Spotify removes five-play song cap

The streaming music company said today that it was removing the cap, which was introduced in April 2011.

Until now, users of the free Spotify service were able to play a song as many times as they wanted for the first six months of membership. After that, however, the song would be unplayable unless they subscribed.

In a blogpost today, Spotify said: "We’ve got some mighty fine news for all Spotify Free users. From today, there’s no more 5 play-per-song limit. You can listen to your favourite songs as many times as you like."

The change brings Britain into line with most other countries in which Spotify operates. France is the only country which still has the cap.

Users of the free Spotify service are still restricted to 10 hours of listening per month, however. The US, Australia and New Zealand are the only countries with no time limits or caps on track plays.

Earlier this year, Spotify removed its music download feature in a bid to "simplify the service". Spotify users had been able to purchase and download songs since 2009 but the company said removing the option would "pave the way for new features".

At the end of 2012 Spotify announced a series of updates to its desktop player to deliver better recommendations and celebrity playlists. A new feature allowing users to organise their music into 'collections' is also expected soon.

Alongside the upgrades to the desktop player, Spotify has also been testing a browser-based version of the player. The new service, which is in beta, looks similar to the desktop client but runs in a browser window.