Lift 3 device limiation please

[WilliamOffline]

I have the premium subscription and happen to have a few android devices.

- A phone.

- A second phone with sim from country I work in part of my time.

- A 12" Tablet for work where I like to listen to mucis while working.

- An 8" Tablet for holiday and carrying with me when I am biking.

- A recently purchased Sony MP3 player for in the airplaine and on the beach.

I don't need it on my second phone and I won't use all of them all the time, but I would like the option to play music from the device of choice (or the one I have at hand accidently). If not rationally, perhaps just for the idea that I can make my own choices.

I don't need it on my second phone, but I was planning to prepare the 8" for the holidays.

And that is when I found out the Spotify police decided I cannot have more than 3 devices. 

I developed an allergy for companies who constrain users because they cannot come up with better solution to protect their commercial interests. Because spotify does not or cannot check if the account is from the same owner as the device, someone rolled the dice and came up with 3 as the maximum number of Android devices spotify thinks you may own.

So what is the resolution here?

Do I need to switch to Google All Access or will Spotify fix this tomorow?

[Peter__]

The three device limit is imposed as part of the licensing deals Spotify have with the labels. I can't see it being removed in the near future I'm afraid.

[kake2k]

It actually doesn't make a lot of sense. It would be nice to see the actual wording of that agreement... Maybe spotify should implement this agreement in a different way, like instead of just "3 devices" its how many you listen to simultaneously. That way all the big shots with their clothes made out of US $$ and more $$ lining their pockets won't have to worry because even though you have access on more devices, you still can't listen from more than 1, 2, 3, ?? at the same time.  Does the agreement really say something like "A user can never connect more than 3 devices to their account" ?? Because if so, spotify is downright STUPID for accepting that deal. I think it's time for Spotify to send their lawyers and sales team back into the conference room with gold records hanging up on the wall to get a deal that screws over their loyal customers a little bit less.

[Peter__]

You can connect as many devices as you like to your account to stream. The restriction only applies to devices which store offline playlists (where you are allowed 3 offline devices with up to 3,333 tracks on each device ~ 10,000 offline licenses per account).

[kake2k]

Well, that is certainly better than it sounded before... keep in mind this issue isn't actually effecting me directly, but I still think it's annoying anyone should have to deal with those issues. But still does it make any sense spotify randomly decided 3,333 per device? If the license limit is actually 10,000 why can't I have 10,000 on one device? Or 5,000 on two devices? Or 1 on 10,000 devices? It definitely seems arbitrary to set that limit especially since I would guess most people only have 1 device and most people also have less than 3,333 songs. Therefore the person who has more than 3 devices probably does not also have more than 3333 songs (and could use more devices while remaining under the 10k limit), and the person who has more than 3,333 songs probably does not also have 3+ devices (and therfore could benefit from more songs on their single device)....  it all really just sounds like politics to me, and I know maybe I'm just being difficult or unreasonable... but I think Spotify should be doing everything in their power to retain users and make users happy. Especially since the service provided my Spotify is, like it or not, competing with other non-legal ways of obtaining music. Spotify and content owners should be so happy that anyone is willing to use their service for money for something that they could otherwise use for free with relatively little risk. I gladly pay for music because I want to support the people who create music. I think a lot of people do the same. And even MORE people would do this without pointless restrictions which actually don't make more money for the companies, but lose money to the companies because other ways of getting music become more appealing. If we want to end piracy and have easy access to music where everyone can benefit where they deserve, it really needs to appeal to all parties equally, that's all I'm trying to say.

[WilliamOffline]

I really don't mind that I can only use spotify at one device at a time because I can't listen to 2 or more devices anyway.

But it is plain silly that I can't prepare a tablet for a holiday because that is android device number 4 that I use. 

It disconnects from Spotify.

From a license perspective I don't see the issue as you pay for a service, not for a copy of the song which is more related to purchasing songs.

I think when spotify could tie the spotify account to the device account have more than 3 devices would not be an issue for spotify or anyone else.