An embarrassed Spotify (News - Alert) has fixed a vulnerability which apparently let users download songs without paying a cent.

By using Downloadify (a Chrome plug-in) users could download MP3 files.

“It worked by creating a DRM-free back-up of any track you played in Spotify on your computer,” explained a report from Pocket-Lint.com.

Users could via Downloadify get a month of Spotify and “download all the songs you needed before cancelling the subscription,” the report adds.

Downloadify was available through various websites – and still may be available online.Other Web streaming services can be abused in this way, too, even though it is illegal.

"It is effectively stealing," Sheena Sheikh, an attorney from Briffa, told the BBC. "You are committing an infringement. You're not authorised to download the songs. You don't have permission."

There are also questions in news reports whether Downloadify is even legal in some locations.

“Simple Chrome Extension to Download all Spotify Songs," the Downloadify was described on GitHub, CNET reports. "Spotify made a great html5 player for their service...But they forgot their encription [sic]...Hey, I don't like encription but love spotify, just pay them for their magnificent content and I am sure they fix it soon."

Meanwhile, Google (News - Alert) declined to comment on the issue, but told CNET, "We remove apps from the Chrome Web Store that do not comply with our terms of service."

In March, Spotify had some six million paid subscribers, according to news reports.

Spotify was in the news recently on another topic of interest. It purchased music startup Tunigo.

“Now it hopes to add the ability to help people find the kinds of songs they want to hear,” TMCnet reported about the acquisition. “This will keep ears glued to the app, and may even convince some users to switch to the for-pay version of the service.”