6 tips for getting the most out of Spotify
Spotify is setting the pace in the streaming market. And the music app has plenty of useful features. But have you ever looked at the settings in the Spotify app? Here you'll find out how you can easily improve music quality via the app.
140 million people use Spotify. This makes the Swedish company the most popular provider in the streaming market. A quick survey, obviously not representative, carried out within the digitec editorial team showed that Spotify is used by a large proportion of my colleagues. However, they are barely interested in configuring the app and go straight into listening mode.
I used to do the same until I discovered that I could significantly alter Spotify's sound quality in a jiffy. How do I do it? Explained below. As a bonus, you'll get five more recommendations for better Spotify use.
The following descriptions refer to Android phones. For tablets and all iOS devices, features may differ slightly.
Adapt sound quality
If you leave Spotify's audio settings as they are, you'll listen to music with variable sound quality. This means that as soon as the app considers that your internet connection is getting worse, it will downgrade your sound quality. You'll notice the difference with good headphones. So get rid of automatic quality and choose the audio quality of your music yourself.
Here's how: with a Premium account, tap on the library symbol. In the free version, tap on the home symbol. Then click on Settings in the top right-hand corner. In the menu, you'll see the Sound Quality item.
If you have a Premium account, with Android, you can choose from five quality levels - apart from the lowest level, all are in Ogg Vorbis format.
- Low: corresponds to around 24 kbit/s
- Normal: corresponds to around 96 kbit/s
- High: corresponds to approximately 160 kbit/s
- Very high: corresponds to approximately 320 kbit/s
- Automatic: depending, for example, on the network connection
On the left is the Spotify Home symbol, in the middle is the symbol for settings and on the right is the library symbol.
For the audio settings, however, make sure that your internet connection provides sufficient bandwidth for the selected quality. Otherwise there will be some annoying misfires. I have Swisscom's second cheapest subscription, allowing me to stream at up to 15 Mbit/s, and I listen to my music in the best quality. Up until now, I've never had a dud, even when reception conditions have deteriorated. But I can't generalise, so it's up to you to try out the different qualities. Higher quality obviously means more data - with streaming, an unlimited internet access package is preferable anyway.
When you record music from Spotify to your mobile phone, you can also adjust the sound quality in the same menu. Depending on the quality, you will then also need more memory space.
Installing an equaliser
An equaliser allows you to adjust the volume of different frequency ranges. You can regulate high and low tones, bass or vocals. As a result, your music sounds better, or rather, the way you like it.
To create a proper equalizer without much effort, I recommend choosing a pre-made equalizer in the genre of your favourite music. You can then adapt it to your taste when listening to a track.
To configure the equaliser in Spotify: as a Premium user, tap on the library symbol, then at the top on Settings. If you don't have a Premium account, tap on the home symbol. You'll find the Equaliser under Sound Quality. As soon as you tap on it, you'll be redirected to your mobile's settings to install the equaliser. Depending on the device, you'll once again need to explicitly enable the equaliser created for Spotify.
Add a crossfade
With a cross-fade, also known as "continuous play", the end of your last piece of music intermingles with the start of the new track over a period of time that you determine. You then get beautiful fades instead of pauses without music.
Before I discovered this function, I always had the pauses between different tracks and I thought it was great. But now I couldn't do without this function. I find that listening to music with the fades is much more enjoyable and, on the whole, smoother.
The "Fade Out" function is available in all versions except the Browser app.
And here's how to set the fades: as a Premium user, you access Settings via the library symbol, without Premium, via the home button. In the menu, you'll then find the Crossfade item and you can set fade lengths of up to twelve seconds.
Listen to a mixtape
Since I discovered mixtapes (compilations), I almost exclusively listen to my music with these lists. It works like this: Spotify chooses tracks for you based on your most recently listened to tracks. You'll find lots of new stuff to keep you discovering new tracks.
Sometimes Spotify's algorithm doesn't find exactly the tracks you like. You then have to be patient for a while. After a while, in my case, the lists contained more and more songs to my liking. And the more music you listen to, the more these lists adapt to you. You can also rate the tracks on offer with "I like" and "I don't like". All the tracks you give a heart to are then automatically saved in your music compilation. If you don't like an artist at all, they may be banned from the mixtapes altogether. In my case, Gölä and Trauffer infiltrated a compilation. But I was able to get rid of them quickly.
The mixtapes can be found in the library under 'Created for you'. In the free version, under the home symbol.
Show lyrics
You've probably already discovered this function. For selected songs and playlists, Spotify automatically shows you the lyrics to sing along with info about the artist and the song itself. To access this feature, the "Behind the Lyrics" item must be enabled in the settings. This is the default setting. Use your finger to switch between the cover image and the lyrics as you listen to the track. If there is no second field, then there are no lyrics or info for this track.
Find gigs
I particularly like this Spotify feature: under "Browse" and then under the Concerts thumbnail, you can choose a location. As soon as you've entered the location, Spotify shows you the gigs your favourite artists will be playing near you. Spotify searches for gigs based on the music you're listening to. If you follow artists, you'll always be shown their gigs. The feature has already shown me some smaller gigs that I wouldn't have found without Spotify and would otherwise have missed.
So you already know all the tips mentioned and have some much better ones? Let us know in the comments.
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Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
