As a song in the Spotify library goes, "The waiting is the hardest part."
For Spotify subscribers waiting for an iPad app for the streaming music service, however, the hardest part is over, as Spotify released its long-awaited app for iPad Wednesday morning. You can download Spotify's iPad app from the app store for free, though only premium ($9.99 per month) subscribers to the service will be able to enjoy tunes from their tablet.
Spotify has released a video outlining the general look of the new iPad app, which you can view below:
As the video boasts, the iPad app doesn't resemble the iPhone app as some would have thought, as Spotify seems to have put a lot of time in to designing a different interface and experience for the tablet (hence the delayed release). Like iPad apps for Twitter and Facebook, the Spotify app comes with a left sidebar for navigation, with the content appearing to the right; album artwork is emphasized in huge graphics on the music player.
Somewhat disappointingly, the Spotify iPad app does not come with support for the third-party apps that Spotify has been touting for its desktop player; popular apps like TuneWiki, Last.fm, and We Are Hunted, which provide improved music discovery and more to Spotify's somewhat barebones listening experience, have been left out of the iPad party, at least for now.
Ever since Spotify launched in America to much fanfare in mid-2011, fans have been clamoring for a dedicated iPad app. The launch of the third-generation iPad in March crystallized the need for a dedicated tablet app, as did competing streaming services like Mog and Rdio releasing their own iPad apps before Spotify could.
Spotify's slowness does not appear to have dented its subscription numbers, as the company announced in January it had three million premium subscribers in America and counting.
You can download the Spotify iPad app in the iTunes Store for free right here, though you'll need a premium Spotify account in order to use it.
Below, check out a few screenshots of the new Spotify for iPad. Subscribers, are you satisfied? Non-subscribers, are you moved to pony up $9.99 per month for access to your Spotify on your mobile devices? Let us know what you think in the comments.
