How to Download Music From Spotify
Bring your music with you. Spotify Premium users can listen to the streaming service’s expansive library even without an internet connection. Here’s how to download albums, playlists, and podcasts for offline listening.
Music-streaming services like Spotify put millions of songs at your fingertips-provided you have an internet connection. But if you need to preserve data or listen to a playlist on a plane or during a commute with lots of dead zones (when we’re doing that again), download those tunes to your device for offline listening.
Those with Spotify Premium can download up to 10,000 songs on a maximum of five devices. On the free, ad-supported tier, Spotify lets you download podcasts on phones and tablets.
How to Download Music From Spotify on Mobile
On mobile, you can download playlists, albums, or podcasts.
Downloading Albums and Playlists
The interface is slightly different on Android and iOS, but the process is similar.
Find the album or playlist you want to download. On Android, tap the Download toggle on the top right; on iOS, tap the downward-facing arrow on the top left.
A downward-facing arrow will appear underneath each song in the album; they’ll turn green as the download completes. How long it takes depends on your internet speed.
When you’re offline and want to listen, tap Your Library > Music and find your music under Albums or Playlists. If the album or playlist has been downloaded and is available for offline use, you’ll see the downward-facing green arrow.
If you know you’ll be offline for awhile, like on a plane, activate Offline Mode, which will show you only the content you have downloaded. On Android, tap Home and the gear icon on the top right, then toggle Offline mode to on. On iOS tap Home > [gear icon] > Playback > Offline.
How to Remove Albums and Playlists From Downloads
If you no longer need offline access or want to free up space on your device, navigate to the album or playlist you want to delete from downloads and simply toggle the Downloaded button to off (Android) or tap the green, downward-facing arrow on the top left and tap Remove in the pop-up window (iOS).
How to Download Podcasts on Mobile
Spotify is one of our favorite podcast apps, and it’s a convenient way to keep your music and podcasts all in one place. For offline use, you can either download one-off episodes you’d like to check out, or follow a specific podcast and download episodes as they appear in your library. The process is the same on iOS and Android.
First, search or browse to find a podcast you want to listen to. On the podcast’s page, you can tap the downward-facing arrow to download specific episodes right away. Or tap Follow, which will add new episodes to your library as they’re released. You can then download episodes at your leisure via Your Library > Podcasts > Episodes. Downloaded episodes can be found via Your Library > Podcasts > Downloads.
How to Preserve Data While Downloading on Mobile
If you’re loading up your phone with a bunch of albums and playlists, you might want to restrict those downloads to when you’re on Wi-Fi, so the process doesn’t eat into your monthly data allotments. On iOS, navigate to Home > [gear icon] > Music Quality > Download Using Cellular. On Android, it’s Home > [gear icon] > Download Using Cellular.
How to Download Music From Spotify on Desktop
On the desktop, Spotify only allows you to download playlists, no albums or podcasts.
Find the playlist you’d like to download, and tap the Download toggle on the top right. When complete, it will say Downloaded. Downloaded playlists will have an downward-facing green arrow on the left menu. Click the toggle again to remove the download.
Pro Tip: Go Online Every 30 Days
To prevent people from downloading a bunch of content to their devices and then cancelling their Premium subscriptions, Spotify requires people to connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. A cellular connection is fine. If not, you’ll lose access to downloaded music and podcasts after a month.
Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.
