Revert back to Spotify 0.8.5 on Mac

[user-removed]

UPDATE 3/14/15: This solution works for reverting to ANY previous version of Spotify. Just replace the application with the desired version, 0.8.5 or otherwise. I have successfully used this trick to revert to 0.9.15.27 and 0.8.5.133. Also, APPS continue to work in these previous version. Attached is a screenshot of 0.8.5.133 artist pages, clean, simple, cohesive, text a bit small, and SEARCH function still in tact. 0.8.5.133 also runs MUCH faster on my Windows and Mac machines. 

The "Horrible update [0.8.8]" thread has begun to bury the work arounds for those of us NOT happy with the 0.8.8 update. Here is a guide to reverting to 0.8.5 for Mac. Spotify support has NOT provided a way for us to do this, despite my many attempts.  Hopefully it will help some people who visit the forum.

If you already have upgraded to 0.8.8: (if you haven't upgraded already, start with step #3)

1. Find and download a copy of 0.8.5 here
2. Mount the image and replace the application in your Applications folder with the downloaded one
3. Now to make sure Spotify doesn't auto-update:
4. Go to your ~/Library folder - you can do this in Finder by doing shift+cmd+g and typing "~/Library" without the quotes and hitting enter
5. Go to Application Support/Spotify
6. Delete Spotify_new.archive and Spotify_new.archive.sig (if they are there)
7. Now open your favorite text editor, I used TextWrangler
8. Make two blank documents and save them as "Spotify_new.archive" and "Spotify_new.archive.sig" - without the quotes, the same file names as the ones you deleted
9. Right click each file and go to "Get Info"
10. Check the "Locked" button on each and close the info window
11. You should now see a small lock icon on each file
12. Restart Spotify and enjoy 0.8.5 without auto updates to 0.8.8

Let me know if you have any problems! This has worked for me on OS X 10.8.2. Thanks to th80 for the help on this!

Removed link, not allowed to post links to download packages outside spotify site. hpguru

(Possible security risk removed by Rock Star)

[thumper]

Ah, thank you for letting me know. I'll give it a shot!

[thumper]

Uhhhhh, well that was kind of odd. It only loaded for a second, but when it did, most of the words were just symbols. Then shut down. Meh.

[thumper]

Tried it again, and this time there were actual words, but unfortunately it still shut down after a second

*crosses fingers*

Spotify, I used to LOVE you! What happened? 😞

[thumper]

Got Spotify 0.6.3 from a link on a previous thread, and YAY! I can listen to music again!

*sighs* (of relief? of frustration? I dunno)

@AbsolutelyNoFB, LOL. Sorry, I thought you meant the newest version of Spotify. Oops. But yes, this one works, so I am satisfied 🙂

[AbsolutelyNoFB]

@thumper

No worries. I was going to say something, but you figured it out before I could post. Cheers 🙂

[williamsk]

Was using 0.8.5 on MacOS 10.8.2 just fine for the last few month or so until yesterday when it started crashing every 10 minutes.

I tried downgrading to 0.8.3 as suggested in various threads here, but it just crashes immediately on startup.

Currently using Google Play All Access 30-day free trial, and strongly considering paying them my $10/mo instead of Spotify.  Their service isn't nearly as good as Spotify on the whole, but at least it WORKS.

Any suggestions besides cancelling my Spotify sub?

[Chanes]

Seriously, thanks so much. i have no idea what possessed them to screw up so badly but you have redeemed them and i bet they won't even pay you for doing that.

[audmhugh]

You need to use textwrangler or something similar to get the extension to save as .archive and .archive.sig correctly.

[Alk3me]

Thank you for taking the time to write this....very helpful.

[TimR]

Tried this fix...wasnt able to find app support but no matter. it updated , as it would, and all seems to be sorted ! Genius...!

[Buaan]

OSX 10.9.1 - Not connecting to service - Spotify 0.9.6.81

For anyone who is interested;  I was getting a 117? error - Cannot connect to service yesterday.  Tried all the support threads to remove any firewall restrictions.  I could access the service using the web interface so I assumed I wasn't being blocked at work.

The only way I could get it to work was using this guide and downgrading the Spotify software to the previous version ( 0.9.6.72)   It connected straight away on that version and the guide at the start of this thread stopped it updating.

Not sure what the issue was/is but this solved it.

Removed link to spotify installer outside spotify site. hpguru

[Peter__]

Are you connecting via a proxy or company network @Buaan ?

[sinatra]

Thank you. This was a blessing 😄

[Perosales]

Thank you so much... This solved my problem!!

Now I can go back to starring the HITS of all albums that I have added playlists from.

When I have finished with that... in a few months, I might reconsider upgrading to the collections system... because the favorite playlist will remain.

[wolf44blues]

Excellent. Thank you. It works.
The Spotify_new.archive and Spotify_new.archive.sig files were not present but I created them using TextWrangler as suggested and placed in support/spotify.

Spotify should at least give us an option to retain a perfectly functional interface that is much more pleasing to the eye. Also I enjoy the ability to 'star' tracks which seems to have gone missing the latest upgrade.
I also can omit tracks I don't wish to play in 8.5 which doesn't seem possible in the upgrade. Maybe it is me or are the some serious steps backwards?

Definitely a case of if it works why fix it? Just for the sake of a change is not a good enough reason. Then Apple have done this with some of the programmes e.g. iPages for Mavericks which is a step backwards. Heigh ho!

Are you reading this Spotify?

[BlabberBlabber]

I use Spotify for researching specific tunes. In the newest version (currently 9.8.x) it won't let me sort by artist, or title or anything.  Makes no sense to remove that. When you're trying to find a version of "Take the A Train" there are only about a billion of them, sorting is critical.  I can't imagine what commercial rationale produced this: Maybe "clients" are at the top?

In any case, I only wanted to revert back to 9.1-ish, and know nothing about the versions back there in the v8 series.

The textwranger produced Spotify_new files work, I'm surprised to say!  I initially uset TextEdit, and it didn't work until I read further in this thread.

Many thanks!

 -- Gerry

[timberford]

Anyone else still using version 0.8.5 ?

I just downgraded following the instructions at the start of this topic and I seriously cannot belive how much faster this version of the desktop client is compared to the current web-based Chromium one. It is like lightning!

Seriously 0.8.5 is years and years old and yet has more features and is faster than the current desktop app.

The Spotify developers should be embarrassed that after years of work on their desktop client, they've actually gone significantly backwards.

[DEMENTIA88]

I don't find spotify in mi application support folder then i can't delete the archives that you mentioned. Could you help me?

[s628824]

Just "upgraded" to 0.8.5 incredible this thread isn't sticky at the top.  So posting to keep it fresh.

[user-removed]

Make sure you're in the USER Library folder, not the system Library folder. To get there, do CMD + SHIFT + G > type ~/Library and hit enter/return.

The Spotify folder should be there. If it's not, making a new folder called Spotify and putting the dummy archive files in there will probably do the trick still.