What will happen to Unlimited-users?

[ArneAdam]

Since Spotify has discontinued their 'Unlimited'-service a question arises.

Where 'Unlimited'-users payed 5 euros for unlimited and commercial-free music, they now pay 5 euros for commercial-free music only. What will happen now 'Unlimited' has lost half of its value? Do we get more service for our 5 euros or do we get the option to pay less for just the commercial-free music?

Best regards,

An 'Unlimited'-user

[Peter__]

Unlimited remains as a subscription where it was previously available with no changes (apart from in the US where advert free mobile radio with unlimited has been withdrawn).

To be honest, with unlimited being "phased out" and no longer advertised, I can't see there being any future changes.

[ArneAdam]

That would truly be a shame. For low-budget users (mostly students) unlimited was (and is) the best choice (although, now a lot less). Seems like a bad move (economically speaking). More users will turn to free-Spotify. Except if Spotify gets more money out of their adverts .

[Peter__]

I would assume for a move like this to be worthwhile, the number of unlimited customers generally must have been a pretty small percentage of all users.

Its slightly unfair on the rest of the world, but here in the UK students get premium for the same cost as unlimited!

[ArneAdam]

No such thing here in Belgium.

Money wins again (and I'm not ok with that).

[violetcities]

Is the only difference between Free and Unlimited now that Unlimited is ad-free?

[ArneAdam]

It is. So now we pay 5 euros for only advert-free (instead of the unlimited + advert-free).

[Peter__]

Yes in the majority of markets that is now the only difference. Unlimited is only ad-free on the desktop and web players, on mobile and tablet unlimited has advertising just like free. Unlimited will also give you unlimited travel time if you get to go abroad often!

[Bdg]

This is a shame. I feel betrayed to have believed in this platform.

If unlimited users don't receive an offer within a week I will stop paying for sure. 

How could this happen without any notification to unlimited users?

We have a contract, and if it loses half of its value we have to know it, in advance.

[DannyBiker]

I agree: changing plans without informing your current (paying) users is a disgrace.

I'm going Google Music.

[Peter__]

How could this happen without any notification to unlimited users?

Apart from the withdrawl of ad-free mobile radio which only applied in the US, unlimited plans remain completely unchanged so I struggle to see why Spotify would notify you about it. You still get exactly what you pay for (apart from in the US as mentioned).

[ArneAdam]

We get exactly what we pay for. Only, half of what we pay for is now available for free.

[Bdg]

This is exactly the point.

This move is borderline for 2 reasons:

Behaviour - if my contract stops being offered I want to be notified personally

Value/Money - from this month you, faithful customer, will pay for 2 beers and get one

[Peter__]

Spotify unlimited will continue to be available if it has been available to you in the past even though no longer advertised so I can't see it vanishing anytime soon. Spotify made that clear when the changes came into effect.

Technically you will pay for two beers and get two, but the guy beside you gets one for free - but point taken.

[ArneAdam]

I'm all for giving others free beer, but why do they get free beer when we get one beer for free and have to pay double for the other?

[therioman]

That half answers my issue then... I have Premium and have had for a long time, but I was looking at the cancellations option, and it offers "unlimited" as my option to downgrade rather than cancel. But I couldn't work out what I get on unlimited.

What I couldn't find is what I'd get ... and now I'm not sure if I can get something anyhow... hmm....

Since Spotify seems to be giving people who pay nothing more and more for the money, I feel like my Premium subscription is worth less and less, but I am struggling to see what I do/don't get by comparison - is there a new comparison page somewhere?

Essentially I think Spotify needs to explain why those of us paying £9.99 should still be doing so, as there are plenty of other choices now and I don't see many specific advantages for Spotify vs the competition anymore.

[Peter__]

Premium vs Free is outlined in the table below:

Spotify Premium also gives you unlimited abroad time and access to use Spotify on hardware devices including with Spotify Connect.

[OnishiZX]

I'm an Unlimited user and I pretty much don't even mind that much that the value I got for it's price has decreased.

(though of course I am not exactly happy about that either)

What bugs me is that Spotify wants me to essentially pay double for things I don't give a crap about.

I'm not going to use tablets and mobile phones to listen to Spotify, the extra quality thing is cute but not worth another € 5,- and offline playback isn't even relevant if you usually are online 24/7 for at least over 98% of the time..

I'm going to keep up unlimited for a while until it either get's discontinued or I find a good alternative..

Premium is not going to happen because 10 euro's to remove ads is nowhere near worth it.

[Peter__]

Good news @OnishiZX , from the information we got at the announcement, Unlimited should continue to be available in current countries where it has launched for the foreseeable future.

[OnishiZX]

@Peter: Good to hear it!

   I'll be sure to hang on to my Unlimited for now. 🙂