Spotify users have, somehow, still not been able to listen to music without an internet connection? Well, Spotify seems to have finally caught up with the train, as it introduces ‘Offline backup’. The feature, which has been launched more than a year after it was first teased, which will generate a playlist of your recently streamed and queued tracks – ones that you can play even without an internet connection. This new feature has started rolling out globally, albeit only for premium users.
“Have you ever hopped on a plane only to realize you forgot to download your favorite playlist? Are you looking for ways to save data with your data plan while still listening to your favorite artists? When the need for music is high and you find yourself offline, Spotify has you covered. Beginning today, we’re launching Offline Backup, bringing Premium users another way to keep listening to music offline, no downloads required,” Spotify wrote in an official statement.
From the looks of it, Spotify has taken a page out of YouTube Music’s feature while working on Offline Backup – YouTube Music’s similar offering is called “Offline Mixtape.” So far, Spotify users have been able to manually download songs and playlists to listen at a later time. With Offline Backup, the fear of losing access to the music when the internet connectivity is suddenly lost is addressed. As long as offline listening is enabled in your settings, a backup playlist will be created, ensuring that you can access the music even if they have not downloaded the songs before leaving a Wi-Fi zone.
The firm notes that users need to have listened to at least more than five songs recently, and must have the most recent version of the app to access this feature. They also need to be – as mentioned earlier – Premium subscribers, which means that they will have to subscribe to one of the plans available. There are three such plans – the Mini (which costs ₹29 for 1 week), the Individual plan (which costs ₹119 for 2 months and ₹119 per month afterwards), and the Family Plan (which is the costliest, and costs ₹179 for 2 months, and ₹179 per month afterwards)
The songs will be stored via Spotify’s cache on the device itself. Spotify also notes that the playlist is more than just a static set of songs, and is not limited to providing the same tracks each time users go offline. In fact, the company notes that users can “filter and sort songs within the playlist by artist, mood, and even genre—and Offline Backup evolves as you continue to listen, so you’ll always have something new.”
It can be surmised that Offline Backup can understand the tastes and preferences of users, adapting to their listening patterns and ensuring that the songs in the playlist are catered to their tastes. Spotify notes that users can add Offline Backup to their Library at any time. If they have offline listening enabled in the app’s settings, they will find that Offline Backup appears automatically in the Home feed anytime they are offline.
