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Where are my downloaded Spotify songs on my PC??

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Where are my downloaded Spotify songs on my PC??

Firstly it's taken half an hour to get here just figuring out how to post this question! Do Spotify design that on purpose?

I downloaded a bunch of songs from Spotify when I had premium but now I can't find any of them on my PC. I'm not sure what folder to look for. They're not in my PC music files so where the heck are they?

Hope someone can help!

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I think the answer most, if not all, people are looking for here is this.

 

Spotify is not a source to download music. It is not like making a one time purchase of a CD and owning it forever. You cannot access the files for personal use. It is not a file-sharing system.

 

You either pay a monthly subscription to access all the music in the world, or with a free account, the advertisements pay that access fee for you. It is *almost* like renting a video from blockbuster... or even easier to compare these days: Netflix (though their available media rotates, Spotify’s, generally speaking, does not). You have access while you are paying, but the movie you rent does not belong to you, it is part of a library. 

 

What are you paying for? The operating costs, and the artist or label. Yes, every time you listen to a song, whoever owns the song gets paid. I know this, because I am an artist and my label pays me. I also have access to all my stats via Spotify for Artists. 

Now, if you want to burn a CD you will need to find these artists on Bandcamp (which pays the artist directly) or if they are more popular artists not found on Bandcamp, you will need to download to your computer via iTunes, GooglePlay, or whatever else available to download songs. You may purchase each song individually or an entire album. These save to your computer as playable files (usually .MP3, sometimes .WAV). 

It is my understanding that music saved through iTunes into the iPhone music app sometimes disappears if the album is removed (by the artist or label or apple) from the iTunes Store (this is what my friend told me about his experience) so if you want to keep your music, have it on your computer, in a separate file you can play on QuickTime or VLC or similar (Does windows still have their awesome player?) or burn your favourite mixes to your CDs, or save them to a USB. 

 

I hope this clears up the confusion. I was certainly confused when I first started using Spotify, as well, but now I pay for the Duo subscription so my husband and I have access to whatever songs pop into our heads on a whim and we spend most of our days with Spotify on, playing podcasts. 

Happy Listening! 

PS. My husband just released his album today and you can find his music on every platform. Total Chroma - Body Relics. 🙏

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16 Replies

Hey, @WibbleWobble -

 

On Spotify, go to Settings > Show Advanced Settings > Offline Songs Storage and  you should be able to check the location where your songs get downloaded.

 

The default storage location should be set to 

C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Spotify\Storage,

but you can change it to another location if you'd like to.

 

If you cancel your premium subscription, your account will be reverted to a Free ad-based service- so the songs you've downloaded from Spotify will be removed and you won't be able to listen to them offline.

 

If you have any questions, please let me know 🙂

      I have been searching for the location of my downloaded Spotify songs on my PC..

   After considerable effort ,  and help from Spotify; I have located them!

     But I cannot open any of them – or even identify the songs that the files hold .

    They are all listed as “FILE files”. How do I open or play these files??

Hey, @Errtty -

 

You can play your downloaded files on Spotify;

 

Spotify uses an encrypted file extention(Ogg Vorbis) as their streaming format- not an MP3 file. It's a way to prevent illegal access and piracy of songs. So you would be able to download and play the songs offline, but only on Spotify; You cannot play them on other platforms.

 

If you need anything else, please reply 🙂

   Thank you very much!

    So, to be clear, I can play songs I have downloaded with Spotify, but I can only play them with a Spotify "player" (???) 

--------

   I wanted to burn a CD of Spotify songs to play in my car ( which does NOT have bluetooth )

   With great effort, I was finally able to locate where the Spotify songs are stored on my PC.

THREE QUESTIONS: 

   1) VERY IMPORTANT: Is there any way to IDENTIFY which songs are actually stored in a given SPOTIFY file??? There is no clue in the file name itself.

   2) Does "only play with Spotify" mean I can NOT burn a CD of these  files? MP3, or otherwise ? How about onto an SD card?

   3) What even IS a Spotify player?

******

   Sorry ! don't mean to sound so frustrated. I really like Spotify. It's just that it makes me feel like I have blinders on!

   I appreciate your help very, very much!

Simple answer: You CANNOT burn the spotify files onto CDs/SD cards like an MP3. No streaming service out there offers this type of feature (Probably because it promotes piracy)

 

The offline downloaded files can only be played by a Spotify player on your Windows PC.

 

Spotify player = Spotify .EXE application on your computer, Spotify App on Android/iOS.

