By now it is almost impossible not to know Spotify. We’re talking about the world’s most popular music streaming service, yet there are still tons of people who for one reason or another haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet. How do you say? Are you among these too and would like a hand to understand how to use Spotify ? Well then know that you’ve come to the right place at the right time.
With today’s guide, we will get an in-depth knowledge of Spotify and discover together what are the main features offered by the service; we will also see which devices are compatible with the latter, what is the price to pay for the subscription and much more.
How to use Spotify on Android Phone without ads
Keep reading and you will surely find an answer to all the questions that are running through your head right now: “What are the differences between the various Spotify plans?” , “I wonder if you can download songs offline” , “Is the streaming quality really as good as they say?” “If I start listening to an album on my computer, can I continue listening on my mobile phone or tablet? . Take five minutes of free time and you will know everything! I bet that at the end of the reading you too will become one of over 75 million active users on Spotify.
Prices
Before finding out how to use Spotify , it seems only right to dwell on the prices of the service. Spotify subscription plans are three: one free and two paid. The paid ones have no time constraints and can be canceled at any time. The free one has clear differences between the versions for PCs and tablets and the one for smartphones. Here they are all in detail.
- Spotify Free (free) – allows you to listen to all the songs in the Spotify catalog with commercial breaks. On smartphones, it limits listening to music to shuffle mode, so you choose a song or an artist and the app creates an automatic playlist from which you can’t “escape” (a maximum of 6 skips per hour can be done). Streaming quality is limited to 160 kbps and offline music download is not possible.
- Spotify Premium (9.99 euros/month) – allows you to listen to all the songs in the Spotify catalog, from any device and without commercial breaks. It also allows you to download music offline (up to 3,333 songs per device on a maximum number of 3 devices) and to activate streaming in high quality at 320kbps. New Spotify users can try Spotify Premium free for one month with no obligation to renew.
- Spotify Family (from 15.99 euros/month) – allows family members of Spotify Premium users to open an account with a 50% discount. It supports up to 5 people.
There are also telephone offers that include Spotify Premium (often at a discounted price) and promotions for those who decide to return to Spotify after canceling their subscription for a few months.
Compatible devices
Now let’s move on to the list of devices and operating systems compatible with Spotify . To find out if your computer, smartphone or tablet are supported by the service, consult the list below.
- Computer – Windows and Mac OS X. There is also a Linux compatible Spotify client, but it is not officially supported by the company.
- Smartphones and tablets – Android, iOS, Windows Phone.
- Smartwatches – Android Wear. Compatibility with Apple Watch is not yet guaranteed, but it is possible to partially compensate for the problem with third-party apps.
- Chromecast – all models.
- Video game consoles – PS3 and PS4.
- Sound systems and Smart TVs – some sound systems and some Smart TVs include support for Spotify.
- Web browser – there is a web version of Spotify that can be used from any browser that supports Flash Player.
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How to install Spotify
Still convinced you want to try Spotify? Perfect, then connect to the official website of the service and click on the item Download located at the top right to create your account. You can choose whether to sign up for Spotify with Facebook , by pressing the appropriate button, or with your email address, by filling out the form located in the center of the page.
When the operation is complete, put the check mark next to the item I accept the Spotify Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy (leave the other boxes unchecked), click the Subscribe button and wait for the Spotify installation package to be downloaded to your computer. At the end of the download, open the file you just downloaded on your computer ( SpotifySetup.exe on Windows or Install Spotify on Mac) and wait a few seconds for the software installation to complete. Then log in to Spotify using the account credentials you created earlier (or your Facebook account) and you’re done.
On smartphones and tablets, the procedure to follow is even simpler. To install Spotify, all you have to do is open the store on your device (e.g. Google Play Store on Android or App Store on iPhone), search for Spotify and install the app by pressing the Install (or Get ) button. At the end of the installation, start Spotify, log in with your account credentials (or with your Facebook profile) and start listening to your favorite music!
The Spotify interface
At this point, you are ready to find out how to use Spotify . Let’s start by taking a quick look at the PC software interface.
- At the top left there is the search bar through which to find albums, songs, artists and playlists;
- At the top right there are the icons for viewing notifications (the bell), messages (the balloon) and managing the account (your photo).
