Is Spotify Premium Worth It? Spotify is undoubtedly one of the best ways to listen to podcasts and download music. It has excellent software for most platforms, with innovative features and outstanding music recommendations. You can get much of what Spotify has to offer for free, but paying for the premium service comes with a slew of benefits.
Is it worthwhile to pay for Spotify Premium? Let’s take a look at the paid features that are the most compelling reasons to pay up.
There will be no ads!
It’s doubtful that you love getting your playlist disrupted by commercials unless you wish for the days of radio broadcasts. Unfortunately, the only way for Spotify to provide you with free music streaming is to sell advertisements. After all, running a streaming network is extremely expensive! That is, by far, the most compelling justification for us to subscribe to Spotify Premium. There will be no one trying to sell you anything, just pure music.
You Have Full Influence Over Your Music
Spotify users with a free account don’t have much say in what they listen to. Shuffle play is the only mode available, and you can only skip a certain number of tracks. This means you’ll probably hear songs or bands you don’t like more often than not.
Premium subscribers listen to any song in any order they choose. You can skip tracks as much as you want. Another feature that turns Spotify into a personal music player from what was previously a streaming radio service. We don’t think most people would like being made to listen to songs they don’t like because music is such a personal experience. That’s a huge selling point in favor of paying the extra money.
The Most Recent Music
If you want to listen to new music as soon as it is posted, Spotify Premium is for you. Although this does not extend to all albums, some high-profile new releases are not available for free users for up to two weeks. This isn’t a big deal if you spend much of your time listening to your older favorite songs. Even so, it’s something to think about while making a purchase.
Offline Playback & Streaming in High Definition
Most people listen to music on their smartphones or other handheld devices these days, but they aren’t always within range of an internet connection. Perhaps you want to listen to music while driving or on holidays when you are not connected to the internet.
You’ll need to be online to keep the music playing if you’re using Spotify’s free version. You can download your favorite tracks, albums, or playlists to your smartphone and listen to them from anywhere with Premium. You can also download high-resolution copies of your tracks, so downloaded music would usually be of outstanding quality and clarity. The Premium treatment extends to streaming audio as well.
Spotify’s free users are limited to 96Kbps streams. That’s not even similar to CD quality. You can raise this to 360Kbps if you opt for a premium subscription. Even if you don’t have perfect headphones, the difference is night and day. Having access to this higher-quality audio is well worth it. And those who aren’t audiophiles can tell the difference.
Is the $9.99 Spotify Premium subscription worth it?
Most people don’t consider $9.99 to be a considerable sum of money, but just because something is inexpensive doesn’t mean you can throw it away. We believe the price is entirely fair, particularly as compared to the days when a single album could be purchased for less than $10 per month.
Even in iTunes’ modern age, where you can purchase songs in digital form outright, you’ll only get a few single songs for your money. So, from a pure value perspective, Spotify Premium is a great offer. You can not only listen to your favorite music whenever you want, but you can also find and listen to new music without having to pay for it. There are two significant drawbacks of using a subscription service that apply to both of them. To begin with, if Spotify goes out of business, you will lose access to your carefully curated music library. Second, you have no say in what music is included in the service. This means that your favorite music will be deleted from Spotify or may never be released on it. Given the price, we don’t see this as a challenge, but these options might be deal-breakers for some consumers.
For anyone else, we assume Spotify Premium is well worth the money, with every one of the main features outperforming the free edition to the point that the cost is justified.
The Game Is Changed By The Family Plan
Although the benefit of the single-user Premium plan is debatable, it’s worth mentioning that Spotify provides considerably lower per-user rates for family groups. At the time of writing, the Family Plan costs $14.99 and includes six family members. Suppose you use all six slots, which comes to around $2.50 per user. Other exciting features included in the Family Plan include shared family playlists. Even in a household with only two members, the cost savings are significant. It’s more than enough to tip the scales in the Premium’s favor. A Spotify for Kids is also available.
Alternatives to Consider
Spotify does not operate in a vacuum; it competes with YouTube Music and Apple Music, among others. Some of these platforms also have free tiers, so if you’re trying to save money but can’t live with Spotify Free’s limitations, it’s worth looking into.
YouTube Music’s free version is an outstanding alternative. Although it still depends on advertisements, it allows for unlimited song skipping and enables you to play any song you want. If the lack of power, rather than the ads, is your main problem with Spotify Free, YouTube Music Free may be the better option. The free YouTube Music Tier, on the other hand, does not allow for background playback. As a result, as a free user, you must decide which compromises you are willing to accept.
Is Spotify Premium a Good Investment? Attempt a Trial
Although we can argue the advantages and disadvantages of Spotify Free vs. Premium all day, there’s no substitute for actually using the app. Spotify is well aware of this, which is why they include a free trial to new users. Usually, these trials last at least 30 days, but deals for 60 or even 90 days have been known to appear. Signing up for the trial comes with no risk, so try out the Premium tier for a while and see if paying $9.99 a month is worth the limitations and hassle of Spotify Free.