When Spotify first hit the United States, the streaming music service blew up. Anyone who was looking for an iTunes contender quickly navigated towards Spotify. When the service joined forces with Facebook, even more people joined the Spotify ranks. This was excellent news to the music service that had already enjoyed a lot of success in Europe. Then again, the reason why a lot of people joined Spotify was because the service was offering a six month free trial (just enough to get people hooked).

As Business Insider (and then TechCrunch) recently pointed out, that means that a lot of people in the U.S. will soon have to decide if Spotify is worth paying $9.99 per month. If a mere $10 per month doesn’t sound like a lot of cash to you, let’s break this down just a bit more. That $10 per month price tag will quickly translate into $120 per year. While this amount may be a lot for some, it’s right up there with satellite based subscriptions and other streaming sites. You also have to remember that you can listen to as many songs as you want with that monthly membership, while this is not the case with the pay-per-song iTunes.

Should You Stay or Should You Go?

Judging from consumer comments, many people who are currently using Spotify for free will not sign up for the monthly service. Why? Some people complain about Spotify’s lack of a great mobile app, while other people simply wanted a fun and free Facebook music tool. Now that Spotify is set to charge those who were enjoying the service for free, it will be interesting to see who sticks around and who jumps ship. It’s also interesting to note that the only music service coming close to Spotify in user numbers through Facebook is Pandora.

So, is spending $10 per month on Spotify worth that extra cash? Well, that all depends on how you look at it. If you are enjoying the Spotify content, you might want to consider spending that extra amount. If you find that Spotify is lacking in content, it might be time to look for another music provider. Then there’s the third possibility: you just don’t listen to enough music to justify the Spotify expense. In this instance, you might want to consider switching back, or switching to, iTunes. Sure, you have to pay-per-song with iTunes, but this may work out in your favor if you only listen to a few tunes per month. In short, the best way to decide between the two music providers is to compare costs and time spent listening to music.

The Future of Spotify

Right now, Spotify is only offered in the United States. When the announcement that Spotify was coming to North America came out, people in Canada were excited – until they learned that Spotify would not be offering Canadians content. However, after recently checking the site, it appears that Spotify will be coming to Canada sometime soon.

If you want to be one of the first Canadians to get Spotify, you can sign up for the service right now on the Spotify website. As soon as the service provider is available in Canada, you’ll be notified – just make sure to remember that the free trial Spotify is bound to offer won’t last forever…and some day you’ll have to choose.