I've spent the last few months ignoring Spotify, the newest free music app on Facebook. Maybe you've seen those Facebook links to songs that show you what your friends are listening to in the moment.

Like all apps that ask permission to “access” your profile information, I simply didn't want Spotify tracking what I'm doing. Now I'm wondering why I waited so long to give in.

Here's what I'm discovering: a whole new world of music, unbound by the shackles of limited song skips, like with Pandora. If I've heard of an artist and look them up; not only can I listen to a whole song, I can listen to an entire album—all of their available albums, in fact. Every. Album. Ever. (Well, excepting The Beatles.) But still. There's a universe of unlimited music, just waiting for you, too.

Here's what you need to know:

1. It's built just like iTunes, so you already know how to use it. Not only does it import all music that's on your computer already, you can create playlists, adding songs that you don't even own, to mix with the ones you do.

2. Make these playlists public to share them with your Facebook friends (easy, since you're already linked to Facebook). Anyone who also has Spotify can see your public playlists.

3. If you really like a song, you don't have to appreciate it alone. Tell your friends by easily posting it to your Facebook wall or Twitter (right-click on song to Share).

4. You can send songs directly to your friends' inboxes or share on their Facebook walls.

5. If you don't know where to start listening, check out one of Spotify's radio stations.

6. Click on the People tab or check out the Mini Feed on the right to see what your friends are already listening to.

7. There's a back button, so in case you couldn't remember what pages you were on, you can navigate much like a web page.

8. Give a Spotify app a try. I like Pitchfork the best, as I can read an album review of what's new and then access a playlist of that whole album.

9. It's the new mix tape, minus the carbon footprint.

In the first six months of use, it's pretty much a free-for-all, with no use restrictions. After six months, each listener will downgrade to 10 hours of music and a limit is put on five listens per song a month.

All this said, there are advertisements and they're not exactly sparse. But if you're already listening to Pandora, it's pretty much the same deal.

Obviously, the ads and limitations are a push for listeners to upgrade to Spotify Premium. The Premium subscription is unlimited music without advertising, plus Spotify on your mobile phone or TV and access to your playlists in offline mode. You can upload your entire library to your phone through Premium. Plus, the songs are higher quality, at 320kbps, significantly higher than iTunes' typically compressed 128kbps. For audiophiles, this may be a determining factor, considering this also means listeners can hear higher quality music without taking up further file space to do so.

Europeans have already passed the million mark for the number of Spotify subscribers, what Evolver.fm calls a “major milestone” considering no U.S. music subscription service has reached this amount.

The ads are significantly annoying, but how can I complain? Spotify means new, free tunes at my fingertips. It's the modern-age CD swap, and I can't think of a time where I've been more excited to listen to music. I certainly see myself upgrading to Premium soon.

Next week: Spotify and What It Means For Musicians