Spotify's web player goes live in the UK

MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE Spotify put its web player beta live in the UK today, doing away with the need to download its app.

The music streaming service announced the news in an email to users, which read, "Now you don't need to download Spotify!"

"Try our new web player on your computer - now available as a beta version at play.spotify.com. The web player will be a real bonus because there's no app to download. So whether you're at the office, or round at a friend's house, simply log in to your account and hit play." 

We couldn't resist giving the Spotify web player a spin, and promptly loaded it in our Chrome browser. We were greeted with the option to sign in with our Spotify details or our Facebook account and, within seconds, we were in.

Spotify's web app is missing a lot of the things you'll find on the desktop version such as apps and its social sidebar, but this is more than made up for with the fact that you can now log onto the service on any computer - even the Google Chromebook Pixel. Previously Spotify was unusable on Google's Chrome operating system due to its web-only nature.

Of course, you'll find most of Spotify's functions present, including Search, What's New, Radio and access to your Playlists. 

This move to the web browser follows growing competition in the music streaming market from services like Deezer - which already runs in the web browser. Spotify is preparing for more competitors to enter the market, with rumours emerging on Wednesday that both Apple and Youtube are plotting their entrance into music streaming.

Spotify is expected to roll out a finished version of its web player later this year. µ