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British music-streaming service We7, which ‘boasts’ rock star Peter Gabriel as one of its founders, now has an Android app to go with its one for the iPhone.
The app is available for free on the Android Market to those who sign up to the Premium Plus service, which like Spotify charges £9.99 per month to stream unlimited music from its library of tracks. To promote the app, We7 will let you try it out free for two weeks.
Only available in the UK, the Android and iPhone We7 mobile apps work just like the Spotify ones, in that there’s no limit to the amount of music that you can stream and listen to — other than your mobile data. Favourite content can be cached, however, so you can listen to songs without an Internet connection.
The apps have other features familiar to Spotify users, such as playlist creation, syncing and search options. The Android version’s interface has had a makeover since the iPhone app’s release in February.
We7 boss Steve Purdham bigged up the free trial, saying, “We know that many consumers have been frustrated with mobile music apps in the past, generally, they download ‘free apps’ but cannot play songs without paying for a subscription.
“We wanted to resolve this, that’s why we’ve included the free trial so users can sign up and immediately play music. Users just need to go to the Android Market and download it.”
Mobile streaming services such as Spotify and We7 are growing in popularity, because they offer simple options: stream music from a wide library of songs for free on your PC, without ads for £5 per month, and with mobile capability if you pay £10.
According to reports, Spotify has reached 10 million users across Europe, but it’s not clear how many people are actually paying for the service. But it’s clear that it’s still growing, and that both Spotify and We7’s continued survival show they’re getting enough people to pay subscriptions or listen to ads.
In the future, the mooted entry of Google and Apple into digital music streaming could blow them both out of the water, but it’s not clear if and when the two giants will develop similar services. Does £10 a month for mobile music listening on the go rock your boat?
