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Get 3 months of Spotify Premium for 99 cents

Find out what all the fuss is about for just a buck.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
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Rick Broida
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Newcomers can get Spotify Premium for just 99 cents for the first three months.

 Lionel Bonaventure / AFP/Getty Images

For a long, long time, I resisted using a music-streaming service. But I'm totally drinking the Kool-Aid now, and you should, too. Here, I'll make it painless: Until June 30, new Spotify customers can sign up for three months of Spotify Premium for just 99 cents. Not per month, mind you: 99 cents total. After that, the subscription goes up to the usual rate: $9.99 per month.

See it at Spotify

So, what, you're supposed to pay that for the rest of your life? That was always my big objection, but then I realized I'm already doing likewise for things like phone service, Netflix and Hulu . (Speaking of that, Spotify's $9.99 Premium plan now includes Hulu as well! How's that for a perk? Update: It appears this promotion has ended earlier than expected. We're investigating with both companies to find out why.)

Meanwhile, if I were to buy just one CD or MP3 album per month, it would likely cost me at least $10. For that same amount, I get unlimited ad-free access to all the music of the world -- anytime, anywhere, no storage required (unless I want to download it for offline listening).

I'm also overjoyed to be free of the hassles of maintaining a digital-music library, trying to find space for it on my phone or tablet and all that rigmarole. 

So, yeah, I'm a convert. I'm not saying Spotify is the best of the streaming services (though the recent addition of Hulu puts it way at the top), merely that this three-month subscription lets you really live into this way of consuming music and see if it's something you like. For a buck.

Watch this: Apple Music vs. Spotify: Music streaming battle

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