Spotify has the perfect music discovery algorithms and the slickest, snappiest consumer interface. It leads me down rabbit holes to seek out new artists and outdated favorites, primarily based on what I’ve already appreciated and listened to on the app.
The free tier, with ads, defaults to a low-quality 96-Kbps streaming bit fee, however you possibly can bump that as much as 160 Kbps. For $12 a month (a $1 enhance from the final time we up to date this story in January 2024), the Premium tier ditches advertisements completely and streams as much as 320 Kbps, which is the usual streaming high quality today. These are bit charges for the app; the net participant sticks you with 128 Kbps and 256 Kbps, respectively.
Spotify’s lossless library, introduced in February of 2021, lastly began rolling out in September of 2025, and it helps music as much as 24-bit at 44.1KHz—though as I write this, most lossless songs are 16-bit at 44.1KHz. Not each consumer has entry but, however the cell and desktop app will notify you with a splash display screen if you’re invited, or you possibly can verify your audio high quality settings to see if in case you have the choice to decide in. On the desktop app, you possibly can click on the “Lossless” tag below a observe whereas it is enjoying to see the small print.
Spotify permits you to add an infinite variety of songs to your private library. As a long-requested characteristic, the ten,000-song restrict is gone, and now you can add limitless songs to every playlist. In the event you activate social sharing, you possibly can see what your mates have been listening to and create periods whereby a bunch concurrently streams a playlist. There’s an choice on every Artist web page to hearken to solely the songs of theirs you’ve appreciated, which is a really welcome change from earlier years.
The way in which Spotify teams albums, compilations, and singles in a single location—with an choice to separate them—is far smoother and extra handy than the outdated setup, which compelled you to view all of them individually, the entire time. Playlists and albums get their very own shuffle buttons, which is a pleasant contact that allows you to know if you’re on shuffle and if you’re listening to every part so as.
