9 Spotify tools for hardcore music fans

What more could music fans want from an app that contains more than 20 million songs? Quite a bit, it turns out.

There are several tools you can use to get more out of using Spotify, whether it's a brand new Premium feature that connects your phone and desktop, a website that creates a playlist to relive that incredible show you went to last week, or a browser extension that opens up a Spotify search whenever you right-click text (just don't try searching "Taylor Swift").

 If Spotify is the first application you want to open when you wake up in the morning and find the the soundtrack to your life, this is the list for you.

1. Spotify discounts

 First, the basics: If you're a student or part of a family of Spotify listeners, you can subscribe to Spotify Premium at a discounted rate. Students pay $4.99 per month and families get 50% off the regular $9.99 per month rate. Even better, students who already subscribe to Premium can get the discount applied to their existing accounts.

2. HTML widgets

Spotify's developer website has guides to using and applying the service's HTML widgets: one for adding a "follow" button to a Spotify user page and another for adding a music player to a web page (like the one pictured above). These widgets are a great tool for aspiring musicians and fans alike.

3. Hotkeys

If you're sick of switching tabs to skip a song when you're using the Spotify web player, then you'll be happy to learn about Hotkeys. The Chrome extension allows you to play, pause and go to the previous or next track with keyboard shortcuts from any tab.

4. Spotify Connect

Spotify Connect is a brand new Premium feature that turns your phone or tablet into a remote. Connect is built straight into the app interface (make sure you have the most recent versions of Spotify), so you can start using it immediately.

VIDEO: YOUTUBE, SPOTIFY

5. Set Listener

Set Listener came together this summer as a combination of the (then brand-new) Spotify API, the Setlist.fm API and Spotify's acquisition of The Echo Nest, which uses mountains of data to create personalized radio and other customized features. Set Listener is simple, yet ingenious — input the name of an artist, and it'll create a Spotify playlist based on that artist's last show (you can also manually create a playlist with a Setlist.fm link to an earlier show). Avid concertgoers know how exciting this is.

6. Spotipedia

This Chrome extension works in concert with Wikipedia to make a great tool for quick research. Open up the Wikipedia page for an artist, click on the extension in the Chrome toolbar and a Spotify player will open with that artist's songs, ready to play.

7. Magnetify

Magnetify for Chrome opens Spotify links in the desktop application instead of in the web player, which is the default path. It'd be a useful extension if it only did that, but Magnetify also opens a mini player when you hover over a Spotify link, allows you to open a Spotify search from the browser window when you right-click highlighted text and saves your last 10 opened Spotify URLs. It's also simple and easy to use.

8. Pandora to Spotify Playlist Converter

This converter, which runs on Chrome, creates a Spotify playlist out of thumbed-up tracks on Pandora. It's best for Pandora users who want an easier way of saving their favorite tracks.

9. Equalify

Equalify, a plugin only available for Windows systems, is worth a try for audio geeks who want to make sound adjustments with an equalizer, a feature that the Spotify desktop app doesn't currently have. With Equalify, you can open a 10-band equalizer from inside the app.

Source:
mashable.com