Invite? what invite? Spotify has unveiled a new pricing plan and removed the need for an invite to join the service but new free users will have their listening time capped, thats a bit shit I know. If you like free stuff, then get ready to be bombarded by adverts , your hours will aslo be capped to 20 hours per month which, according to Spotify, equates to 25 albums or 300 tracks. Now if you like listening to your music through out the day, lets say for 5-8 hours, you will only get to enjoy spotify for about 3-4 days…in a month.

These users will still be exposed to advertising and if they want to continue using the service after reaching their cap, they now have two payment options. They can either sign up to Spotify Premium, which costs £9.99 a month, offers offline mode and gives unlimited access to the service either through a mobile or PC without any adverts. This option has been in existence since Spotify launched.

Or users can choose a new payment option announced today called: Spotify Unlimited, which costs £4.99 a month and offers an advert-free, all-you-can-listen-to service. However, unlike Spotify Premium, users who sign up for this option cannot access their Spotify music on the move via their mobiles or their library in offline mode.

Existing Spotify users, who do not pay for the service, will not have their time capped. Nor is the company suspending the invitation service. Users who sign up with an invite code will not have their music consumption capped.

The service is continuing to add invitations to premium users’ accounts and free users are still able to issue invites to non-users.

The new pricing structure resembles that of We7, a British streaming service, which launched a two-tier plan in January 2010.

Last month Spotify upgraded its service with the addition of several significant social features, including a ‘Spotify Music Profile’ and Facebook friend integration tool.

The service has also rolled out in Holland, in addition to the UK, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland and France.

[source: Telegraph ]