Spotify for the iPad has arrived! Almost 10 months after the arrival of Spotify in the states and two years after the launch of the iPad, the music streaming application has released a big-screen version of itself.

While it isn't the first streaming iPad music app, having been beaten out by Rhapsody, Slacker, Pandora and iHeartRadio and many others, the Spotify iPad app is sporting some new features that may entice listeners to make the switch.

New features for the Spotify iPad app include big, high-definition images, and menus and playlists that can be scanned with a swipe. The big-boy version also has the ability of letting users change from song to song by swiping through a display of cover art.

The Spotify iPad app takes advantage of its new big-screen space with a panel that appears on the right side of the screen when a specific artist is selected. The panel displays the first few lines of an artist's bio, some of their top hits and any artists related to them.

To take it a step further, when a related artist is selected, a similar panel slides in to view with information, as the first selected artist panel moves to the left of the screen. You can continue to display or peel back these overlapping panels.

Spotify sticks with what works, as it continues to feed the chart hungry music listeners with the What's New tabs, where users can check out recommended music, trending playlists and top tracks, what friends are listening to and more.

The Spotify iPad app wouldn't be complete without the obviously present Search tab. The app allows users to search for tracks, albums, artists and playlists from a single view. Type just a single letter and suggestions appear right away.

For example, if a user were to type the letter F in to the tab, a thumbnail image of Frank Sinatra would show up on top as a best match, with thumbnail suggestions of other artists (Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Frederic Chopin, etc.) appearing just below.

Spotify, through the new version of the app, supports Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: APPL) AirPlay technology for playing music on compatible iOS devices and speaker systems.

The new app requires you to sign up for Spotify's $9.99 a month premium service to continue using it after a 30-day free trial.

The Spotify iPad app is set to go live in the morning hours of May 2.


Spotify iPad App Promotional Video

RELATED STORIES
Spotify Ipad Ipad App