What is Spotify and how does it work?

(Pocket-lint) - Spotify is simply a integer music streaming service that gives you entree to millions of songs, podcasts and videos from artists each implicit the world, similar Apple Music. 

Spotify is instantly appealing due to the fact that you tin entree contented for escaped by simply signing up utilizing an email address oregon by connecting with Facebook. If you're not keen connected monthly subscription fees for Spotify Premium, oregon conscionable privation to dip your toed successful and trial it out, it's casual to get started and there's nary commitment.

You tin find retired the main differences betwixt Spotify Free and Premium successful our abstracted diagnostic but arsenic a speedy summary, the escaped mentation is ad-supported, overmuch similar vigor stations. The escaped mentation of Spotify tin beryllium accessed connected PC, laptop and mobile phone, but the afloat work needs a Spotify Premium subscription.

How does Spotify work?

Getting started with listening to euphony connected Spotify is easy:

1. Visit the Spotify website and sign-up. We'd urge signing up with Facebook if you person an relationship arsenic it'll marque it easier to find and travel friends, spot what they're listening to and stock songs with them.
2. Choose a subscription level. We'd urge going for Spotify Premium arsenic it gives you entree to much features, is much flexible and volition link with much devices.
3. Download and instal the escaped Spotify application. There are versions for desktop and iPhone/iPad and Android phones.
4. Sign into your relationship connected those devices and get listening.

The basal setup is beauteous straightforward but there's overmuch much to Spotify erstwhile you delve successful and it gets smarter the much you listen.

Can you download euphony from Spotify?

Yes and no. With Spotify Premium you tin acceptable euphony to beryllium disposable "offline" but it's not the aforesaid arsenic downloading euphony successful the accepted sense. For example, you can't effort to crippled the strategy by downloading an medium past cancelling your subscription astatine a aboriginal date. And you can't download the tracks to pain them to a CD oregon transcript them to different devices.

The thought of Spotify's offline mode is to let you to person entree to your favourite euphony erstwhile you're trying to save mobile data oregon travelling determination wherever entree to the net mightiness not beryllium easy.

With Spotify Premium you tin person up to 10,000 songs disposable to perceive to offline connected up to 5 antithetic devices. Downloading songs, albums oregon playlists connected Spotify is elemental too, which is great. Just power the toggle adjacent to Download connected the medium you'd similar to download to perceive offline. Alternatively, click the 3 dots successful the apical close and click "Download".

How overmuch information does Spotify use?

The magnitude of information that Spotify burns done volition beryllium connected the streaming prime you take - much connected this successful a minute. This is simply a unsmooth usher for however overmuch information Spotify volition get through:

• One hr of euphony playback volition usage astir 50MB of information erstwhile the prime is acceptable to "normal".
• At mean prime you tin play astir 24 hours of euphony for astir 1GB of information usage.
• At high-quality 1GB volition beryllium utilized successful little than 15 hours.
• At utmost prime you'll usage 1GB of information successful 7 hours.
• You'll usage a batch much information with video playback.

You tin cheque and alteration the prime of streaming and download of songs utilizing mobile information successful the settings connected your device.

High-quality streaming and audio quality

There are 4 antithetic levels of streaming prime for Spotify. Streaming is each done successful the Ogg Vorbis format and uses the pursuing bitrates for each of the prime levels:

• Low astatine 24kbps
• Normal streams astatine 96kbps
• High astatine 160kbps
• Very High streams astatine 320kbps

The prime level you usage volition beryllium connected your penchant and choices astir information usage but it's worthy noting that Very High is lone disposable to Spotify Premium subscribers. Also with the web player, Spotify escaped users lone get entree to 128kbit/s prime vs 256kbit/s for premium users. 

How to find radical and friends connected Spotify

Signing up to Spotify with Facebook oregon connecting your Facebook relationship astatine a aboriginal day volition let you to easy find and travel friends and spot what they're listening to. The enactment provender is displayed connected the right-hand broadside of the desktop bundle and is simply a large mode to prime up connected friends who perceive to the aforesaid euphony arsenic you oregon poke amusive astatine them for their latest ABBA session.

You tin besides usage the hunt relation wrong the app to find friends. Head into your illustration successful settings and pat connected the "Find Friends" button, which volition let you to find and travel much friends oregon artists.

If you're not connected Facebook oregon don't privation to link your Facebook relationship to Spotify you tin inactive find and travel friends, it conscionable mightiness beryllium a spot much hard successful immoderate cases.

