The long wait is finally over. Spotify has released an app for the iPad. For the first time, users can experience the popular music streaming service on the tablet. But instead of a radical new experience or interacting with music, the app is actually a pretty big bummer. The “What’s New” tab is rather useless. I’ve had no luck finding any music I like in the recommended section, apart from songs I’ve already heard. However, the point of the tab is to find new songs or artists and not music with which I am already familiar. The “Top Tracks Among Friends” feature is mildly interesting, but it only features five songs and doesn’t say which friends have been listening to each. Some of my friends have radically different musical tastes than I do, so their top tracks are of little use to me. After that it shows “New Releases.” This could be helpful, but I’ve only heard of two of the bands currently listed and it doesn’t give me any indication of their genre or style. Does anyone really go through these one by one and listen to them to find maybe two or three they actually like? Lastly, there is a section that lists “Top Tracks Near You.” Near me? As in physically? Why would I care what someone down the hall is listening to? And where are the apps Spotify added months ago? Little sub-apps in the Spotify program make the desktop client extremely pleasant to use. For example, Pitchfork, the indie music website, has an app that lets you read its most recent articles and reviews while listening to the very music on Spotify you’re reading about. Rolling Stone also has an app with similar functionality and also lets you access its playlists, including the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” These are only a few of the cool and user-friendly apps notably absent on Spotify’s iPad version. So why highlight the lacking Spotify app in a column at all? Because it exemplifies a problem I touched upon last week about mobile apps that don’t offer the full functionality of their desktop and laptop counterparts. Some things are missing altogether, like the sub-apps, and other small features such as the “What’s New” section are oversimplified to the point of uselessness. Spotify is trying to improve the ease of use for its app, but in doing so, guts it of some of its best functions. This has ruined one of the key strengths of subscription music services: being able to actually find new music.