During the “Stream On” event on March 8, Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, unveiled a redesigned Spotify that began rolling out to accounts shortly before the event. This new design swaps the familiar rows of square icons for a card-based layout aimed at enhancing the way suggestions based on topics and themes are presented.
The home screen now features suggested music, a good morning DJ feature, a promoted podcast, and full-vertical video, making the discovery-focused feeds in search more engaging with Canvas clips from tracks across various genres. With the new feature, users can do all of these things in one spot: add songs to playlists, follow artists, and share music with friends.
This transformation seeks to make Spotify more visually appealing and user-friendly, emphasizing the small looping videos you see while listening to songs. It’s a testament to Spotify’s commitment to not just being a platform for listening to music but also a space for music discovery and social sharing.
Whether it’s finding new tracks to save to your playlist, following artists, or sharing your favorite songs with friends, the Spotify Premium experience is designed to be seamless and immersive.
Differences Between Spotify Free Vs. Spotify Premium
Here are some of the differences:
Music Library
For both free and paying users, Spotify’s music library offers access to over 80 million songs and podcast titles, making it a treasure trove of content that doesn’t cost a penny to explore. If you want to hear new songs as soon as they arrive, Spotify Premium is the way to go. Artists can make their releases exclusive to Premium subscribers for two weeks, which is a huge perk for music fans.
With a standard Premium subscription costing $10.99 a month or $5.99 for students, Spotify Premium offers more than just an expansive music library; it provides an uninterrupted, richer listening experience. Group deals like Spotify Premium Duo and family-sized plans further underscore its value, offering 2 separate accounts for $14.99 or up to 6 accounts for $16.99, respectively.
As Spotify HiFi introduces lossless songs into the standard Premium tier, mirroring Apple Music and Amazon Music HD’s lossless playback, the gap between the content quality of the free version and premium widens, making Spotify Premium an irresistible proposition for serious music fans.
Ads
One of the most notable differences between Spotify’s Free and Premium tiers is the lack of ads in the latter, enhancing the listening experience by removing visual ads and radio-style interruptions between songs.
While scrolling through the app as a Premium user, the seamless music playback without being advertised at can make all the difference, especially when you’re deep in your listening session or curating party tunes. With a Spotify Free account, your guests might unexpectedly encounter a car insurance ad among your carefully selected jams, potentially breaking the mood.
This stark contrast in user experience points towards Spotify Premium as the clear winner for those who value uninterrupted music, making it a compelling upgrade for anyone looking to avoid ads altogether.
Playback Controls
The distinction in Spotify Playback controls between the Free and Premium versions significantly affects how users interact with their music. Premium users enjoy full control over their tunes, with the ability to play any song on demand, bypass shuffle play for whole albums, and utilize Rewind, repeat, and other playback controls across all devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and through the Spotify web player.
This was further enhanced when Spotify updated the Shuffle and Play buttons to make it easier for Premium subscribers to select their preferred playback mode at the top of playlists and albums. Conversely, Spotify Free users face limited skips and are bound to shuffle mode, with the ability to skip only 6 tracks per hour, except in certain Spotify-curated playlists.
This controversy peaked in 2021 when artists like Adele called out the auto-shuffle play button, leading to its removal for albums to ensure listeners could experience content in the track listing order intended by artists and music producers.
For those seeking unbridled access to their music, Spotify Premium provides an unlimited skips feature, allowing users to breeze past songs they dislike, marking a clear advantage over the Free version.
Sound Quality
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Offline Listening
For audiophiles with headphones that can capture every nuance and those with a discerning ear, the Spotify Sound quality difference is a pivotal factor. Spotify Premium offers a higher-quality audio experience at a 320kbps bit rate, significantly outperforming the 160kbps offered by Spotify Free on the mobile app and even more so against the 128kbps on the desktop app.
This upgrade in sound quality eliminates the compression artifacts that can muddy your music, making Spotify Premium a must for anyone serious about their audio experience.
While there’s ongoing debate about the perceptibility of Hi-Res Audio versus lower-resolution audio quality, the introduction of Spotify HiFi promises a lossless service, further widening the difference in sound quality between the Premium and Free tiers.
Whether you’re listening at home or on the go, the fidelity of Spotify Premium’s audio offers a clearer, more immersive listening experience that truly honors the artist’s intentions.
Verdict
The Spotify Verdict for any music lover boils down to what you value in your daily soundtrack. If letting Spotify take control with Free access to over 80 million-plus songs and 2.6 million podcasts for nothing meets your needs, then the curation, discovery, and social smarts of Spotify Free might suffice.
However, for those who crave the latest songs, demand full control over playback, wish to save offline, and aim to avoid ads, Spotify Premium justifies its worth in cash.
