Spotify free vs Spotify Premium: Should you consider upgrading the service?

Spotify is one of the widely used music streaming apps around the world. It features a huge catalogue of songs along with a sizable library of popular podcasts. Interestingly, the platform also offers users a free version of the app, a feature missing on Apple Music. So, let us dig a little deeper into Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium to see if it’s really worth upgrading.

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Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium

Spotify has premium plans that start at $4.99/month and go all the way up to $14.99/month. However, the Individual plan is one of the most popular Spotify plans that is available at $9.99/month.

Shuffle

One of the major drawbacks of the free version of Spotify is that you are stuck with the shuffle-only mode, meaning you cannot select and play a particular song in the playlist.

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Skip tracks

Apart from being forced to listen in shuffle-only mode, the free version of the app does not allow you to skip any more than six tracks within an hour. Fortunately, there are no such restrictions when you have a Spotify subscription.

Listen offline

If you have a free version of the app, you cannot listen to your favourite music while you are offline. Spotify Premium, on the other hand, allows users to download music and podcasts, and play them offline anytime.

Also Read | Apple Music Vs Spotify: Which Streaming Service Is Best For You?

Music bitrate

Spotify degrades the audio bitrate on its free version of the service and compresses it down to 160 kbps on desktops. As for mobile devices, the bitrate is further compressed to just 96 kbps. With Spotify subscription, users can stream music at 320 kbps.

Unwanted Ads

One of the most annoying parts about using the free version of Spotify is that it comes loaded with advertisements that constantly ruin your playback experience. In the case of a paid version, you won't be interrupted by any ads whatsoever.

As the year comes to a close, Spotify has introduced that 2020 Spotify Wrapped, allowing users to view their listening statistics for the year. This includes the top artists and genres you have listened to, your top songs, new artists discovered, and more. You can view your stats by clicking on the ‘2020 Wrapped’ banner on your Spotify app or visiting the link here from a web browser. Make sure you are logged in to your Spotify account.

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Image credits: Unsplash | omidarmin