Spotify is a music service that is built on simplicity and convenience. You can start up a radio station and it will play for as long as you need it to, be that minutes or hours. You can find massive playlists that will keep you jamming out all day, and you follow playlists that will evolve and change as newer, better music comes out.
Spotify may be easy to pick up, but once you have it, getting the most out of your Spotify subscription can take a little know-how. Here's how to make sure that you can make the most of Spotify on your Android phone.
1. Set your audio quality wisely
Spotify offers a range of audio qualities to users who may be looking for the clearest audio possible or audio that sips data rather than gulps it. Unfortunately, you can't separately set the audio quality while streaming on mobile data — it uses the same audio quality setting as streaming on Wi-Fi. So before you crank your streaming audio quality up to "Extreme", consider how much you intend to use Spotify with a data connection, such as in the car or while working out.
To set your quality, go to My Library and tap the gear icon in the top right corner; the audio settings are about halfway down the menu.
If you're looking for good audio quality without kissing your data caps goodbye, there's still some good news, if you can plan ahead. You can set the audio quality for downloaded music separately from streaming audio quality. Unless your phone is already lacking storage space, I recommend setting downloaded audio quality to Extreme and loading up for listening while on the go.
2. Load up for offline
Spotify doesn't allow you to cache songs for offline playback, so everything you want to listen to offline you have to download manually. It's therefore worth getting at least a few favorite albums and playlists downloaded should you lose your connection.
You can download albums and playlists, but not radio stations or individual songs. If you like a particular radio station, you could add the songs from the station to a playlist for offline playback, but you'll have to do it one song at a time.
Whatever you download, just get something saved for offline. You do not want to get caught without your music out there in the big, bad noisy world.
3. Be picky with what you save to Library
Spotify has tens of millions of songs to listen to, and through radio stations, curated playlists, and Discover, you'll listen to more and more new music, but make sure you really like a song before you save it to your library. Spotify only allows you to add 10,000 songs to your library, and once you hit that limit, you'll have to start cleaning albums and songs you don't like as much as the new songs you want to add.
The easiest rule of thumb here is to add individual songs to your library rather than adding whole albums if you don't like each and every song in there. I'm already over 5,000 songs, and I'm going to have to start weeding through it before long.
4. Turn up the radio
The best way to refine your selections on Spotify is to listen to radio stations frequently and rate what it serves up. Even if you're someone who prefers to listen to personal playlists most of the time, dip into radio stations like your Daily Mixes from time to time and get to rating your suggested music.
Spotify will make better mixes for you and suggest playlists that (hopefully) better align with your interests, which means that when you dip into a radio station, you'll be less likely to dive for the 'Skip' button.
5. Play with playlists
Spotify's strengths might be in its radio stations, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't build your own playlists. By making your own playlists, you can then have Spotify give you more customized radio stations through Playlist Radio. Adding music from various radio stations to playlists also makes it easier to listen to them again and download them for offline playback.
Your turn
What tricks do you have for taking Spotify to the limit? Share them in the comments, and share what you've been listening to on Spotify!
