Kim Gilmour

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-14-2022

Spotify is changing the way the world listens to music. With a Spotify account, you can listen to all kinds of music, create and share playlists, and even join the Spotify online community.

Article / Updated 04-14-2017

Spotify is compatible with all the iPod classic models, as well as the iPod shuffle and iPod nano. Any iPod that connects via a USB cable connection, rather than the very first model that required a FireWire connection (isn’t there a museum you can donate that to?), will work. One exception is the iPod touch: You need to download Spotify’s mobile app to listen to local tracks. The instructions in the following section apply only to the classic, nano, and shuffle iPod versions. (Also, the Spotify mobile app is incompatible with the first generation iPod touch — so if you were an early adopter of the world of touch-screen technology, sadly, these instructions don’t work for you, either.) To sync music from Spotify to your iPod, follow these steps: Quit iTunes, if it’s running. You can’t sync if you have both of these applications open because it could cause conflicts. Open Spotify. Plug your iPod into your computer by using the USB cable, as usual. Your iPod should appear below Devices in your Spotify window’s left sidebar. The first time you connect your iPod to Spotify, you’ll be asked if you want to erase your iPod and sync it with Spotify. In subsequent syncs, you aren’t asked to do this again as long as you continue using Spotify for your syncs. Click Erase iPod & Sync with Spotify, if it appears in the Spotify window. After Spotify erases your iPod, two options appear at the top of the page: Sync All Music to This iPod and Manually Choose Playlists to Sync. Sync all your music to your iPod. The iPod automatically starts syncing all your music because the Sync All Music to This iPod option is selected by default. Additionally, Spotify syncs your playlists, starred tracks and so on — but only tracks you’ve already bought are actually copied over. You can see how much syncing has completed by viewing the progress bar. It counts down how many tracks are left to sync. Below Devices, you may also notice the spinning arrows next to your iPod, signifying that the sync is in progress. When the arrows stop and turn into an Eject button, the sync is complete. Safely remove your iPod after the sync is complete by clicking the Eject button that appears next to your iPod in the Spotify sidebar. Your iPod itself may also display a message warning you not to disconnect. When the iPod is properly ejected, make sure the warning message on the iPod disappears (it may take a few seconds). After the warning message is gone, unplug your iPod. Your refreshed iPod is ready — updated through Spotify and with no intervention from iTunes! The next time you plug in your iPod, it doesn’t take nearly as long for it to detect any changes to your file setup as the original sync did.

