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Spotify getting sweeter as it drops invite, brings on free trial period

Spotify is reaching out to the masses as it loses the invitations and attempts to entice new users with free premiums service.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor

Spotify has had a history of being exclusive. First, the digital music locker took forever to even get to the United States due to negotiations with the music industry. Then, when it finally launched stateside this summer, it was only accessible if you had an invitation.

Not so anymore. Following in the recent footsteps of Google+, Spotify is dropping the invites. However, TechCrunch reports that it won't be instantaneous and will roll out with additional features. Interested users can utilize Facebook to bypass the invite-only digital gate.

Even better, Spotify is taking a cue from Hulu, Netflix and other digital media streaming sites with a free trial period. While Hulu Plus only offers a week and Netflix gives a month for free, Spotify is stepping up the game with six months of free premium service for new users.

Of course, if users want to continue on the free ride, they can do so, but they'll lose a lot of options including offline playback and ad-free usage. The free plan also only offers 10 hours of free playback per month. Paid plans cost $4.99 and $9.99 per month, which are comparable with most digital media subscriptions -- especially for music -- these days.

Spotify also gained extra attention this morning as it was announced and highlighted as one of the first and major partners on Facebook's upgraded Open Graph platform.

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