According to Spotify, the champion mode to find and travel a person is to usage the hunt container connected the desktop lawsuit and usage this format:

spotify:user:USERNAME

Copy this and regenerate USERNAME with the sanction of your friend. If this doesn't work, inquire your person to either transcript their illustration nexus straight from their illustration leafage and nonstop it to you. Alternatively, inquire if they tin stock 1 of their nationalist playlists with you. If they created the playlist, past their username is contained wrong the URL arsenic a number:

https://open.spotify.com/user/1149074494/playlist/0sBC03hIa7vrUSUeX8S8KY

You tin either usage that fig to find them oregon click connected their sanction successful the playlist to travel them. For much elaborate guidance connected uncovering friends connected Spotify, see Spotify's authoritative tutorial.

Spotify playlists, vigor and discovering caller music

Creating a playlist is arsenic casual arsenic right-clicking a opus and clicking "Add to Playlist" oregon clicking the 3 dots adjacent to a opus connected the app. Grab your favourite songs and instrumentality them successful a playlist for your idiosyncratic listening pleasure. Once you get started you'll soon find you're pursuing playlists made by friends oregon curated by artists.

Spotify is astute too, the much you listen, the much it learns the benignant of euphony you similar and that has an interaction connected the euphony it volition contiguous to you successful future. When you delve into the "Home" conception of the app you'll find a fig of recommendations based connected your caller listening choices. This includes artists akin to those you've already been listening to, arsenic good arsenic your "Discover Weekly", "Release Radar", "Top Songs of [year]" and "Family Mix" playlists, among others.

"Discover Weekly" is simply a playlist that's automatically updated by Spotify each Monday and includes a fig of antithetic songs based upon what you've been listening to recently.

"Release Radar" is simply a enactment of caller tracks from artists you follow. It's worthy noting present that if you travel your favourite musicians you'll get notifications and updates erstwhile they merchandise caller contented too.

"Family Mix" combines euphony listened to by anyone successful a Premium for Family subscription and you tin take betwixt Chill oregon Upbeat.

"Top Songs of [year] is each the songs you've loved the astir successful the erstwhile year.

To observe caller music, you tin either pat connected the "Home" tab wherever you'll find plentifulness of options, oregon you tin spell to the "Search" tab to hunt for caller contented by class and genre. These are large ways to observe caller euphony that's akin to your existent sensation but ones that you mightiness not person different listened to.

What is Spotify Enhance?

In September 2021, Spotify released a nifty update to its mobile app to assistance you upgrade your playlists. Enhance is simply a fastener you tin property that sits astatine the apical of your playlists. Tapping the fastener fleshes retired the playlist with other songs on akin lines. Personalise euphony recommendations based connected your existent listening habits. 

The heighten fastener adds other songs to your playlist, interspersed betwixt those already added by yourself. You'll get 1 other opus aft each 2 of your ain tracks with a maximum of 30 other ones being added to your playlist. 

If you similar what you spot past you tin click the positive fastener to adhd each way permanently. If you're not a instrumentality of the additions you tin click heighten again and it'll region what was added similar an undo button. Enhance is rolling retired to aggregate regions, if you don't spot it now, you should successful future. 

Spotify Bluetooth connectivity

One of the evident benefits of Spotify is if you're utilizing it connected your telephone past you tin link to a wealthiness of antithetic Bluetooth devices and watercourse your contented that way. Whether that means a location audio receiver, caput portion successful your car, Bluetooth headphones oregon Bluetooth-connected talker - determination are plentifulness of possibilities. With Spotify Premium you tin besides instrumentality vantage of Spotify Connect.

What is Spotify Connect?

Spotify Connect allows you to play your euphony done a assortment of antithetic Wi-Fi connected devices including everything from Wi-Fi speakers to your television, Amazon Echo, Google Home, Chromecast, PC and overmuch more.

This is large due to the fact that it means you tin perceive to your euphony successful much places and with much devices. It besides offers you a prime successful however you power the euphony playing connected your Spotify account. For example, if you're streaming to speakers successful your lounge utilizing your telephone past you tin usage it arsenic a distant power to set the volume, alteration tracks oregon make a enactment playlist portion listening.

• What is Spotify Connect, and wherefore does it matter?
• How to power Sonos done Spotify

Spotify connectivity with Amazon Echo and Google Home 

If you're the arrogant proprietor of a astute location talker similar Google Home oregon Amazon Echo past listening to your favourite tunes connected Spotify is besides a breeze. All you request to bash is acceptable up Spotify arsenic your superior euphony work wrong the applicable app, past usage your dependable to bid the speakers to play immoderate you want. 

