Do you love Spotify’s free version, but tired of needing Wine just to listen to the music? Good news – Spotify now offers a free version specifically for Linux users. Or at least, users of Debian, Ubuntu and their variants. Sorry Fedora fans.
Spotify gives you access to millions of songs, for free. Unlike Pandora or Last FM though, you can listen to entire albums on demand. Be warned, there are some obnoxiously genre-defying ads involved. It’s totally worth it overall, though – you’ll discover new music and generally be a happier person.
The Linux version of Spotify used to only work with paid accounts. That’s why I showed you back in July, how to get Spotify’s free version working in Linux using PlayOn, a tool that makes using Wine simple. That worked, but it wasn’t perfect. Neither is the new, official version of Spotify. There are some interface bugs, and local playback can be tricky. If you just want to stream on Linux though, Spotify’s developers just did you a big favor – the official version runs much better than Wine could ever deliver, and it integrates well into Ubuntu’s Unity as well.
Native Is Better
Spotify’s native Linux version starts up quickly, meaning it won’t take you long to realize how much better this is than Wine.
You’ll need to register for an account at Spotify.com before you can do anything, and sadly registering requires a Facebook account (unless you were lucky enough to register before that became mandatory).
