In praise of Spotify

Last night, I met a man who changed my life. Not that he knew it. Shakil Khan from Spotify is part of the team that has delivered what is – to me – the most lifestyle-changing innovation since Sky Plus. For the uninitiated, it has a seemingly limitless database of music all for £10 a month, and it basically means I listen to music again. I had, stupidly, spent days digitally archiving my CD collection but it was so much hassle to play it that I’d given up. Wire up Spotify – from an iPhone or laptop – and you can instantly play a whole load of stuff that you thought you could never afford, or find. True to long tail economics, the greater supply of this free music leads to greater demand – in my case, spending ages discovering albums that I’d never buy on iTunes. But what is revolutionary about it is that its technology – instant streaming at perfect quality – will soon make the concept of music collections obsolete.