If you person aggregate devices you tin besides instrumentality vantage of multi-room audio functionality to broadcast Spotify tunes passim your home. Connecting and creating groups for these devices, past broadcasting euphony oregon a playlist to those groups with your dependable is simply a straight-forward matter and 1 of the highlights of owning an AI-powered astute speaker. 

• Doubling up connected Google Home: How and wherefore to usage aggregate Google Home devices
• Doubling up connected Alexa: How to usage aggregate Amazon Echo and Dots

What is Spotify Pets?

Spotify has seemingly carried retired immoderate probe and recovered that a ample percent of favored owners specifically play tunes for their pets. 

To assistance make the cleanable listening acquisition for favored owners, the institution has created a instrumentality to assistance you make a pets playlist. Getting started with it is casual too:

1. Visit the Spotify Playlist mini-site
2. Login to your account
3. Click to take your favored whether dog, cat, iguana, hamster oregon bird
4. Choose a temper and adhd immoderate info astir your pet
5. Add their name
6. Click to make the playlist and commencement listening

These pet-centric playlists are based connected your philharmonic preference, lone catering to your pet's temper and disposition.

Spotify Kids

Spotify Kids is an app specifically designed for young children who are portion of a household that already has a Spotify Premium plan. 

This app caters to children listening from property 3 and up and is designed to beryllium "safe" and backstage too. As you'd expect, the euphony present is much interactive with singalong songs, movie soundtracks and adjacent stories. 

Listening contented connected this app besides includes tunes hand-picked by a dedicated squad of editors to guarantee large listening for your small ones. 

The app is besides designed to beryllium kid-friendly to marque it engaging and user-friendly too. 

It's inactive rolling out, but is disposable successful respective regions including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand and more. Like the main Spotify app, Spotify Kids is besides disposable for some Android and iOS devices. 

Spotify Stations

Spotify Stations is different abstracted app that's disposable to download alongside the main Spotify app. 

Stations is intended to springiness listeners casual entree to curated playlists and a much radio-like experience. It besides is designed to make a listening acquisition that makes stations based connected your listening habits too. 

Like Spotify Kids, Stations is available for both iOS and Android devices.

How overmuch is Spotify?

Spotify comes successful 2 main forms - escaped and Premium. Spotify Premium is £9.99/$9.99 a month, which includes entree to features specified arsenic ad-free streaming, unlimited skips, utmost prime streaming and Spotify Connect.

If aggregate radical successful your location usage Spotify, you mightiness see Premium for Family which gives up to six radical entree to their ain unsocial Spotify relationship nether 1 bill. All users person to unrecorded astatine the aforesaid code truthful it's not a bundle to see your friends on, but it's a bully mode to divided the cost.

At £14.99/$14.99, Premium for Family isn't excessively overmuch other implicit a modular Premium program price, truthful it's a worthy investment. There's besides Spotify Duo that costs £12.99/$12.99 a period for 2 Premium accounts.

For students, there's a discounted program that costs conscionable £4.99/$4.99 a month. 

What bash you get with Spotify Free?

You tin usage Spotify for free, but its features are limited. On the escaped plan, euphony tin beryllium played successful shuffle mode and you tin skip up to six times per hour, each hour. Spotify Radio isn't available, but you tin entree Daily Mix playlists. 

With the Spotify escaped plan, you tin entree each playlists, observe caller euphony and stock tunes with friends. You tin besides play immoderate playlist, album, oregon creator but lone portion successful Shuffle Play mode.

Spotify is escaped to usage connected mobile, desktop oregon tablet - truthful it's accessible with ease, wherever you are. You tin entree the escaped mentation utilizing the smartphone app, desktop bundle oregon website. 

Spotify's Premium tier gives you entree to everything but doesn't unit adverts - whether you're listening connected desktop, mobile, oregon tablet.

Premium users tin play immoderate opus they privation (on demand), arsenic good arsenic find and perceive playlists, observe caller music, make and edit playlists, positive stock euphony and playlists.

Premium users tin besides skip immoderate track, perceive offline, perceive high-quality euphony and usage the Spotify app connected their mobile instrumentality arsenic a machine remote control.

What are Spotify Codes?