With the impending launch of Spotify HiFi, which promises a separate, potentially more expensive tier, premium presents itself as an even more attractive middle ground, offering high-quality audio without the steep price tag.
In essence, whether Spotify Premium is worth it hinges on your personal listening habits, the importance of audio quality, and how much you’re willing to invest in your musical experience.
There are Different Priced Memberships for Premium, But Free is Free
Exploring Spotify Premium, it’s evident that its Premium subscriptions offer an array of pricing tiers, each tailored to a variety of user needs. For $10.99 a month, you can get Spotify Premium Individual and have access to all of the premium features, including ad-free listening, on-demand playing, and the ability to download songs to listen to offline.
For the musically inclined full-time student attending a university or college, the Spotify Kids app the costs seem nominal. Despite the fund allocation each month or the bite into your paychecks, Free Spotify makes a sound argument with the advantage of binding no strings; Spotify free beams into your mix—compliments of its ads.
It’s the type of use-it-when-you-please involvement that pivots around a rare form of media generosity, even with a lack of features and occasional inconveniences, marking a wrinkle that might not be a fair deal for all.
Fundamentally, while the membership to premium notably amplifies quality, free does what it can to imitate a bold life presence, transferring massive record tables over the data motes of an arguably less annoying ad stream.
This equates to a last-stream statute: whether the terms of lack of features and deals struck within the deals of Spotify Premium significantly or merely play third fiddle to the financial convenience tagged along with Spotify free.
Some Music Maybe Unavailable if you don’t Pay for Premium
A notable point for music enthusiasts is that some music may be unavailable on Free Spotify due to artists’ decisions or Spotify Premium’s discrepancy in how it compensates artists. Artists can choose to make their newest releases unavailable to everyone except Premium subscribers for the first two weeks after they drop.
This feature underscores the value Spotify Premium places on providing immediate access to new music and supporting artists financially, giving them a higher average amount paid per stream compared to the free version. For those who place importance on supporting their favorite artists and having access to all available music as soon as it hits the platform, premium stands out as the superior choice.
This exclusivity factor, coupled with the higher compensation rates for artists, makes a compelling case for Spotify Premium, especially for those who seek to ensure their streaming habits contribute more significantly to the artists’ earnings.
How Much Does Spotify Premium Cost?
Spotify Premium tailors its services to fit various needs with multiple subscription options.
For an adept run-through in 2023:
- The solo plan sees the ground at $10.99/month, fashioned for the quintessential music-lover with insatiable selection desirability.
- Students who juggle ballads with books may carve economic joy in the cut-rate $5.99/month, predicated upon an engaging study experience and the grace of minuscule idleness.
- Coadjutant hymn harmony can be sung for those at the same address, considering the Premium Duo; it’s $14.99/month but escorts two people into musical merry.
- Lastly, Premium Family assembles six accounts etched with aural anecdotes for $16.99/month, pinning a maestro’s brush at the door of each heart in the home—diversely residing yet univocally savoring.
Above all, quantifying the cost of Spotify Premium pivots on a proposition: are the vespers and visuals in cored symphonies on this subscription’s platter enow to vaunt an Excel from chink’s harrow or require a devotement’s detail?
Pricing in 2023 dares to contend the premium tomes and the odes within, drape over every intended ambiance, urging the quiescent—decreeing the keen, to hum in the favor of nuances that premium solicits, infinitely beyond and unconfined.
How to Upgrade to Spotify Premium
Deciding to Upgrade Spotify to its Premium tier is a gateway to experiencing music without limitations. The process is straightforward: switch to a Premium account by navigating to the Spotify Premium page, where you’ll sign into your existing account. Your access to Premium features will be activated nearly immediately after you follow the easy steps to input your payment information.
One of the perks of Spotify Premium is the flexibility to cancel anytime, making the trial as risk-free as the tunes are limitless. While you can sign up for Spotify Premium using mobile apps, it’s not recommended due to extra charges imposed by Android and iPhone app stores to cover transaction fees.
Save yourself a few dollars each month by signing up through the web—the experience on your phone will remain the same, ensuring that your transition to premium is as smooth as your favorite playlist.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, determining the value of Spotify Premium depends heavily on individual listening preferences, the importance placed on audio quality, and the listener’s willingness to pay for additional features.
Spotify Premium offers a compelling array of benefits, including ad-free listening, enhanced sound quality with the introduction of Spotify HiFi, and the convenience of offline playback. For those deeply integrated into the world of music and podcasts, the Premium service justifies its cost by delivering an uninterrupted, high-quality listening experience.
However, for casual listeners looking for content with a more basic offering, Spotify Free provides a vast library that may suffice. Ultimately, the decision to upgrade hinges on whether the premium features significantly enhance one’s listening experience, making Spotify Premium a worthwhile investment for those who prioritize music quality, variety, and control over their listening experience.