Spotify may soon launch 'offline mix' music streaming feature
What's the story
Spotify is testing a new feature, dubbed "Your Offline Mix," that will let you listen to music on the go even if you are not connected to the internet.
The new playlist will stream "a mix of your recently played songs for when the vibe is high, but your connection is low," according to an official tweet from the company's CEO Daniel Ek.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Spotify is currently the world's largest music streaming service. It boasts a user base of over 500 million, according to reports.
The company intends to take the user experience a notch higher and that's evident in the recent changes that have been introduced.
The upcoming offline music streaming feature, when launched, is sure to be a big hit among users.
Feature
The feature is said to be under development since 2020
At the moment, there is not a lot that we know about Spotify's new offline mix feature or when it will be available.
Going by Ek's tweet, we can tell it may be a curated music playlist offering multiple hours of listening time.
The company is said to have been developing the feature since 2020, according to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong.
Existing options
Offline mix playlist will download your recent favorite music
Do note that Spotify already lets Premium subscribers download music albums and playlists for offline listening.
However, it may be tiresome for some to pick which music to download.
That's where the offline mix feature could differ. The playlist would automatically download some of your recent favorite music and this could come in handy if you are traveling or you don't have internet access.
Information
YouTube Music already has "Offline mixtape" feature
Talking about Spotify's rival YouTube Music, it already has been offering an "Offline mixtape" feature for some time now. Further, the "Smart download" functionality allows YouTube Music to download up to 500 songs from different music playlists.
Availability
When will the feature be available?
Spotify did not particularly mention when the new offline mix feature would be made widely available.
Considering Ek's official tweet, it is safe to say the new functionality may be introduced in the coming days
However, the question remains whether the new feature will be made available to all users or will be limited to Premium subscribers only.