????不錯，是美國，Spotify終于登錄美國。

????7月14日早晨，在近2年半的承諾和期待之后，這項音樂流服務終于在美國開設分號；該公司已然承諾，它將徹底改變美國聽眾的音樂消費方式。

????目前，該服務僅限于邀請方式，但據美國有線新聞網（CNN）報道，未來幾周內，它就將向所有用戶開放。有幸獲得使用邀請的用戶中有許多人在本次正式發布前就已完成了預注冊，現在他們可以直接登錄該網站了。自公司首席執行官丹尼爾?艾克2008年10月推出該服務以來，1,000多萬名歐洲用戶一直享受著該網站帶來的豐富功能。現在，美國用戶也能體驗同樣的樂趣。

????兩年多來，Spotify簡單、合法、“無限量”的音樂服務在歐洲部分地區掀起了熱潮。它提供的創新的、自由化的模式，讓用戶得以免費收聽1,500多萬首歌曲。這與狂想曲公司（Rhapsody）等競爭對手需要按月預付使用費的做法形成了鮮明的對照。在美國，Spotify將提供三個層次的服務：包含頁面廣告的免費服務，但與現行歐洲版不同的是，目前每月收聽量暫不封頂；不含頁面廣告的服務，收費4.99美元；以及9.99美元的“最佳服務計劃”，采用該計劃的用戶可以下載歌曲并將之存儲在移動設備上。

????“我們希望Spotify能帶給用戶一種感覺，世界上一切音樂唾手可得。”艾克最近接受《財富》（Fortune）采訪時稱。

????艾克此言不假，Spotify速度奇快，與蘋果公司（Apple）的iTunes相比，也要干脆得多。后者要求用戶提前付費，然后等待下載歌曲，之后才能完整地收聽整首歌曲。而Spotify用戶，無論是使用免費服務的，還是支付10美元享受最佳服務計劃的，都無需等候：直接點擊中意的歌曲或者專輯，音樂馬上就能從“云”里 “飄”出來。

????對艾克來說，由廣告支持的免費服務同樣重要。他堅信，允許用戶無需支付分文就能打開公司全部音樂目錄，這種做法會吸引著他們收聽并搜索更多的歌曲、專輯、藝術家，最終沉迷其中而自愿選擇“最佳服務計劃”。迄今為止，這種做法收效頗佳。目前，Spotify共有1,000多萬用戶，其中75萬是付費客戶，而且大量付費用戶始終是該服務的忠實擁躉。

????迄今我本人使用Spotify的最佳服務計劃已有兩周了，我很容易理解為什么會出現上述結果。Spotify用戶界面干凈且容易上手，即使對我這樣的科技菜鳥來說也不例外；而且，艾克承諾，Spotify將提供超爽的用戶體驗，這話一點不假。無論通過WiFi還是3G連接到網絡，歌曲當即就能開始下載。如果你在桌面應用中創建了音樂播放列表，系統會自動將之添加到你的移動設備中（反之亦然），而且當你添加或刪除歌曲時，這兩類設備之間亦能保持同步。此外，對于像我這樣的人來說，無需為每首歌單獨付費就能離線收聽這種做法（即：將歌曲存儲在移動設備上）簡直妙不可言。我基本依靠公共交通出行，每天聽到的全是美國電報電話公司（AT&T）的節目，而其收聽效果又令人不敢恭維。Spotify頁面上“人”（People）這個工具條內存放的是我在Facebook上的好友，非常好用了。有了它，我就可以收聽那些朋友的全部播放列表中的內容，發現我喜歡的新歌，然后再分享給其他用戶。此外，由于Spotify目前對美國的免費用戶未限定最大收聽數量，我猜許多免費用戶也會發現大量自己喜歡的內容。（Spotify首席內容官員兼北美市場總監肯尼斯?帕克斯表示，該公司不希望由于限定免費收聽數量而影響用戶的體驗，而且他們愿意等上半年，再決定何時以及是否設定最大收聽量。）

????Spotify在歐洲深受歡迎，最近又宣布與Facebook建立了合作伙伴關系。因此，它也有理由對其美國業務滿懷信心：據報道，該公司預計在登陸美國的第一年里，美國用戶數有望達到5,000萬。