Spotify Codes is a diagnostic from Spotify that allows users to easy stock euphony with friends and family, arsenic good arsenic their relationship for others to follow. You tin usage it to make a unsocial codification for a song, album, playlist oregon you profile, and past get idiosyncratic other to scan the codification to stock it with their instrumentality and let them to bask it excessively oregon travel you. 

Spotify Codes works connected some iPhone and Android devices, successful bid to usage it you conscionable request to click the '...' fastener adjacent to what you privation to stock and you'll spot a pop-up with the album, opus oregon playlist artwork and the codification sits underneath. Click that codification to zoom truthful the different idiosyncratic tin scan it. 

On the different device, pat connected the hunt tab astatine the bottom, past pat the hunt barroom astatine the top. There is simply a camera icon successful the apical right, which if you launch, you'll past beryllium capable to simply scan the code. Spotify Codes is unfastened to everyone.

Outside of Spotify Codes you tin besides easy straight stock songs from Spotify crossed a fig of societal media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Tumblr oregon conscionable a consecutive nexus to transcript a usable nexus to wherever you privation connected the web. Simply right-click connected desktop oregon property the 3 dots connected mobile connected the song, album, creator oregon playlist you privation to stock and prime the due service.

What is Spotify Time Capsule?

Spotify regularly releases updates to its work to assistance amended your listening experience. This includes tailored playlists and find voyages to assistance you grow your philharmonic horizons and find caller artists you're apt to enjoy. 

Sometimes though, they conscionable adhd quirky lists which amusement however good they cognize you based connected your existent listening trends. Time Capsule is 1 illustration of this wizardry.

This is simply a personalised playlist which picks retired astir 60 tracks that you would person listened to arsenic you were increasing up. It's a postulation of throw-back songs that'll capable you with nostalgic joy.

We recovered Time Capsule to beryllium beauteous accurate, scarily truthful successful fact, but it evidently requires Spotify to person a bully moving cognition of your philharmonic taste, truthful get listening!

What are Daily Mix Playlists?

Spotify learns what you similar arsenic you usage it. The much you listen, the much intelligent it becomes. This euphony streaming work is superb for this benignant of intelligence. Automatic playlists are past created based connected your preferences.

This includes automated playlists similar Summer Rewind which features each the songs you've been listening to the astir implicit the past fewer months. 

Daily Mix playlists are somewhat different, they're similar a vigor presumption which mixes your favourite tunes with akin euphony Spotify thinks you'll enjoy. Multiple Daily Mix playlists are disposable for the antithetic styles oregon genres of euphony you perceive too. These idiosyncratic mixes support playing for arsenic agelong arsenic you privation to perceive and tin beryllium improved by liking the songs you bask oregon removing the ones you don't. 

Like Discover Weekly, Daily Mix playlists are a large mode to observe caller euphony that you'll love. 

Private listening mode

Listening connected Spotify tin beryllium a societal experience. If you've connected Spotify to your Facebook account, for example, past friends and household volition beryllium capable to spot what you're listening to and you tin stock your favourite songs with them.

There mightiness beryllium juncture though wherever you don't privation radical to cognize that you're listening to a definite medium oregon opus connected changeless repeat. We each person the blameworthy pleasance that we don't request the satellite knowing about.

Spotify accounts for this with a "private listening mode" that you tin activate from the settings successful the app, nether Social, and a speedy click of a fastener connected the desktop browser. 

Podcasts

Spotify is much than conscionable a euphony streaming service. If you person a Spotify relationship you tin besides usage it to perceive to thousands of antithetic podcasts that see everything from drama to sports, lifestyle, quality and more.

These podcasts are disposable successful some the app and desktop browser and it's casual to hunt down and travel your favourite podcasts and entree the latest episodes wherever you are. 

How to delete your Spotify account

If you determine you nary longer privation your Spotify account, you tin delete it. It is worthy noting though, that you tin downgrade from Premium to a escaped account, truthful if outgo is the contented past we'd urge considering that first.

If you're inactive keen connected deleting your Spotify account, past travel these steps:

1. Visit Spotify's Support page connected however to adjacent your account.
2. Login to your Spotify account.
3. Click this nexus to delete your account.

If this doesn't work, past you tin besides effort this method:

1. Login and spell straight to Spotify's Contact Support page.
2. Choose 'account' arsenic the category.
3. Select 'I privation to adjacent my Spotify relationship permanently'.
4. Then click to adjacent your relationship oregon cancel your subscription

• Spotify escaped vs Spotify premium: What's the difference?

Writing by Adrian Willings. Originally published connected 20 October 2016.