Stream Spotify to your speakers with new hardware

Spotify is looking to make itself wirelessly accessible to your speakers, with its new Spotify Connect service. Understandably, hardware partners have been keen to sign up and there's already as many as ten beavering away on the next-generation of speakers, that's wirelessly ready to receive Spotify's streams.

To make the new hardware-link up easy, Spotify will be adjusting its app to include a button that will bounce the signal straight to any capable hardware in the area over your Wi-Fi network. At that point you can even close the app down and it'll continue to play, as the speakers will stream the music straight from the Spotify servers. This should prevent any phone battery drains and gives you the full functionality of your phone back.

The following companies have all pledged to add specific Spotify hardware to their speakers, allowing users to hook up to the new Connect system: Argon, Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Marantz, Philips, Pioneer, Revo, Teufel and Yamaha. The ones in their range which will provide this functionality, will come with a Spotify ready sticker.

Speaking with Wired, Spotify said that while the first iteration of the app/hardware will only allow for streaming to one speaker set at a time, in the future it could potentially allow for much bigger setups, with multiple speakers in different parts of the home all linked up to the same system.

Spotify Connect is expected to be available to iPad and iPhone users within the next few months, with Desktop and Android versions following in the coming a bit later.

KitGuru Says: Why shaft Android users? That seems like the wrong way around. Surely with more Android users out there, Spotify has a bigger install base on those handsets than on Apple hardware?

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