Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium

Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium

Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium Spotify is undoubtedly the world’s most popular streaming service. It offers a vast music collection as well as a significant podcast library. In our Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium comparison, we’ll evaluate if the premium version is worth the monthly charge, or if you’re better off skipping the commercials to save money. You could even uncover some Spotify features along the way.

Editor’s note: On July 12, 2021, this Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium article was updated to add a link to a related article.

The listening experience with Free Spotify is unpleasant

The mobile interface has some significant functional variations between Free Spotify and Spotify Premium. The free mobile version only allows you to skip six tracks every hour, however the Premium version allows you to skip as many as you like. Skip restrictions can be annoying when you’re frequently not in the mood for particular randomized tracks, but they’re a minor annoyance.

Spotify Premium let’s you skip tracks endlessly, the free version does not

Another disadvantage of FreeFree Spotify vs Spotify Premium on mobile is that you cannot play individual songs. Rather, you may shuffle the tracks in an album or a playlist. This might be aggravating if you have an earworm and need to listen to a specific music. With Premium, you may listen to that music as many times as you like.

There is one catch with Free Spotify: you can only listen to songs with unlimited skips if you are listening to them from one of Spotify’s 15 selected playlists under “Made for You” on the “Home” tab.

Popular editorial playlists like “RapCaviar” and “Alternative R&B” are among them, as are playlists algorithmically personalized to your listening habits like “Discover Weekly,” “Daily Mix,” and “Release Radar.” The music in these playlists change on a regular basis. You can only shuffle tracks if the playlist title has a blue shuffle symbol next to it.

Get ready for annoying ads with Free Spotify

The most annoying aspect about Free Spotify is how frequently advertising interrupt playback. The adverts are really irritating and were almost certainly planned to be so. Many of them include the most vexing sounds imaginable, such as traffic horns layered with a voice asking, “Is this annoying?

If you purchase Premium, you will no longer have to listen to this.” I’ll give them credit: being irritating works really well for them: subscribing for Spotify Premium is nearly worth it just to get rid of these commercials.

Listen offline with Spotify Premium

You may download an unlimited amount of tracks for offline listening with Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium . This is useful for lengthy flights or if you wish to switch off your data while traveling. Because Free Spotify does not allow you to download songs, you may be paying money on data use rather than a Premium membership.

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There are less differences between Free Spotify and Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium on the desktop Spotify app. For example, regardless of whether you have Spotify Premium or not, you may choose any single song you want with infinite skips on the desktop client. However, adverts continue to appear on Free Spotify’s desktop version, and unless you have Spotify Premium, you cannot download music for offline listening on your computer.

A glitch to Spotify Free affords Premium features

There was a bug in Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium in August 2020 that allowed for unlimited skips, precise song selection, and ad-free listening on both the mobile and desktop versions of the streaming service. This bug made it nearly identical to Spotify Premium, with the exception of the ability to download songs for offline listening.

I contacted Spotify customer care, who informed me that “to my knowledge, we have advertisements and restricted skips on the Free version.” This bug will undoubtedly not persist forever, so I’ll have to award the finest listening experience to Spotify Premium.

Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium: Discovery features are identical

One of the nicest aspects of Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium  is how it encourages the discovery of new music. This is evident in its algorithmically generated playlists, which are meant to propose music tastes based on your listening history. The playlists “Discover Weekly” and “Daily Mix” are constantly updated with fresh choices.

If you really detest a recommended song or artist, you may instruct it to avoid that style of music or ban that artist from your profile by pressing a button. The “Release Radar” playlist is updated weekly and features new releases from artists you follow.

One of Spotify’s best features is available to Free and Premium users.

Under the Browse option, Spotify includes a wide range of genres, moods, and other categories, and you may listen to its editorial playlists to find new music. It will also offer editorial playlists based on your listening activity, and it will construct “Radio” playlists algorithmically for each song, artist, album, and playlist.

When you make a new playlist, the Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium algorithm proposes music based on the title of your playlist and the songs you’ve previously added to it. These discovery capabilities are available and incredibly useful whether or not you have paid for Spotify Premium.

Free or paid, enjoy the same social features

Music has always been a social art form, but times have changed since my father bought the newest Neil Young song on vinyl and sat around the turntable with his friends. People still gather to listen to music now, albeit probably not as much in 2020. Even when you’re stuck at home, there’s something exhilarating about sharing the social advantages of music with others. Spotify utilizes a variety of mechanisms on its site to encourage music sharing, and none of them require a Premium subscription to use.

Enjoy collaborative playlists on Spotify

To make a collaborative playlist, click the three-dot icon in the upper-right corner of your screen (mobile) or next to the playlist title (desktop) and choose “Collaborative Playlist.” Then, send your friends the playlist link. This will allow them to add and remove music from it. Anyone who has the link may do so, and it is private unless someone has the link. Collaborative playlists are ideal for organizing a party with your roommates or arranging a road trip with pals. They’re even useful when you merely want to share certain tunes with someone on a regular basis.

Some music may be unavailable if you don’t pay for Premium

Spotify Free pays artists less per stream than Free Spotify vs Spotify Premium . In response to this disparity, Spotify permits artists to erect a barrier for the first two weeks following a release. If an artist selects this option, their release will be available solely to Premium customers for the next two weeks. If having access to all the latest releases is vital to you, this may be a feature that convinces you to pay for Spotify Premium. Furthermore, if you appreciate the amount of money your favorite artists get paid, Premium is superior in that regard. The figure below shows the average amount Spotify pays artists each stream.