Article / Updated 04-11-2017

You can quickly mark a few Spotify playlists and make them available offline directly from your phone — your computer doesn’t need to be on because you download tracks directly from Spotify’s own server. Connect to a Wi-Fi network to do this procedure when possible, rather than 3G, because Wi-Fi is probably a lot faster and, depending on your data plan, should cost less, too. There’s an option in your settings that allows you to turn syncing over 2.5G/3G networks on or off to avoid unnecessary data costs. On the iPhone, go to Settings and ensure the Sync over 2G/3G switch is in the Off position (it appears gray, not green, when it’s set to Off). On Android, go to More→Settings and make sure Sync over 3G is unchecked. iPhone and Android devices are the most popular. For those of you using another device, the information in the following sections should still help you find your way, and you can also check the Spotify Mobile page for help. Sync offline Spotify playlists by using the iPhone To copy tracks on to your iPhone and listen to them later without a data connection, follow these steps: Open Spotify on your mobile device. Select Playlists at the bottom-left of the window to access a list of your playlists (if they don’t already appear), and then touch Edit at the top-right to enter Edit mode. On the right side of each playlist while in Edit mode, you see the Sync symbol, represented by a down arrow. Any green sync symbol means the playlist has already been synced to your phone; if it’s gray, it isn’t available in Offline mode. Mark any playlists you want to make available offline by tapping their gray symbols. Any playlists you tap turn green. When you finish selecting playlists, touch Done. The syncing process begins, as long as you’re online and connected to Wi-Fi (if you’ve turned syncing over 2.5G/3G off in your settings). You can also sync playlists while you’re actually in one. On the iPhone, swipe your finger across the silver Available Offline switch at the top-right of the screen to turn Offline mode on (or off). When on, the switch is green and says Yes. When off, it’s gray and says No. See also Share Spotify Tracks on the iPhone. Sync offline Spotify playlists by using an Android device To copy tracks onto your Android device and listen to them later without a data connection, follow these steps: Log into the Spotify application to view all your playlists. Touch the Edit Offline Playlists button to enter Spotify’s Edit mode. Mark all the playlists you want to make available offline by selecting the check boxes next to their names. Touch Done. A blue progress bar appears next to the playlist name, and a green progress bar appears at the top of the screen, telling you how many songs you have left to sync. Alternatively, when you’re in a playlist, follow these steps to sync that playlist for Offline mode: Log into the Spotify application on your Android to view all your playlists. Press and hold a playlist that you want to make available offline. An Options pop-up window appears. Select Available Offline. The playlist starts syncing automatically. See also How to Share Spotify Tracks on Android. For both iPhone and Android, songs continue to sync as long as the application is open.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Spotify makes it easy for you to organize and manage the playlists in your music library and avoid wasting time hunting for your favorite tracks. Here are some tips for keeping tabs on your playlists: Create playlist folders by selecting File→New Playlist Folder from the menu bar. Click and drag your playlists into these folders. In the left sidebar, click and drag folders and playlists into your chosen order. Categorize folders by giving them meaningful names, such as genre, artist, or year. Get an overview of all tracks in a folder by clicking a playlist folder to view them in the main pane. Find your favorite playlists quickly by dragging them to the top of your list, for easy viewing.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You can use Spotify to sync (or copy) a selection of local tracks from your computer to an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Android device. Just follow these steps: Open Spotify on your computer and create a playlist that contains the local tracks you want to sync. Make sure both your computer and your mobile device are hooked up to the same Wi-Fi connection. On your mobile device, open Spotify. The device now appears on your computer below Devices in the Spotify window’s left sidebar. On an iPhone, browse to the playlist that you want to sync and swipe the switch that appears at the top-right of the screen to Offline. On Android devices, tap Edit Offline Playlists, select the check boxes next to the playlists you want to sync, and tap Done.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

How Spotify works may have an impact on your computer’s hard-disk space, as well as your Internet connection. Spotify works differently from many other online music services because it relies on several ways to smoothly deliver music to you with no delays. In computing-speak, the measure of delay between requesting a song and hearing it is called latency. Spotify wants to keep latency low to make sure there’s no massive delay between choosing a track and hearing it on your computer. So, how does music get to your computer in the first place? Spotify stores all its music on servers. When you begin playing a streaming track from Spotify, Spotify takes a few actions: It looks to see whether you already have that track in your cache, a folder on your computer used to temporarily store tracks you already listened to on Spotify. Having them in the cache saves you from having to redownload the content again. Starts to retrieve the track from its servers Searches for other nearby computers that use Spotify — run by other Spotify users like you — who may have local versions of the tracks (or fragments of the tracks) stored in their caches This approach is much faster and more efficient than millions of requests pummeling the Spotify servers. Essentially, your computer becomes an equal player in one big network of many other computers running Spotify. In this peer-to-peer network (P2P, for short), the computers communicate on an even footing, uploading (sending) and downloading (receiving) files. Spotify is also clever enough to start pre-fetching the beginning of the next song in the playlist or album you’re listening to a few seconds before the current song ends to ensure that you don’t have a lag between one song and the next. If you decide to go off course and suddenly choose another song that Spotify isn’t expecting, that’s not a big deal — Spotify still responds to your request almost instantaneously. Spotify keeps your music in a cache Spotify uses a cache on your computer’s hard drive (as well as on the hard drives of all Spotify users). A cache is a temporary holding area for tracks you’ve listened to — if you want to listen to a track again, Spotify draws upon the music stored in your cache so that it doesn’t have to re-download the track. When the cache is full, the old stuff gets overwritten. Consider Spotify’s data usage The amount that Spotify downloads and uploads is relatively small because it compresses tracks very efficiently, so those tracks don’t take up much room. Also, your data usage will be far less significant if you listen to the same songs regularly because Spotify pulls them from your cache, so it doesn’t have to access the Internet to get them. But Spotify also uses your cache to upload tracks to other users, which usually contributes (a bit) to your data usage, too. The amount of data Spotify uploads via your Internet connection isn't a big deal because Spotify is smart enough to spread the music-sharing effort among many others; also, upload speeds are slower than download speeds for most home Internet connections.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

