Streaming music service Spotify may not have made its way to the U.S. quite yet, but it has arrived in another much requested realm: Linux.
A product of “hack days and late nights,” the Linux version is something that the company says it hopes to make sure “keeps pace with its Mac and Windows siblings.”
As we noted in March, all signs point toward a U.S. launch for the European service some time in the third quarter of 2010, although an informal show-of-hands poll during Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s keynote speech at SXSW this year showed many U.S. users are already running the service. Many of those same early adopters are likely rejoicing today as the program finally makes its way into their alternative operating system of choice.
According to the company’s blog post, the Linux version will only be available to Spotify Premium subscribers, as the company hasn’t “found a reliable way to display ads yet.” The Linux version will also not include support for local files, as “there are issues regarding decoding of local music on the Linux platform.”
Spotify finds itself in an increasingly competitive market, with alternatives like MOG and Napster already gaining ground and entries from Apple and Google likely on the horizon. For those of you wondering what you’re missing out on, we have a video and some screenshots of the music app that our co-editor Marshall Kirkpatrick calls “simply awesome.”
The Linux version of Spotify is available for download as a Debian Squeeze/Ubuntu 10.04 package on the Spotify website.