- at the bottom there are buttons to control music playback , the volume adjustment bar and the button to view the lyrics of the songs being listened to (via MusiXmatch).
- On the left is a navigation menu for quick access to all sections of Spotify and music saved in your library (tracks, albums and playlists).
- On the right is your friends feed with a list of songs played by your contacts. If you don’t want your plays to appear in your contacts’ feed, click on your photo at the top right and select the Private session item from the menu that opens.
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On smartphones and tablets we find an interface quite similar to that of the desktop counterpart, but obviously some commands are arranged differently.
The app opens with the Navigate menu , through which it is possible to discover the most interesting news of the moment, the charts and new releases. To access the search function, the radio and the contents of your music library, press the hamburger icon located at the top left. The same goes for the settings and notifications menu, which can be accessed by pressing the bell and gear icons in the Spotify side menu.
Spotify streams are synced across devices. This means not only that you will find the same albums, songs and playlists on all your devices, but also that you can pause listening on your computer and continue on your smartphone (or vice versa). Just start the application and click on the item Listen on this device .
Spotify features
As we have just seen together, Spotify’s interface is extremely intuitive, but it still seems appropriate to me to give a quick overview of all the most important functions of the service.
The Navigate section (accessible from the left sidebar) is a bit like Spotify’s main menu. Inside you can view the rankings with the most listened to songs of the moment, a series of thematic playlists dedicated to various genres and moods , the list of new releases and a series of songs and artists recommended by Spotify based on your previous listening ( Discover tab ).
In the Activities menu you can find the most recent activities of your favorite artists (the ones you decide to “follow” by clicking on the Follow button on the pages dedicated to them) and advice on Spotify users to get in touch with, while in Radio you will find the list of thematic radios that you have created in your Spotify. What is it about? Very simple. Thematic radios are playlists automatically generated by Spotify based on a song, artist or album. To create one, all you have to do is click on the (…) button located next to the title of a song or album and select the item Create a radio from the menu that opens.
By continuing to “scroll” the Spotify side menu you can access all the content saved in your music library: songs , albums , artists , local files (i.e. offline songs imported from your PC folders) and playlists . To add a song, album or playlist to your Spotify library, click on the button (…) located next to its title and select the item Save in Your music from the menu that opens (or click on the + icon ).
Spotify Premium users can also download playlists and albums from their music library offline. To activate this function, all you have to do is select the content of your interest (from your library, not via the Spotify search bar) and move the lever relating to the Available offline option to ON . Only the playlists can be downloaded offline on PCs, while individual albums can also be downloaded on smartphones and tablets. If you want to know more, check out my tutorial on how to download songs from Spotify.
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Another important thing to note: playlists can be private, public or shared. Private playlists can be viewed and customized only by the user who created them; public playlists are accessible by everyone but can only be modified by those who created them, while shared playlists can be viewed and modified by a selected group of users. To adjust the privacy level of a playlist, right click its title in the Spotify sidebar. To create a new playlist , select a song or an album to add to it, press the (…) button located next to its title and select the itemAdd to playlist > New playlist from the menu that opens.
To adjust the Spotify settings, click on the arrow located at the top right and select the Settings item from the menu that appears. In the screen that opens, you will find all the options to change the Spotify language, activate high quality streaming (320kbps, only for Premium users), adjust the privacy level of new playlists, activate or deactivate listening sharing on Facebook , select local files to include in your library, and much more. It’s all extremely intuitive, you’ll have no trouble figuring out where to put your hands.
How to manage Spotify account
As mentioned above, new Spotify subscribers can try the Premium plan of the service for free for 1 month (with no obligation to renew). To activate your trial, click on the UPGRADE button located at the top right, choose a payment method between credit card and PayPal on the web page that opens and enter the latter’s data. Then click on the button Start the trial period and pay after 30 days and that’s it.
To prevent the automatic renewal of the subscription from being triggered (and therefore money being deducted from you), open Spotify , click on the arrow located at the top right and select the item Account from the menu that appears. On the web page that opens, select the Subscription icon from the left sidebar, click on the item Do you want to cancel your subscription? and follow the on-screen directions. If you encounter any difficulties during the procedure, try following the instructions you find in my tutorial on how to deactivate Spotify.