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No free version is definitely an interesting decision. If they market it as heavily as it sounds like they will and they can convince normal people to pay for this like they would cable or phone service it would be a game changer for the music industry whether it is significantly different in features from Spotify or not.

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I think Spotify has the mindshare largely because of the free version, and it's going to be difficult to overcome that.

That being said, I've been using Beats' predecessor Mog for over a year now and I like the interface and the known good sound quality (Spotify wasn't the first to have a 320k library). If Beats is easier to use on mobile than Spotify, it could make a dent.

The integration angle though -- that's where players like Pandora have an edge with apps on Apple TV, smart TVs, etc.

>> "I think Spotify has the mindshare largely because of the free version, and it's going to be difficult to overcome that."

Very true, but Beats managed to convince a lot of people to spend ridiculous amounts of money on headphones. If they can work the same marketing magic behind this I see it doing very well.

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