During the advanced technology surge which shapes our present and future as citizens, two things mainly have helped maintain the mass majority of young people: music and social networking.

Both have everlasting effects on how we live our day to day lives. When these two powerhouses come together, it creates one of the most innovative, interactive social music websites ever. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Spotify. A website that allows sharing music to Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Listeners are able to make playlists based on their music likes, but also based on what their Facebook friends are listening to. Most important, it’s free! Originating in 2006, Daniel Ek of Sweden introduced the music powerhouse as “Spotify AB.”

Since its initial release, it has come to the United States and taken internet users by storm. This site is not available in every country, so there isn’t a worldwide awareness of this just yet. But through Facebook profiles the word is spreading like wildfire. After registering for Spotify through your Facebook account, there are three steps to take.

1. Pick an artist, song or genre. Type in the name of an artist, album or genre then BAM, a complete selection comes in chronological order, newest first- and separated by albums, compilations and singles.

2. Add chosen song or artist to playlist, or create a radio station. Users can choose any song and drag into a created playlist, just like iTunes. That is a bonus because, if you’re like me and forget names of bands, a playlist is helpful in keeping track. A downfall is country codes prohibit certain songs to be available, so there are quite a few songs unavailable due to country of residence. There are usually ways around these blocks. If not, there’s always YouTube!

3. Share to Facebook. By sharing listening choices to a Facebook profile gives friends a chance to see what your listening to. Favorited songs and albums are listed on profiles, along with what is currently being listened to in the News Feed.

Once those three stages are completed, the site leaves the user to his own advances when it comes to searching for music. The different elements of Spotify put together make this site top notch in comparison to other music interactive sites like Pandora. Along with those elements, there are also the apps.

We all are aware of our apps. Featured on iPods, Droids, iPhones and other “smart” devices, Spotify creates apps that help organize music, and inform the user more about their favorite artists, concert information and any other wanted music info. Apps like Lastfm, Pitchfork, RollingStone, The Guardian and others create a link between Spotify and users.

Keeping them up to date with factual music information 24/7. All those elements make the Spotify experience that much better. With all these awesome features there are always those unavoidable obstacles, advertisements. As patrons of free internet programs, advertisements are just a part of the norm. However, there is something users can do to avoid those silly, uninteresting ads.

Now, all that glitter is not gold. There are always drawbacks. After six months the free version of Spotify restrictions begin to occur.

Songs have a five time playing limit, and Spotify gives a 10-hour listening limit per month. Upon registering for Spotify, I was not aware of these terms and conditions. Would I have done otherwise if I had known differently, absolutely not. This music program is very extensive and offers many obscure albums I might not be able to access on Pandora or another music site.

First is Spotify Unlimited. This version of the music powerhouse eliminates advertisements and allows a constant stream of music that costs $4.99/month. Besides zero advertisements, this and the free version of Spotify are one in the same with feature offers. Next, there is Spotify Premium which includes many more offers than both of the later Spotify versions.

Premium, a feature that costs $9.99/month. For that cost, the offers includes mobile offline mode, enabling one to take Spotify everywhere.

The higher versions of Spotify are definitely worth it. The cost averages a monthly Netflix bill, which doesn’t seem like a bad investment.