rolling out a software update for iOS ahead of those launches. Android and other operating systems will be receiving it at a later date.
