Today the Spotify app on Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 was updated to version 4.0 and made it possible for Windows Phone users to finally listen to music on Spotify without a Premium account. The update basically brings the app on par with Spotify’s offerings on iOS and Android.

After playing a bit around with it I can safely say that it works the way you would expect. Here are some screenshots from it:

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If you haven’t updated already, head into the Windows Phone Store and grab it

Spotify today announced that they have finally updated their Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 app to also bring free music playback to those platforms. According to Spotify’s press release the app is supposed to already be available in the Windows Phone Store, but so far I can not see the latest version. As soon as I get it I will post more about the updated experience.

Anyways, congratulations to Spotify for finally getting off their XXX and doing the right thing.

Have you got it? What are your thoughts on this?

I am one of the many Windows Phone users who have installed Microsofts Preview for Developers, and thus am on Windows Phone 8.1. Since I live in Norway I am still waiting for Cyan for my Lumia 1020. The most recent development on that front is that contrary to what Microsoft said earlier, I might have to reset my phone to the previous version of the OS in order to get Cyan due to a bug encountered by some business users using Bitlocker encryption while on the Preview for Developers. Microsoft is working on a fix, but at the moment the only way to get Cyan (when it becomes available) is to go back to Windows Phone 8.0.

So, while I am waiting to write up something about Cyan and the impact it eventually will have on my phone, I thought I should write up my opinion about something that seriously irritates me on Windows Phone…

And that is Microsofts Facebook app. Yes, it has gotten better, but there are still so many things lacking in this app. Small issues, but so aggravating and annoying it seriously degrades the experience. And for most of these issues it just works on the mobile webpage, and of course beautifully so in the iOS and Android apps. So here is my list of most annoying issues with Microsofts Facebook app:

1. Why can I not go to timeline review and approve or deny being tagged by other people? In order to get this done I have to go to the webpage?

2. Why do I only see my own posts when going to my profile page? Posts by others or from approved apps in which I am tagged are not shown for some reason.

3. Why do I only see the comment and not the picture, when a commenter adds a picture?

4. Why can I not mark all notifications as read in the app? I have to go through every single one in order to mark them read. Annoying!

These four points should be EXTREMELY easy to fix, but as it is now it means I can not use only the app, I have to go to the mobile web page as well, which is annoying to say the least. Specially when there really is no technical reason for why this is so.

Do you hear me Microsoft? Or Facebook?