Premium and downloading as mp3

[robindegen]

Sorry if this has been asked before but i found the Q&A page (http://www.spotify.com/uk/about/downloads/) a bit ambiguous.

I quote:

For Premium, there’s Offline
Of course, if you’re a Spotify Premium subscriber, you won’t need to buy any tracks. You can just sync all your playlists and listen Offline.

It says there is offline mode, after it speaks about buying credit for downloading mp3's. But it doesn't specificly state you can download them as premium. It merely mentions offline mode, which isn't the same as far as i know.

So I have a few questions about a premium account:

- Can i download songs i like as mp3 and play them anywhere? (Without the actual spotify software, for example in my car)

- Is there DRM or anything like that? Will they work on my car radio (usb stick)?

- What's the limit on this downloading?

Thank you

Robin

[kennyroganspot]

Hi there,

I would like to buy tracks and burn a cd for a friend. I did this with spotify before I became a premium user and would like to do it now I am.

Can you tell me physically how to do it? There used to be a buy button on each track. But I cant find it on premium...

Thanks

Kenny

[Peter__]

Hi Kenny, 

Unfortunately the downloads store has been removed from Spotify in all countries. 

All I can suggest is you find another source for your downloads. 

Peter

[Aziroshin]

About the idea of locking to a device in general, and every device supporting it in particular:

DRM only works if circumventing it is reasonably prevented. Now, one could argue that spotify DRM is already moot by allowing playback on computers, of course. The only thing left is the restriction of only being able to play back the restricted music on one thing, such as one account or one device for that matter.

Opening it up to any device would pose a problem to the integrity of the restriction: A device could be brought in play that allows you to fake being another device. Or even better, the methods implemented in hardware are made available by forms of software emulation. Because, mind you: The any device paradigm means any device, including hardware designed and produced by open hardware projects. If it wouldn't include those, we would be right back at square one: Only certain devices would work. Almost nothing would have changed.
Only the line between corporate domination and freedom and democracy would have become a tiny bit sharper and more defined again.

The only proper solution to the problem is the cessation of DRM usage.

DRM works through obfuscation alone, which is why DRM enabled systems are as hostile to anything open, open source, open hardware, as they are today. It is the core reason why Netflix can't be made to work natively on any open source platform. It seems like a miracle record companies are not outright boycotting Spotify for their GNU/Linux support, and I complimenting Spotify a great deal for their legendary accomplishment.

Every tiny bit helps in staving off a future where everyone is but a drone in a completely corporate controlled environment.

[robindegen2]

We all know that there have been and always will be ways to just download the music to mp3 or ogg from spotify. Which means the DRM that is being used serves more as a nuisance to the customer's who are willing to pay (for example, me), rather then stopping the true pirates.

The latest addition to spotify where it allows free users to play a playlist on mobile is a start in the right direction, but not quite there yet for me. 

[Peter__]

There is no doubt in the statistics though, that piracy in the Music Industry as a whole is falling due to streaming services - which can only be a good thing.

[robindegen2]

That is very true. But i'm still running into trouble when trying to follow the legal route. For example amazon mp3 (which seems to be the only one selling the music i wanted as mp3), casually tells me that their feature is only available in the US. Why?! Do the record companies just want me to pirate it or what? Luckily i can still listen to it through spotify, so thumbs up there.

[Peter__]

I can't give you a link (rules etc), but my number one source for downloads is 7digital - they tend to have the obscure things I want to purchase haha!

[robindegen2]

Thank you i'll have a look! I was really bummed out to find out that spotify no longer sold mp3's.

[Peter__]

Me too, so I asked for it back! Be sure to add your vote to:

http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-Ideas/Bring-Back-the-Downloads-Store-and-Credits/idi-p/27351... 😉

[robindegen2]

Nice! Voted ofcourse.

[Kelly_Fivebears]

Couldnt you just get the app on your phone and play this in your car via bluetooth/usb connect?

[robindegen2]

That is assuming my car radio has that feature...

[Kelly_Fivebears]

Well, if it has a USB port i would assume it would let you plug in an iphone/android*... if you're still burning MP3 cd's im not surprised you want free music for ten bucks a month...

Also assuming you havd either an iPhone or Android phone. 

[robindegen2]

You really overestimate the average car radio with usb. It generally means usb storage.. nothing more. Its not even able to read PTP and alike which means it can't read from the average phone.

[Kelly_Fivebears]

yeah actually my own one doesnt do it which is pretty **bleep**, but my missus one does, its pioneer... also has bluetooth audio which is good but sucks your battery ay. i just synched up all music onto the spotify client on my phone last night though, was awesome to have whole new playlists available without rinsing out my 3g data cap. stocking up on music for bali now on the work wifi!

[ajayram198]

I would like a little clarification on what you have said. I live in Finland. how do I find whether downloading is available or not over there?

My ideal scenario would be to download good quality (high bitrate songs) through Spotify Premium to my Hard Disk , and then open Winamp, Windows Media Player, etc. and play the songs through them.

I also have a Transcend USB Player to which i can just copy paste songs like files. Is it possible to do all of this using a Spotify Premium account? I dont want to install any new software (in this case, Spotify mobile) on my phone,!

You have mentioned in your post that Spotify Premium gives cached playlists. So I guess cached playlists could be still accessible they would be stored somewhere on your HD??

[robindegen2]

That was my intention too but it's not possible. With premium you can still ONLY listen to the songs through Spotify. You can't use any other device if it does not have spotify on it. The only thing they mean with offline downloading is that it doesn't cost you 3G/4G data if you're listening on your phone. You still need spotify and it still does online checks if you actually purchased premium.

[Peter__]

@robindegen2 is correct, no matter where you are in the world with Spotify you can only listen to Spotify content through the Spotify applications (which track usage and report track plays to Spotify). This closed system not only prevents piracy, but it makes sure artists are fairly compensated for all of their track plays.

If you want to download tracks as mp3 or another format for usage outside of Spotify, such as on and iPod or USB device as you mentioned, you will need to find an alternative source.

[nickyducky]

it depends.. how do you usually play MP3 on your car radio? if you have an AUX jack in your sound system, you can simply connect your phone to that with a regular male-male 1.5 headphone jack.

Thats how I do it anyway. I play all my offline playlists in the car.

worth looking into at least...