While iOS and Android users are able to experience the best of what Spotify has to offer when it comes to smartphone and tablet apps, the current state of affairs on comparable Microsoft platforms is less than ideal.
Spotify has yet to create a "Modern UI" app for the Windows 8 marketplace, and the last time the official Spotify Windows Phone app was updated was July 2013. Thankfully, Windows Phone 8 smartphone users can start looking forward to a substantial update for the Spotify app. The catch? It has an undetermined release date of "later this spring."
According to Spotify, this update will bring the "the much-anticipated Radio, Browse and Discover features," which will allow users "to listen to personalized radio stations, browse for what"s hot and what"s new, or discover more music." Visually, the new app appears to share some similarities with the Android version and also brings with it some of the design sensibilities of Windows Phone"s latest Facebook app (see the task tray that is otherwise completely hidden below).
This update still does not include the recently announced ability to stream free music from your smartphone, labeled as "Spotify Free," a feature included on the iOS and Android mobile apps. Accordingly, only Spotify Premium users will be able to make use of this app when it is released. The press release does note, however, that "the recently announced Spotify Free for mobile will also be arriving on Windows Phone" at some point in the future.