Spotify on multiple devices

[becky1892]

If i bought the spotify premium package, would i be able to use it on more than one device, for instance my i phone and my dad's iphone? Xx

[TheEternalAbyss]

As a music professional and Engineer/programmer I have to say...I'm sorry but that seems to be very boneheaded to me..

Let me start by saying, I can totally understand a limit of devices and no simultaneous play on free accounts. That makes sense. But for paid accounts?? I can give you a list of legitimate reasons a single user would play music on multiple devices simultaneously. This may be the reason I cancel my subscription..

The turn over rate of devices is pretty short nowadays. New devices are coming out all the time, no to mention things can break as well, so not letting people deregister and register easily is pretty darned stupid.

The simultaneous play is another beef of mine. Assuming it will be only used to share accounts is a very bad practice and philosophy on the part of Spotify. Running on the assumption that your users are trying to cheat you puts you in a very bad light. If that's how you view me, than I don't want to be associated with your company in any way.

The argument that "artists" wouldn't be compensated fairly if you allowed simul-casting is bs at best because numbers show (all it takes is a quick search on your search engine of choice) to learn that CD sales still outweigh online purchases, not to mention the real money for the singers is in live performances. Music sales primarily benefit the label and the RIAA.

I'm quite disappointed and not happy that I've subscribed anymore after reading through this thread.

[Peter__]

I have to say I agree/disagree with a few of your points!

The turn over rate of devices is pretty short nowadays. New devices are coming out all the time, no to mention things can break as well, so not letting people deregister and register easily is pretty darned stupid.

This is very true, we have long campaigned for an easier way to manage devices here. 

The simultaneous play is another beef of mine. Assuming it will be only used to share accounts is a very bad practice and philosophy on the part of Spotify. Running on the assumption that your users are trying to cheat you puts you in a very bad light.

I can't imagine Spotify think anyone would intentionally breach its terms of service, but not everyone is as honest as you. Preventing multiple streams is the only easy way I can think of, of stopping people who don't care to follow the Terms of Service. More to the point, why would you need multiple streams? Apart from the exception of wanting to play different tracks in different parts of your home (like you can with Sonos and Spotify) you can't be in two places at once. 

The argument that "artists" wouldn't be compensated fairly if you allowed simul-casting is bs at best because numbers show (all it takes is a quick search on your search engine of choice) to learn that CD sales still outweigh online purchases

The amount of money is irrelevant, artists deserve to be fairly paid for each track listen in lines with the licensing agreements they have with Spotify and the labels. That is like me having two jobs, and one not paying me because my other job pays far more. 

Just my thoughts, 

Peter

[TheEternalAbyss]

The artists being compensated part is moot if we want to get into it. They're not losing money trust me. Bottom line is this: I pay the subscription, ergo what spotify does with it and how they have it all hashed out between labels, and how the labels and singers have it hashed out between themselves, ultimately is of no consequence to me. I did my part and that's all I need to know on my end.

Regarding multiple streams on multiple devices.. let me clarify my position a bit. I use spotify in my professional line of work as well as personal and it would be nice to have that choice, where I can have music going in one room, and use spotify in another area without impacting anyone, or be able to play off my iPad while queuing and sampling other tracks on another device (laptop, cell phone, etc).

Spotify hasn't made any official announcement as to why users are limited to one stream (at least none that I've seen). It seems to have just been a decision made and that's it. Let's play devil's advocate ok...lets not assume one way or another that they are doing it to benefit artists/labels, themselves (saving on bandwidth), or as preventative measure against abuse of their services (which means that Spotify assumes we, the users, can't be trusted to be given that freedom, even though I'm paying for the service). Does the reason really matter ultimately? I think no. Regardless of the reason though, I find it quite sad that for whatever the reason a person who is willingly paying for their services can't have the freedom to enjoy the services to it's fullest extent. It's like buying high speed internet usage for your house, but you're only allowed to use it one one computer/device at a time. So if I have my laptop connected, all other devices can't connect. So I wouldn't be able to DVR things, use a smart tv if I wanted to, play online on my gaming console, etc as long as one device is connected at the same time. Sounds silly right?

It just seems very necessarily restrictive to me in a day and age where we're pretty much multitaskers all the time. To my knowledge, pandora (last I checked, I could be wrong) and other similar services doesn't restrict me in such a fashion.

I do grant that this isn't the worst transgression a piece of software or service has done in my eyes, but it's just frustrating.

While I'm on my soap box, the inaccuracies and mistakes in labels, artists/music associations (search for Sabrina and click on the artist, and you'll get albums in the list belonging to different artists by the same name), no consistent labeling for explicit content... AND radio keeps locking up my iPad are annoying enough to me, that's why this added "Derp" move in my opinion does nothing to make me feel the money I've been spending is well spent.

