Linux users rejoice! As Spotify is now much easier to install on most Linux distributions. This is because the Spotify desktop app is now available as a snap, which makes it really easy to install and use without the need to install any other software first. It seems Christmas has come early.

Spotify has been treating Linux users as second class citizens for a while, with no-one officially working on the desktop client, and bugs being squashed intermittently. However, thanks to some Spotify engineers working in the spare time, Spotify is now available in the form of a snap.

Spotify Engineers Finally Snap

This news was announced by Canonical, the company behind the popular distro Ubuntu. The company explains that the Spotify snap "enables users to enjoy Spotify natively on all Linux distributions that support snaps including Linux Mint, Manjaro, Debian, OpenSUSE, Solus as well as Ubuntu."

For those unfamiliar with snaps, Canonical describes them as "containerized software packages designed to work perfectly and securely in any Linux environment." So far, 2,500 snaps have been released, but Spotify as a company isn't embracing the technology. Instead, it was engineers.

"Spotify for Linux is a labor of love from our engineers that wanted to listen to Spotify on their Linux development machines. They work on it in their spare time and it is currently not a platform that we actively support. The experience may differ from our other Spotify Desktop clients, such as Windows and Mac."

Still, whether it's officially supported or not, the upshot is the same... the Spotify desktop client is now much easier to install and use than it was previously. And the initial impressions from Linux users who have already installed and used the Spotify snap are extremely positive.

You can download Spotify as a snap from Snapcraft.io.

Linux Users Stick Together

Spotify's treatment of Linux users has been pretty shoddy up to now. However, it's nice to know that the engineers who work for the company still care enough to provide for their fellow Linux users. And who knows, maybe one day Spotify itself will care enough to offer support again.

Do you use Spotify on Linux? If so, were you using the outdated and unsupported desktop client? Or the Spotify Web Player? How happy are you to see Spotify launched as a snap? What other apps would you like to see turned into snaps? Please let us know in the comments below!

Image Credit: Michael Fotsch via Flickr