I never go one day without listening to music. I'm sure most people would say the same thing. Whether I choose to listen to a particular song or I am in an place with background music, it is a daily part of my life. So why not pay for the best quality and selection of music?
Spotify is a free music streaming website that has over 75 million users. As of March 2016, Spotify has over 30 million paid users, according to CEO Daniel Ek. Spotify's free version has many different features. It allows its users to create and share their own playlists. It also provides playlists for different moods and genres that have already been made. Spotify also offers a radio selection much like Pandora - just type in the artist or song, and the radio will play songs of a similar genre or style.
One of my favorite features is the “Discover Weekly” playlist. This is a playlist that Spotify creates for you personally each Monday. The songs it chooses are based off of your most frequent music and genre choices. I have even created my own playlist that includes my favorite songs from my “Discover Weekly”.
So, if Spotify allows its users all of these features for free, then why pay for the premium version? Here are a few main reasons:
1. Zero advertisements
If you know anything about the free version of Spotify, it’s all the advertisements you are forced to listen too. I legitimately mean forced. If listeners try and turn down the volume to avoid listening to the ads, it will pause the ad until the volume is turned back up. There are zero ads between songs with Spotify Premium. I remember thinking, “I can deal with ads. It’s not a big deal.” Honestly, it is a big deal. Especially if you want to have some music in the background, and you keep hearing the same ads over and over again.
2. Unlimited song selection
Spotify Premium allows you to have as many songs and playlists as your heart desires. One of the huge benefits of premium, is that you can choose whatever song you want to listen too. Spotify’s free mobile app only allows you to shuffle through songs. It is still possible to listen to songs within a specific playlist on their app, but you cannot choose which song to listen too next, and you can only skip five songs before it doesn’t even allow you to skip to the next song. None of these problems are relevant with Spotify premium. It allows for complete freedom of song selection.
3. Sync songs to offline mode
This is honestly my favorite part of Spotify Premium. It allows you to sync your music offline, and this means it doesn’t take up your cell phone’s entire data plan for that month. Before I invested in Spotify Premium, most of my data for every month went to listening to Spotify. Like most people, I have to listen to music in the car. I drive a lot, so having offline music is extremely helpful when I’m not connected to Wi-Fi.
4. The low price
All of these features are available for only $9.99 a month. Considering all the advantages that are included with Spotify Premium, this price is beyond worth it. Also, if you are a college student like me, the price is cut in half. I am only paying $4.99 per month for all these features. Like I said - beyond worth it.
If music is huge part of your daily life, why not invest in great quality music? Spotify offers a wide range of artists and good quality songs. However, Spotify Premium allows you to have full freedom of choice in what you want to listen to. Trust me - once you make the decision to pay for Spotify Premium, you won't go back.
