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Spotify has announced a new feature called Offline Backup, designed to give Premium subscribers an additional way to listen to music offline without manually downloading playlists. Rolling out globally this week, the feature aims to address situations where users find themselves without an internet connection and haven't prepared their offline music library in advance.

spotify-offline-backup.jpg

Offline Backup works by automatically creating a personalized playlist using tracks that have been recently streamed or queued, leveraging the cached content already stored on the user's device. Spotify says this approach allows listeners to access a selection of their favorite music without consuming extra data or storage space.

The new feature promises flexibility by allowing users to filter and sort songs within the Offline Backup playlist by artist, mood, and genre. Spotify says the playlist will evolve over time based on listening habits, ensuring fresh content is always available.

The development of Offline Backup followed successful user testing conducted last year, and the feature is now being made available to Premium subscribers on both Android and iOS platforms, including compatibility with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

To access Offline Backup, users need to ensure they have listened to more than five songs recently and have enabled offline listening in their Spotify app settings. The playlist will appear automatically in the Home feed when the device is offline.

Spotify recommends that users add the Offline Backup playlist to their library for quick access. Those unable to find the feature are advised to check that their Spotify app is updated to the latest version.

Article Link: Spotify Launches Offline Backup Feature for Premium Users
 
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cicalinarrot

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2015
631
1,984
Current offline mode is horrible, I just want that fixed.
When you have internet off, it's fine. If you've just got unstable connection, it will refuse to just put on your offline album unless you press a few button to switch to Offline mode (and back on later). Otherwise, it will load as if you have no internet and no offline files.
 

Kendo

macrumors 68020
Apr 4, 2011
2,339
855
A definite contender for most pointless software feature of the year.
How come? This is a welcome feature for people who commute to work via train (I'm often stuck without a connection when having to through a tunnel). Especially annoying for streaming apps so I've learned to download my content offline ahead of time.

For music I often have to fall back to an offline playlist that I've gotten sick of and too lazy to create/download new playlists.
 

OwlBundy

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2019
23
179
Sir, it looks like you don't take trains, fly or go camping in remote places very often.
The people who do already know they are going on the train to work or camping so the necessary steps for offline content has already been taken care of. Maybe the dumbest person on the planet uses spotify and takes a train camping everyday and wasn’t aware of offline downloads will be in for nice surprise.
 

JuicyGoomba

macrumors regular
May 20, 2021
162
482
So not only did they remove the actual offline options a few years back, which used to allow you to download all songs for offline playback to save battery, but now they're adding a feature stolen directly from YouTube Music?

Awful company.

Many people have requested they add the "all songs" tab back and they refuse to, and then they made it incredibly awkward to even download a single album for offline playback.

Apple Music has the option to download everything but also has things like smart playlists so you can allow new music to automatically be downloaded.

The closest thing you can do on Spotify is to sit for hours manually adding each album to a new playlist, and setting that playlist to download... And then remember to keep adding any new music to that playlist manually.
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
16,249
11,745
I don’t use Spotify but comments seem to suggest that the offline mode offered today by Spotify is horrible.
Regardless, having an offline mode is better than forcing user to stay connected 24*7.
I know this is a surprise but there ARE places where there is no signal, such as basement In an apartment building, tunnel, edge of signal coverage, super remote area etc.
 

cicalinarrot

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2015
631
1,984
I take a train every week day. I get a 4g signal at least usually, albeit no tunnels on my route.

If people know they are going to be without a signal in these situations wouldn't they just download the content ahead of time?
Tunnels can be pretty bad, it's more than half than my daily train route, including time to reconnect.
Downloading everyday as a routine can be annoying and you end up listening to the same stuff.
It's a welcome feature to me but, again, making regular downloads better would have been enough.
 

CarAnalogy

macrumors 603
Jun 9, 2021
5,013
9,075
How come? This is a welcome feature for people who commute to work via train (I'm often stuck without a connection when having to through a tunnel). Especially annoying for streaming apps so I've learned to download my content offline ahead of time.

For music I often have to fall back to an offline playlist that I've gotten sick of and too lazy to create/download new playlists.

It's a useful feature but they could be clearer about what it actually is. That infographic with all the popular expressions is making me nauseous. Everything is driven by negative emotions of FOMO, drama, and moodiness.
 

sflagel

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2012
248
411
All we need is Apple Music and Spotify to download the next five songs in whatever queue/channel/playlist we are listening to. Just make it a bigger cache. That takes care of 99% of the temporary off-line situations we find ourselves in, such as the tube, tunnels, department stores, office buildings.

To save storage, delete all songs older than the last three that were listened to.

(Of course we all download in anticipation of a flight, or a cruise in the med).
 
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Corefile

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2022
725
1,029
Offline backup feature? In the old days we called those MP3 files. Don't let corporations own your music so rip and save the files yourself.
 

sflagel

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2012
248
411
Orrrr, Apple Music could just have a button "Download all Music in Library".
 

robvalentine

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2014
540
1,205
I love all the naysayers thinking that we know about network notspots in advance. What if a cell tower goes down? or a last minute trip somewhere? But a download all would be useful (maybe not for my massive library though lol.
 
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