Spotify: One of the most popular music streaming platforms in the world
Spotify is a streaming music service with multiple device connectivity. You can listen to more than 35 million tracks and podcasts in an ever-expanding musical library.
Spotify Features: Never miss a beat
Incredible playlists, social connectivity, and cross-platform capability make Spotify an obvious choice for music fans everywhere.
Spotify free offers unlimited music streaming with occasional ads and up to six track skips per hour on mobile. Blow through those skips and you’re left listening to last year’s lame songs.
If this isn’t your first run with the service, Spotify on iPhone should look familiar. Spotify maintains its signature black and green screen on all devices. Return listeners will notice musical suggestions taking up much of the home screen based off of a band you are tuned into or playlists that you’ve created.
There’s one big (and annoying) difference when making the leap from laptop to iPhone, though: you can’t rewind a song or choose a specific song. You are stuck with shuffle mode. Goodbye chronological playing.
Still, premade playlists are where this digital music service shines “bright like a diamond”. Where other digital streaming services offer up the same old ho-hum playlists based on genre, Spotify offers curated content.You can still expect the pop, hip hop, and country genres but enjoy other moods like “Dinner,” “Comedy,” “Romance,” and “Commute” to set the tone from a mix of artists.
This digital music service is anything but ordinary. The Made for You playlist features a new daily mix for each day of the week. It dishes out your favorite songs, with a few surprises tucked in. Each Made for You list includes a few of the featured bands in the tagline so you can still pick and choose what to hear according to your mood.
Stuck in a music rut but don’t want to stray too far from your faves? You don’t have to with the Discover Weekly playlist. Every Monday, Spotify creates two hours of songs based on your last played songs, albums, and similar artists.You don’t have to hunt for fresh content on your own. The more you use Spotify, the better the service’s algorithms become at figuring out the kind of tunes you will like.
Do you live and breathe music? Spotify caters to a global audience with international artists. If finding the latest and greatest up-and-comers is your jam, Spotify does the leg-work, uncovering new music for you each week.
Followed artists and related music matching your recent listens appear in Spotify’s “New Release Radar” each Friday while independent artists have their moment in the sun every Wednesday. Be forewarned: explicit tracks are often included in the premade playlists. Change the settings to skip adult content. Either way, you can always count on fresh listening experiences.
Even with all the great available playlists out there, you can still create your own. Share your lists with the world -- or not. Have a big event or family road trip coming up? Spotify offers a fun twist with collaborative playlists. Invite everyone (with good taste in music, of course), to add tracks to a custom playlist so everyone can have a say in what’s played.
Social music sharing
Don’t listen alone. Spotify does social and does it well. Follow other accounts for access to other unique playlists. Connect Spotify to your Facebook account to see (and laugh at) what your friends are listening to, or view shared playlists. If you’re known for sharing amazing music, Spotify lets you spread the music love across social networks, from Facebook (and Messenger) to Twitter to Tumblr and even Skype, among others.
Have an unexpected music taste? It might be a good idea to hide your three-hour folk music marathon from your heavy metal friends. With Spotify, you can. Hide your listening activity or go anonymous via settings to save face.
Is Spotify free on iPhone?
Spotify is easy to use, and the best part is that it offers a free version. You can use it on your phone, computer, or tablet without any hassle. The free version has a few ads, and sometimes podcasts have sponsored segments. Here's what you get with the free version:
- Access on mobile, computer, or tablet.
- Some ads.
- Unlimited access to lots of music.
- Playlists, discovering new music, and creating and sharing playlists.
If you choose to go for Spotify's Premium version, you get extra perks:
- No ads on desktop, mobile, or tablet.
- You can play any song you want.
- Create and edit playlists.
- Listen offline when you're not connected to the internet.
- Higher quality music with a maximum bitrate of 320kbps.
- Use your mobile device as a remote control for the Spotify app on your computer.
Spotify stands out as a great option for music lovers everywhere. It's user-friendly and offers a fantastic music experience.
How good is Spotify audio quality?
Spotify doesn't offer super high-quality audio, but it does make a difference between free and Premium users. Spotify uses different file formats and bitrates for sound quality. Let's break it down:
- Free Spotify: The maximum sound quality is 128kbps on the web player and 160kbps on mobile and desktop apps.
- Spotify Premium: Better sound quality with a maximum of 320kbps on both desktop and mobile.
In simple terms, Spotify Premium gives you a better sound experience by providing more detailed and richer audio. Even though it's not super high-tech, it makes your music sound better.
Where can you run this program?
Spotify is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You’ll need iOS 10.0 or later.
Is there a better alternative?
There’s no end to music on-demand platforms but Pandora and Apple Music still battle it out at the top of the charts. Of the three free music titans, Pandora falls short: fewer features, the least amount of music selection control, and skimpy social media sharing options. Still, thumbing down a song on Spotify past the six free skips won’t stop it from playing as it does on Pandora.
Of all the streaming music apps, Apple Music is matched to Spotify in terms of features. Both services offer the occasional exclusive music jam or artist album release (in addition to exclusive podcasts) but, in this case, Apple Music has the slight edge in terms of quantity.
The clunky iOS account setup is maddening, even though curated playlists are well done. Apple Music also boasts a large musical assortment that surpasses Spotify’s with its unique DJ-style radio play. But Apple Music has one huge drawback and a potential deal-breaker: the service isn’t for free.
Our take
Spotify has a considerable music catalog. Stick with Spotify basic for stellar tunes anytime, anywhere, free.
Should you download it?
Yes. With ample features offered in the free version, multi device compatibility, and tens of millions of tracks, Spotify is a freebie service worth using.
