Spotify (US) vs. Spotify (UK)

Since we've been playing around with the UK version of Spotify for the last couple of years, we were curious to see how the new US version compared. What we found is that the two services are basically the same. Same layout, same options in terms of playlists and searching, and for the most part, same music offerings. It's a clean design with a setup that we've all become accustomed to in our digital libraries: content, song lists, and search results in the middle of the page, a section for playlists on the left, search bar at the top, player at the bottom, and room for ads and promotions on the right hand side.

Similar to iTunes, the platform looks identical regardless of the country you're registered in, and also like iTunes, certain music is only available to those registered in a certain country. It's not a surprise that while both of London-based band The Duke Spirit's studio albums are available in the UK and the US, their 2007 EP is only offered in the UK. Interestingly enough, though, we were able to access more tracks from UK-rapper Tinie Tempah in the US version.

As the service expands and the user feedback starts to pour in, there will undoubtedly be changes to the platform as whole, the mobile app, and the offerings in each country. With all of the publicity (some will call it hype) about Spotify's launch, and its tight integration with Facebook, Sonos and others, it'll be interesting to see how adoption here on this side of the Atlantic compares to what's happened in Europe.