[zoelouise1988]

I have spotify on my computer, my (old) iphone and my ipad.

I have just downloaded spotify to my new iphone however none of my playlist are on it.

Is this because I have gone over three devices or is it because I havent plugged my phone into my computer???

Confuzzled!!!

Thanks

[Peter__]

Hey @zoelouise1988 🙂

Did you get this sorted? 

Normally when playlists are missing it is due to logging into a different account accidentally. 

Peter

[zoelouise1988]

Hi,

No I havent had it sorted. And I am definitely signing in with the same login details.

So I'm just in a bit of a quandry!!!!

Hmmmmmm....

Any help/advice greatly appreciated

Zoe

[Peter__]

What I can see here on the community is a little bit limited, if you get in touch with the customer services team directly using the online contact form they should be able to look into your account and see what is going on for you. 

If you get an automated email reply back directing you to the community or help pages, you need to reply directly to that email (even if its from no-reply) and one of the customer services agents will get back to you as soon as possible.

Peter

[Sritv]

I have a premium account. But I'm not able to play on 2 IPads . It says your playlist is being used elsewhere .
I thought I can use it on 3 devices. What's the issue here?

[Peter__]

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@Sritv wrote:
I have a premium account. But I'm not able to play on 2 IPads . It says your playlist is being used elsewhere .
I thought I can use it on 3 devices. What's the issue here?

---

You can only ever stream to one device at any given time, the 3 offline devices just outlines the maximum numbers of devices you can store offline content on.

Spotify is licensed for personal usage only, meaning each person should have their own account. With that in mind, only allowing one active stream per account is a sure fire way to stop people sharing accounts, which ultimately leads to artists being fairly compensated for track plays.

There is more information about this limitation here. 

[megkayd]

I am trying to log into my account on 2 different devices at the same time. However, it only lets one of them play. On the second device, it says that Spotify is already running on another device and shuts down the app. I have a Premium membership, and am supposed to be able to use Spotify on up to 3 devices, so why will it not let me use it on more than one? Please help.

[Peter__]

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@Peter wrote:

You can only ever stream to one device at any given time, the 3 offline devices just outlines the maximum numbers of devices you can store offline content on.

Spotify is licensed for personal usage only, meaning each person should have their own account. With that in mind, only allowing one active stream per account is a sure fire way to stop people sharing accounts, which ultimately leads to artists being fairly compensated for track plays.

There is more information about this limitation here. 

---

[NeV3rKilL]

Where can I see the number of gadgets attached to my account?

Thank you.

[Peter__]

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@NeV3rKilL wrote:

Where can I see the number of gadgets attached to my account?

Thank you.

---

@NeV3rKilL - Unfortunately there is no way to view that list. 

[NeV3rKilL]

Then, I suposse, just removing the application in the gadged is enough to detach the account ?

Or should we request the detach here ?

[Peter__]

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@NeV3rKilL wrote:

Then, I suposse, just removing the application in the gadged is enough to detach the account ?

Or should we request the detach here ?

---

The offline system works like described below:

- Your can sync offline content to 3 devices. 

- If you try and sync a 4th device, whichever of the original 3 was registered as an offline device first will be removed and the new device added. 

If you ever have any issues, you can request a clean slate and start again with no offline devices active by posting on this topic. 

[twabrigs]

I've just joined spotify as a Premium user, mainly to make the most of my Sonos system. I more or less understand the 3 devices thing, and that you can only stream to one device at a time. However, is it possible for one device to stream and another to play downloaded spotify content at the same time? We were trying to do this last night and the second device kept kicking the first one off spotify.

[NeV3rKilL]

No, you cannot.

The only way to do that is keeping one of the gadgets offline.

[brockleyblue]

Hi, I've got the free version of Spotify. I enjoy listening to stuff on my different playlists on my home PC and I want to be able to listen to them on my work PC too. However, the only playlists that show up on Spotify on my work PC are my iTunes ones. Am I doing something wrong? Or is streaming restricted to just one PC if you use the free version of Spotify?

[Peter__]

Your playlists should appear no matter where you login from. Are you logging in using the correct details?

[Nickywhite]

Hi
I have just got the free premium for 30 days on my android phone. I also have spotify on my ipad and my husbands iphone. For some reason it is saying that i only have the free 30 days on my phone and not the ipad or iphone. I dont want to add my details again on the ipad as i have already done it. I am logging in with the same username and password. Any ideas what to do?
Thanks