Transfer offline files from one device to another on a removable media to save bandwidth

[ekseli]

As it is one can not copy the Spotify Storage offline files from one computer or device to another even if both devices use the same account. Every device has to download the same offline files separately.

Allowing the user to transfer or copy the offline cache to another device using the same account would save bandwidth from both the user and Spotify servers. This would be immensely helpful and useful in situations where a user's device is at the end of a very slow internet connection. After downloading the cache once you could copy the same files to your other two Spotify Premium devices with a USB stick, for instance, without having to download several gigabytes of data unnecessarily multiple times.

This would not remove the necessity to validate the Spotify account and the offline files online. But even a slow internet connection can connect to Spotify servers and validate the offline files, even if it would be unfeasible to download several gigabytes over that same connection.

This would also help greatly with mobile devices that often have limited data plans but can still connect to Spotify servers to validate the cache transferred from another device.

[Capt_Nemo]

This is very similar to an idea I posted over a year ago:

http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-Ideas/Device-Sync-via-shared-Cache/idi-p/12119

As a number of mobile devices don't offer the functionality to connect USB drives to them my suggestion actually works around this in all cases.

[Marco]

Hey Capt_Nemo!

Yes, I did see this idea too when I searched for duplicates before assigning the "new idea" status.

However I think it's different enough, since the old idea suggests to move the cache via LAN and this idea here suggests to copy the cache on an USB stick or similiar.

I agree that the idea you linked to is more likely to happen. Added my kudos there - would be quite convenient indeed! 😉

[Capt_Nemo]

Premify,

I agree there is a big enough difference between the two to warrant a separate idea ticket. Either idea being implemented would be great although having said that I suspect the use case for networked cache sync would benefit a wider audience.

[ekseli]

Being able to sync the cache over LAN would also be an improvement, as Capt_Nemo suggested. However it would still be limited to a situation where you can have both devices physically in the same LAN. In most cases with mobile devices this would suffice, but you might for instance have two desktop computers accessing the same Spotify account from two different physical locations. One of them might have a slow internet connection or one that has data transfer limits, making it impossible to download large offline caches from Spotify servers. And even if you had a fast internet connection for all your desktops downloading the same cache multiple timeswould still put unnecessary strain on Spotify server.

Maybe there could be a feature that would give you both options (and more), like "sync offline files over LAN, USB-cable or removable disk".

[Capt_Nemo]

ekseli,

I understand your point, don't get me wrong, I think it's another excellent idea. I'm just thinking out loud here but I feel that there may be a way to increase your chances of getting this feature implemented. Your idea could actually be a work around for a problem I hit not infrequently and is a particular bug bear of mine. You might want to consider the following scenario which is not unlike what you're trying to achieve:

Story time...

I have two hard drives, C: is an SSD and thus very fast disk but very expensive space per GB. My second drive 😧 is actually two old SATA disks in a RAID1 configuration where I keep all my data. As 😧 stores all my private data I have protected it using BitLocker, it is also the location where I specify my Spotify cache to exist as it's a much larger drive and cheaper per GB. Spotify is installed to C: as most of my applications and Windows itself are.

Now, if I reboot my machine I need to unlock my BitLocked 😧 drive in order for the data on that drive to be accessible to the OS. If I forget to do this before starting up Spotify then Spotify simply *gives up* trying to access that cache and reverts to its default C: location. Every time an update resets the Spotify config "Spotify starts automatically" setting I get hit by this problem which is incredibly infuriating.

Assume the above has happened and Spotify failed to access my cache when it started up. When I unlock the 😧 drive and point Spotify back at the original cache location Spotify fails to see any of the cached files and I have to download everything all over again. There is an index file in that location but Spotify doesn't seem to use it for anything to do with cache content persistence so all knowledge of how ever many GB of tracks I've synced has all gone even though all of the data is still there and unchanged. This problem is the same for any mobile device where for some reason Spotify is started up but is unable to access the SD card.

Personally, I actually class this as a bug as I can't understand how anyone would want to specifically define this behaviour.

So, how does all this relate to your idea? Well, if Spotify understood how to re-read a cached location, understood cache persistence and was able to reimport the data so that you are able to play your previously cached tracks then this would actualy resolve your request.

There is no logical difference between copying a cache folder from one device to another, logging into Spotify with the same account and then pointing Spotify at that cache than starting the same copy of Spotify used to create the cache but correcting where it's looking for its cache after it was initially unavailable.

[ekseli]

That's a brilliant way to describe the issue and the solution at the same time, Capt_Nemo.

[SergeantSpiff]

Capt_Nemo I agree... This would solve alot of problems. 

I am trying to play offine files from 2 seperate user accounts on the same computer logged in to the same premium account on Spotify. Life would be so much simpler if I did not have to download the same data twice to the same computer. I really hope this gets fixed.

[Marco]

Update: this idea has been reposted here.

Hello!

Your idea has been submitted a while ago but unfortunately hasn't gathered enough kudos (25 per year). In order to keep an overview of the active ideas in this forum, we will close this idea for now. However this does not mean that your idea has been declined by Spotify.

If you still feel strongly about your request, we encourage you to post your idea in a little different form again! Maybe now is the right time to receive the support of our community for your suggestion! 😉

Do you have any further questions on how the idea exchange is managed? Just click here!