After years of waiting, Spotify finally added hi-res lossless audio for Premium subscribers. It's another in a long list of recent of updates for subscribers.
But Spotify isn't leaving those of us who only use the free version behind. This week, the music streamer announced several upgrades for its free tier. The new features are centered around giving you a bit more control and ways to share in a version of Spotify that often feels like you're listening at the whims of the algorithm.
Control and personalization
Three new Spotify tools let you immediately play individual songs that you want to hear:
- Pick & Play lets you find songs in the app and play it;
- Search & Play lets you ype in a song in search to listen immediately; and
- Share & Play is a song-sharing feature between friends where you can listen instantly.
Premium users have had the ability to design their own playlist covers for a while now via AI image generation in the Spotify app. Simply, the feature lets you create images with "unique" colors, text effects, and graphic elements. And now that tool's available on the free tier, too.
You can find this tool by going to a created playlist and tapping the three-dot action menu. Then choose the "Create cover art" option. Spotify says that you can only have one cover art per playlists at a time, meaning that if you make a new one for a playlist it will override your previous image.
More discovery tools
You can already create playlists based off single tracks and as you feed the algorithm Spotify will create a new playlist called "daylist" for the free tier.
This list will feature recommended songs based on your listening habits on specific days or times of day. So this list will change daily based on your habits.
From there you can make new playlists or add any recommended songs to other lists you have.
Additionally, Spotify is adding the ability to go straight from social media to Spotify when artists release new songs.
Lastly, free users are getting the ability to see lyrics while you listen. You can swipe up from the Now Playing View on the mobile app to see the lyrics, which will scroll through in real time as the song plays. You can also share the the lyrics with friends or to social media if you want.
According to Spotify, the new features are rolling out globally and should be available now or soon for most users.
Spotify alternatives
Upgrading the free version is great and the addition of lossless audio is an audiofile's dream. However, for those who still want to avoid Spotify there are alternatives.
One of our favorites is Qobuz, which is one of the best music streaming services. It doesn't have anything like Spotify Wrapped but that's more of a nice-to-have. Qobuz has excellent lossless and a more robust recommendation system.
We've got a look at how Spotify Lossless compares to other high-res services like Apple Music and Tidal.
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