title: “How To Download A Spotify Playlist” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-19” author: “Stephanie Protain”
What Does It Mean to Download Your Spotify Playlists?
A Spotify account gives you access to more music than you could ever want, ready to play with just a click. But as a streaming service these songs are usually served up to you on demand, meaning if you don’t have a good data connection, you may be out of luck. Fortunately they included a useful feature to download your playlists to your device.
But with Spotify (and services like it), you’re renting access to their music catalog. You don’t actually own it, and so you don’t get the same file-based assets you can use as you like. Instead, the Spotify app is storing a temporary version of the song on your device. This allows you to listen to your playlists without using up your data allowance, or when you don’t have any connectivity at all.
How Do I Download Spotify Playlists?
To download your Spotify playlist:
First, create your playlist. All Spotify users have one default playlist called Liked Songs, which you can conveniently use to download all your music at once. Alternately, you can create smaller playlists and download them individually. At the top of the playlist, beneath the title banner, is a Download button. Click the download icon to start the process. You can see the progress on the button, which will change to a Stop button as the data comes in. Once complete, you can play your download playlist songs. You can confirm individual songs are downloaded by the icon next to the artist’s name.
Why Can’t I Download My Spotify Playlists?
There are a few likely reasons you can’t download your playlists on Spotify, or play music you’re previously downloaded:
First and foremost, downloading your playlists for offline listening requires a Premium account. If you’re simply enjoying the free offering (you’ll know if you are if you hear advertisements), you’ll need to upgrade to Spotify Premium in order to utilize this feature. Aside from your plan type, another reason you can’t download your songs is lack of storage space. Like on-device formats, Spotify’s high-quality audio requires a non-trivial amount of storage. If you find you can’t download everything, you may need to create some more selective playlists and download those using the instructions above. If you find you can’t play playlists you’re already downloaded, be aware you’ll need to connect your device to the internet at least every 30 days. This is so the Spotify app can confirm you still have an active subscription, and therefore have rights to the downloaded songs. Finally, there are limits to how much you can download. In this case, the limits are 10,000 songs across 5 devices.
