With an iTunes based subscription service no where in sight and no iTunes streaming service either, Zune still has one up on Apple in this market and its the one thing that really rattles the fanboys. However with the recent Spotify app announcement for the iPhone (and iTouch for that matter) things did sound promising for the Apple party (presuming that Apple moderation didn’t have a fit). With a whole library of music ready to stream and right at your fingertips the app should be killer for Spotify and iPhone users – except it isn’t.

After reading a little closer turns out that it already has its drawbacks and it hasn’t even been released yet. First up, this Spotify app for iPhone doesn’t share the feature that desktop users love – free streaming. With this you can’t just stream music with the occasional advert – you need a premium subscription to Spotify. This, as of yet, is only available in a handful of countries all of which are European – theres no availability in the United States which should be the biggest market for this application.

Secondly, if we take the current United Kingdom costs for this premium subscription which is £10 (GBP) per month and convert it with today’s exchange its almost $16.50. Now thats not a hefty amount but consider the fact that for $16.50 you may stream unlimited Spotify music to your iPhone or alternatively pay $14.99 per month and start a Zune Pass subscription. Now consider the Zune Pass which offers unlimited to music to download (with DRM) and ten chosen tracks to download DRM free (you own them) as well as the ability to stream the whole Zune Marketplace from your Zune device.

Now of course in the above I havn’t considered the fact that, if your considering Spotify for iPhone, you probably own an iPhone rather than a Microsoft Zune – well thats unfortunate. Maybe its time to consider the upcoming ZuneHD as your music player and keep your iPhone for the other functionality it offers.

The next thing I’d like to point out is, so far, Apple has made no indication whether they appreciate Spotify coming to iPhone and if Apple do have a subscription service in the works i’m sure they’ll send the application straight to the iPhone app Graveyard along with either a very blunt (but unbelievable) reason or no reason at all. We all know Apple kills apps which are “competing with one of Apple’s own applications”. I’m not saying that this will happen but I wouldn’t be suprised as it is.

Still, as a recent Spotify adopter, I certainly know how great it is. The apps usage should be made free though, with a much smaller percentage paying than those who would prefer to listen to free and generally those who would use the application for free wouldn’t use it if they had to pay.

We’ll probably hear a lot more about Spotify and iPhone in the coming weeks and if theres anything that should be brought to Zune users attention I’ll be sure to blog it – stay tuned.