Spotify For iPhone App Updated: Last.fm, Low-Connection Streaming, More

Spotify's streaming music service has plenty of fans, even without a US release as yet, and the company have just announced that an update to their iPhone client is just around the corner.  The app – first released back in September last year – gains Last.fm scrobbling together with support for easier control of track and album favorites using a new star button system (which is also tipped for the Spotify desktop client soon).

Meanwhile low-speed connections needn't mean an end to your music, as the new version of Spotify Mobile for iPhone now supports a lower, 96kb/s bitrate.  That means some sacrifice of audio quality, but at least you'll be able to keep listening.  Similarly efficient is the app's ability to use tracks already locally cached on the iPhone in different playlists, rather than re-downloading them.

Finally, there's support for opening Spotify track, album and playlist links from the browser, messages or Facebook, which should make sharing music between users more straightforward.  Spotify have apparently submitted the updated app to Apple for approval, so there's no telling when exactly it might show up in the App Store.  To use it you'll need a premium Spotify subscription since the company's free accounts can't access music while mobile; more information here.