????由于狂想曲和初創公司Rdio等眾多相近的服務已經在美國市場站穩腳跟，Spotify面臨的最大問題將是：它是否能在美國國內吸引大量用戶？其雄心勃勃的用戶規模是否能達到？

????但是，值得注意的是，某項服務在競爭中領先（或者位居第二），并不意味著對遲到者來說，就不再存在良性競爭的空間了。以社交領域為例，Facebook以7.5億名活躍用戶數繼續遙遙領先，穩居社交網絡領域的霸主地位，但Google +的用戶數也增長迅速：據第三方機構估計，自上個月發布之后，其用戶數已破千萬大關；這說明，至少在IT領域，一如Spotify的經歷，人們對于某些服務的特性不僅持開放態度，而且興趣濃厚。

????譯者：大海

????Yes, America, Spotify is finally here.

????After nearly two-and-a-half years of promises and speculation, the music streaming service opened up shop in the U.S earlier this morning and already promises to potentially transform the way U.S. listeners consume music.

????Currently, the service will be invite-only, but as CNN reports, will open itself up to all users in the coming weeks. The select number of lucky users, many of whom pre-registered prior to the launch and can log in now, will find many of the same features some 10 million European users have been enjoying since co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek launched the service back in October 2008.

????The simple, legal "all-you-can-eat" music service has made waves in parts of Europe with an innovative freemium model that lets users listen to over 15 million tracks for free -- a stark contrast to competitors like Rhapsody that require upfront monthly paid subscriptions. Spotify in the U.S. will offer three distinct tiers: a free ad-supported service, which unlike the current European version will not enforce a monthly listening cap for now, a $4.99 ad-free version, and a $9.99 "Premium" plan that that also lets users stream and store songs to mobile devices.

????"The essential feeling we wanted to create was to have all of the world's music available at your fingertips," Ek told Fortune recently.

????To that end, Spotify is wicked fast, and snappier than Apple's (AAPL) iTunes which asks users pay upfront and wait to download tracks before they can listen to them in their entirety. Spotify users, whether they're paying $0 or $10, don't have to wait: click on the song or album, and it streams instantly from "the cloud."

????Also important to Ek was that free, ad-supported tier. In opening up the company's entire music catalog to users without them having to pay a cent, he believes they'll listen to and discover more songs, albums, and artists and eventually get so hooked they'll want to go "Premium." That seems to be the case so far. To date, Spotify reaches more than 10 million users -- 750,000 of which are paying customers -- and many of them remain fiercely loyal advocates of the service.

????I've used Spotify's Premium service for two weeks now, and it's not hard to see why. The interface is clean and easy-to-pick up -- even for an easily-confused tech guy like myself -- and Ek's promise of a snappy user experience is accurate. Songs stream instantly whether over WiFi or 3G. If you create a music playlist on the desktop app, it's automatically added to your mobile device (and vice versa), and stays synchronized when you add or drop songs. And the ability to make songs available for listening offline (read: store them on your mobile device) without having to purchase each and every track individually is great for someone like me who relies a lot on public transportation or just runs into crappy AT&T reception all the time. The "People" sidebar, populated by my Facebook friends, has actually proven handy, letting me listen to entire playlists of theirs, find new tracks I like, and share them with other users. And with no listening cap currently for U.S. users of the free tier, I imagine that many others will find lots to like, too. (According to Kenneth Parks, Spotify's Chief Content Officer & Managing Director for North America, the company didn't want a listening cap to limit user engagement and may wait six months to decide about when and whether to enforce such a cap.)

????Spotify's European popularity, along with a recently-announced partnership with Facebook, could also explain why it's so optimistic about its U.S. operations: the company reportedly expects to reach 50 million American users in its first year here.

????With a number of similar services like Rhapsody and startup Rdio already entrenched in the U.S., the big question moving forward will be whether Spotify gains significant traction domestically and if that extremely ambitious userbase goal is realistic.

????But it's worth noting that just because a service is first (or even second) to the race doesn't necessarily mean there isn't room for healthy competition from a late entrant. In the social space, Facebook remains far and away the social networking champ with some 750 million active users, but Google +'s (GOOG) rapidly growing userbase -- an estimated 10 million and counting by one third-party estimate -- since last month's launch proves people, at least when it comes to tech, will be open to and interested in features from services like Spotify done right.