Song downloads - how do they work?

[user-removed]

Hi,

Fairly new to Spotify, and just wondering how it works regarding downloading/listening to songs.

If I listen to a song or an album, does it download it fresh every time? Or does it cache the files somewhere to save time and download capacity next time I listen to them?

If it is re-downloading the songs every time, will making the tracks available in offline mode fix this?

Thanks!

[Jude]

The desktop application employs a streaming cache. This works in the same way as a browsing cache. It keeps the most recently listened to. You can control the size of this cache in Preferences. Any offline synced playlist content is in addition to that.

The mobile apps don't have any significant streaming cache, so to keep bandwidth use low, offline syncing playlists is definitely recommended. I usually sync playlists over wi-fi, and then go into offline mode.

[user-removed]

Thanks for your reply. I mainly use Spotify on my iPhone. So this means that, if I listen to an album a couple of times, it's downloading it each time? But if I set the songs to be available offline, it downloads them to the iPhone and plays off the hard drive? Or does that only work when you switch across to offline mode?

[Jude]

To be honest, I don't know how big the streaming cache is in the mobile apps. It probably isn't a whole album.

But if I set the songs to be available offline, it downloads them to the iPhone and plays off the hard drive?

Yes. That's it.

Or does that only work when you switch across to offline mode?

No. It shouldn't need to be actually in offline mode. There are occasional reports of some streaming going on, even when playing from an offline playlist. I just go into offline mode anyway.

[Peter__]

If your songs are downloaded so they are available offline then the mobile client should play them from your offline playlist, not using your mobile data allowance even if you are online 😉

Peter

[user-removed]

Okay, that's all pretty much what I assumed anyway! Thanks for your help.