Spotify, the cloud-based music service, finally released their iPad app last week.  Before, iPad users had to install the Spotify iPhone app to satisfy their cloud music craving, and it worked well enough but it still lacked something.

Features

So what does the Spotify for iPad offer?  First of all, since it was specially made for the iPad, the app comes with great graphics that utilizes the power or Retina Display – album covers appear crisper and look great in either landscape or portrait mode.  But what the app really boasts is the new way to explore its vast library without getting lost, as you can simply swipe left or right to retrace your steps.

Spotify added a new feature, the tap-and-hold, which brings up additional options like adding the song to a playlist or marking it with a star.  The search feature is also improved with autocomplete so you can search artists, songs, playlist or albums just by typing the first few letters in the search box.

Messages are now threaded so it’s more organized to look at and the “What’s New” view from the desktop app, and is also available in the iPad app so you can always be up to date as to what’s hot or what’s trending.

Another great thing about the app is that it turns your iPad into the perfect living room stereo with AirPlay integration – yup, it connects wirelessly to your home stereo for that surround-sound feel that you absolutely love and your neighbors absolutely hate.

And Spotify for iPad is the first app to have the gapless playback and cross fading for your insatiable appetite for continuous music play.  Spotify also fixed existing bugs, such as offline synced playlists no longer able to be removed by the system, and crashes related to updating playlists or starring tracks.

The app is free to download on iTunes and they offer a 48-hour free Premium trial.

We need more, more, more!

Though the app’s features seem to address the needs of Spotify subscribers, some still think that there’s a few things missing.  Subscribers are still waiting for the Artist Radio feature found on Spotify’s desktop app.  The Artist Radio lines up artists of similar genres, working similar to Pandora.  And it allows you to discover new artists so you can broaden your artist menu.

The iPad app is also missing a play queue, or top lists of tracks from albums.  And with no Facebook search option, Spotify’s iPad app is far less social than its desktop counterpart. Also missing is the Collection view, which you’ll find only on the online version.  And what we’d love to see included in the iPad app is the section for supported Spotify apps, which really expand the music cloud experience.

In other Spotify news, the cloud-based music service is said to be developing a free, US-based  internet-radio service that would directly compete with Pandora, as this type of service will be cheaper to operate.  Sources claim that the new service will be launched by the end of 2012 and will be ad-laced, though Spotify’s declined to comment on the matter.