After registering for a Spotify account, you get directed to a page that should automatically launch the installation file for your Mac. To download the software, follow these steps: If the installation file doesn’t automatically launch, go to Spotify and click Download Now. Whether the file launches automatically or you manually download it, your browser prompts you to save the Spotify.dmg file. In the Firefox browser, click Save File to confirm the save. You may get a slightly different message, depending on the browser you use. The file shortly appears in your Downloads folder. Double-click the file to open it. A window appears, prompting you to drag the Spotify icon to your Applications folder. Click the icon in this window and drag it to the Applications folder shown next to it. A dialog box may appear, saying that Spotify can’t be moved because Applications can’t be modified. If the warning dialog box appears, click Authenticate, enter the administrator’s username and password in the text boxes provided, and then click Log In to approve the process and install the program. A dialog box may appear, asking whether Spotify can access your keychain. (Recommended) Click Allow to give Spotify access to your keychain. Your keychain can save you from having to enter the administrator password every time you open the program. But you may need to reenter it when the software gets updated every now and again. Spotify is now stored in your Applications folder. You can create a link to it in your Dock by clicking and dragging the icon.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

If you want to stream your music through Spotify, you need to have the desktop application installed on your computer. Spotify offers this official reason for employing a desktop program, as opposed to a web-based one: “By installing Spotify as a stand alone application you get a much better user experience and audio quality compared to web-based sites.” Also, the application helps you sync up your local files, your mobile devices, and your iPod from one place, which you can’t easily do over the web. Compatible systems with Spotify Spotify is officially available for Windows PCs and Apple Macs. The versions are virtually the same (apart from a few minor differences in the Preferences options). You can also use a workaround to get the Windows version running on a Linux operating system by using Wine (a tool that lets you run Windows programs in Linux). Necessary specifications for Spotify Spotify is lean and responds quickly to requests. But for ease of listening, it does keep quite a lot of data in its cache — an area on your computer’s hard drive reserved for tracks and fragments of tracks. You should have around 50GB free disk space on your computer, at least, with Spotify’s cache taking up no more than 5GB — that’s already plenty of room to store your tracks. You can adjust your cache size based on how much disk space you have. You can set the parameters of the cache in your preferences, but the cache is set by default to never exceed more than 10 percent of your free disk space. If you’re looking to get a new computer, get as much memory (RAM) as you can — at least 2GB. Memory acts as a kind of buffer zone that lets you open many programs at the same time without them slowing down. If your computer has enough memory, you can have Spotify open and running while you’re surfing the web, working with Word, organizing your photos, and using your e-mail. If your computer runs slowly, tracks in Spotify may start to stutter and skip. The official computer specifications you need to run Spotify for a Windows PC include A PC running Windows XP, Vista, or 7 A broadband Internet connection For the Mac, your computer needs Either a PowerPC G4 or higher, or a system that runs an Intel processor. (The computer chips in older Macs are virtually obsolete; the vast majority of Mac programs designed these days run on Intel processors.) Mac OS X 10.4.0 or later. A broadband Internet connection.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Spotify Radio has undergone a massive overhaul and is now a superb way to stumble upon some great music. The feature allows you to create virtual radio stations that play similar music to the stuff you already like. Like a real radio station, you never know what tracks Spotify will line up next — but unlike real radio stations, you can skip tracks as many times as you wish if they aren’t to your fancy (and there aren’t any annoying DJs interrupting the flow). The new Spotify Radio is an evolution of a previously hidden feature called Artist Radio, but it’s now been given pride of place on the left-hand sidebar and allows you to create as many artist-based radio stations as you like for easy access. The recommendation engine behind it all has also been given a makeover, so suggested tracks should be closer to your taste than ever before. Spotify Radio also suggests recommended stations based on artists you’ve recently