Okay, I just changed the folder to my Music folder.  Before I did that, it said downloads were in progress, but when I went into the old folder area (C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Spotify\Storage) and saw no such folder.  Folder that I created for the new location was empty.  Where did my old downloads go??  Thanks!

Hey @Threemoons,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

You can only find your downloads in the Spotify app.

Anything you download can be found in Your Library. The green arrow  indicates a successful download. 

 

Tip: Switch to Offline Mode to play your downloads. Select your device to find out how. Anything you haven’t downloaded is grayed out and unavailable.

 

Cheers!

JeremyModerator
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Live, love, laugh and listen to music 🙂

I can't find the setting to choose where Spotify songs will be downloaded to after the recent Spotify update, that completely revamped the Desktop app UI and appearance, was released.

Spotify 1.png
Spotify 2.png

But where is that data actually stored on my device?

Hi @Threemoons,

 

Thanks for getting back in touch.

 

You can check where the data is stored on your computer heading over to Settings > Show advanced settings > Offline songs storage. 

 

Keep in mind that you'll be able to listen to your downloaded content only by following the steps @Jeremy sent previously. 

 

If you have changed the location of your Offline song storage, we suggest that you download your music again to make sure that everything is in the right place.

 

If you have any questions, just let us know 🙂

EniModerator
Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution".
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Like.
 
“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”– Maria von Trapp


@Eni wrote:

Hi @Threemoons,

 

Thanks for getting back in touch.

 

You can check where the data is stored on your computer heading over to Settings > Show advanced settings > Offline songs storage. 

 

Not when the options are no longer showing up!

 

If you scroll back to OP's screenshots you will see there is no "Offline Storage" section in them.  I am replying because I have the same situation.  After the last update the offline options no longer show in the advanced section.

My screenshot got lost...

no offline storage.png
Marked as solution

I think the answer most, if not all, people are looking for here is this.

 

Spotify is not a source to download music. It is not like making a one time purchase of a CD and owning it forever. You cannot access the files for personal use. It is not a file-sharing system.

 

You either pay a monthly subscription to access all the music in the world, or with a free account, the advertisements pay that access fee for you. It is *almost* like renting a video from blockbuster... or even easier to compare these days: Netflix (though their available media rotates, Spotify’s, generally speaking, does not). You have access while you are paying, but the movie you rent does not belong to you, it is part of a library. 

 

What are you paying for? The operating costs, and the artist or label. Yes, every time you listen to a song, whoever owns the song gets paid. I know this, because I am an artist and my label pays me. I also have access to all my stats via Spotify for Artists. 

Now, if you want to burn a CD you will need to find these artists on Bandcamp (which pays the artist directly) or if they are more popular artists not found on Bandcamp, you will need to download to your computer via iTunes, GooglePlay, or whatever else available to download songs. You may purchase each song individually or an entire album. These save to your computer as playable files (usually .MP3, sometimes .WAV). 

It is my understanding that music saved through iTunes into the iPhone music app sometimes disappears if the album is removed (by the artist or label or apple) from the iTunes Store (this is what my friend told me about his experience) so if you want to keep your music, have it on your computer, in a separate file you can play on QuickTime or VLC or similar (Does windows still have their awesome player?) or burn your favourite mixes to your CDs, or save them to a USB. 

 

I hope this clears up the confusion. I was certainly confused when I first started using Spotify, as well, but now I pay for the Duo subscription so my husband and I have access to whatever songs pop into our heads on a whim and we spend most of our days with Spotify on, playing podcasts. 

Happy Listening! 

PS. My husband just released his album today and you can find his music on every platform. Total Chroma - Body Relics. 🙏

I am able to change it to that location but when I go to look for it in file explorer the file doesn't exist. Please get back to me ASAP

There was a time prior to 2012 when like iTunes it was possible to purchase tracks or an album for download to your device. There is an old saying, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" Spotify apparently has changed the playing field since then. Selling tracks or albums for download is a onetime profit. Like Micro$oft they decided instead of selling content they would keep the content and make you RENT IT by paying for a Prime Account. If you cancel the payment account and go back to Free, Pffft! All the music you downloaded is gone, gone, gone because you never really downloaded it. You only downloaded offline access. In order to access the music offline, there does need to be a physical residence on your device. But apparently, Spotify has hidden it well and additionally required that the only way you can access it is with the Spotify app with a Prime account.  You'd have to be a hacker with advanced storage experience to find where the files are "downloaded" and make them playable outside the Spotify app.

That really sucks 'cos I pay the Premium for ad-free and downloadable audio files.

What a rip-off!

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