Given that it's a beta version there are a few bugs to contend with too - sometimes we'd select a playlist but it wouldn't show up in the main window and some of the TechRadar team couldn't run the player in Chrome, while others could.
We're also lamenting the lack of playlist folders given that this reviewer recently spent a good two hours arranging hers into a sensible order. You also can't use your computer's play/pause/skip buttons to control playback and you have no way of choosing a streaming quality or choosing crossfade or gapless playback as you do in the apps.
As for the quality - it's not the best. Through headphones it's fine but if you were to crank it up and spin a playlist at a party we wouldn't be surprised if guests left in disgust. We've asked Spotify what the bitrate actually is but we're anticipating something fairly low.
Also missing for now is the offline mode that you get in both the desktop and mobile apps so you'd better hope your Wi-Fi holds up for that fairly quiet shindig you plan to dominate with your best dance hits of the '90s playlist.
Early verdict
So rather than Spotify Web Player, we'd just call this Spotify Light - plenty of bits are missing which may yet come to the player and it's sure to prove a great option for Chromebook users (all eight of you) and anyone on a mobile device that doesn't have a native Spotify app and wants to bust out the tunes at a moment's notice - that's if they're not already paid-up Rdio members, whose web app comes with all the social shenanigans you could dream of.
For everyone else, there's always the desktop and mobile Spotify apps to fall back on.