listened to. (For example, if you listened to a few Christmas songs over the holidays, Spotify was ready to recommend Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby radio, which featured music from these artists as well as more contemporary singers such as Michael Buble.) To get started with listening and creating artist-based stations using Spotify Radio: Click on the Radio option (under Apps on the left-hand sidebar). If this your first time using Spotify Radio, then the first station displayed will be similar to music from your current most-listened to artist. To start playing the radio, hover your mouse over the album artwork in the main window and click the play button. Alternatively, double-click on the track. The music starts playing. As with other tracks, you can view the currently playing track in the Radio window or check out the details at the bottom left of the Spotify window. To skip a track you don’t want to listen to, click the skip icon located to the right of the large album artwork on the main window (with the two right-pointing arrows). The next track to be played is displayed and unless you click the skip button again to go to the one after this, it starts playing within a couple of seconds. There are no limits to the amount of times you can skip tracks! If you start listening to a track and it ends before you find out who it’s by, go back to it by viewing your play history. Click Play Queue in the left-hand sidebar, then the History tab. History gets erased if you exit Spotify though, so make sure you do this before you close the program. To create a radio station: Click the Create New Station button on the top-right of the main Spotify Radio window. In the search box, enter the name of the artist you want to base a radio station on in the search box. Suggestions related to the artist you type in appear in the drop-down list. Click the result that is closest to what music you’re in the mood for. You can also type in a track, which is useful if a song has more than one artist and you want music that sounds like a particular version of it. Both tracks and suggestions are displayed in this drop-down list. The artist station you created appears under ‘Recent Radio Stations’ and automatically starts playing. In this section, you can access all the stations you’ve created. Use the left and right arrow buttons located at the right of this section to browse your stations. Scroll down to see more stations based on artists and tracks you listen to. Here, you see a customized list of top radio stations based on your most-listened to artists and tracks. Scroll down even more to see popular radio station that other people are listening to, plus radio stations based on particular genres like classical, pop and heavy metal.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Playback buttons appear at the bottom of your Spotify screen to help you play, pause, jump back to the previous track, and skip to the next track. You also get a timeline that tells you how far into a song you are and lets you drag your mouse along it to listen to a specific part of a song. After you find a track that you want to listen to, you can play it from within Spotify in a couple of ways: Double-click the name of the track that you want to hear (the simplest way). Click the name of the track or browse to it by using your keyboard’s up or down arrow keys so that it becomes highlighted, and then press the Enter key. After a track starts playing, you can use Spotify’s controls: Play/Pause button: Pause the playing track by clicking the Play button (which looks like a right-pointing arrow) at the bottom of the Spotify window. The Play button then turns into two vertical lines, indicating that it’s paused. Click this new Pause button to resume playing. You can also press the spacebar to pause and un-pause a track if you’re currently in Spotify. Or you can press the Play/Pause button on your keyboard, if it has that button, at any time to pause and unpause a track. Next Track button: To skip to the next track in the album or playlist you’re listening to, click the button that features two right-pointing arrows. You can also press the button on your keyboard featuring the same right-pointing arrows (if available) to perform the same action. Previous Track button: To go back to the previous track, click the button that features the two left-pointing arrows, or the button on your keyboard with the left-pointing arrows. Timeline: To jump forward or back in a track, click and drag the small indicator in the Timeline bar back and forth along the timeline. How far into the song the indicator is appears on the left of the Timeline bar; how much time remains appears on the right. In Windows 7, you can control a track by using a set of mini controls that pop up above the Spotify symbol in the Windows menu bar. Just hover your mouse over the Spotify symbol to make those controls appear. The track name and artist currently playing also appear.