How do I download music to play offline?

In recent years, music streaming has become hugely popular, with nearly 616.2 million people listening to on-demand streaming services as of 2023, according to Music streaming worldwide – statistics & facts. However, streaming requires an internet connection to access millions of songs. Many people also want to listen to music offline, whether due to limited connectivity, data plans, or convenience. Offline listening allows you to download your favorite playlists or albums to your device to access any time without an internet connection.

The global market for music streaming services was $43.3 billion in revenue in 2022, further showing the popularity of streaming, according to the Music Streaming App Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024). While music streaming growth is expected to continue rising rapidly in the coming years, offline listening is also becoming more popular as people want flexibility and options for accessing music. Downloading music for offline playback gives the best of both worlds — unlimited access to streamable content combined with the reliability of offline listening when needed.

Determine Your Offline Listening Needs

Before downloading music for offline listening, it’s important to consider how much storage space you’ll need. This depends on the number of songs or albums you want available offline, and the audio quality you choose. According to sources, downloading songs at the highest quality from Spotify takes up roughly 9-10GB per 1000 songs [1]. So make sure you have enough free space on your device before downloading an offline library.

You should also think about which devices you want offline access on. Most music streaming services allow downloading to mobile devices as well as computers. Consider if you only need offline music on your phone, or if you also want to listen on your laptop when traveling. This will determine how much total storage space is required across your devices.

Choose a Music Service for Downloading

The top music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music all offer the ability to download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening. However, they differ in their feature sets, pricing, and ease of use. Here’s an overview of the major options:

Spotify – Spotify has a free ad-supported tier, as well as Spotify Premium for $9.99/month. Downloading for offline listening is available only on Premium. Spotify makes downloading easy across devices and their recommendations and playlists are excellent. However, their audio quality maxes out at 320kbps even for Premium.

Apple Music – At $9.99/month, Apple Music does not have a free tier but you can access downloaded music on up to 5 devices. Downloads are seamless if you use iOS devices. Audio quality goes up to 256kbps AAC. Their curated playlists and recommendations are top-notch.

Amazon Music Unlimited – Amazon Music Unlimited costs $7.99/month for Prime members, $9.99 otherwise. It allows downloading songs for offline listening. Audio quality reaches up to 850kbps. Amazon has a large catalog of songs and playlists, but trails behind Spotify and Apple Music for discovery features.

When choosing, consider which service has the music you want to listen to, which user interface you prefer, what audio quality you desire, your budget, and device ecosystem. Both paid and free tiers of major services allow you sufficient flexibility to download music for offline listening.

Download Music on Your Mobile Device

Most popular music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music allow you to download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening on your mobile device.

Download Limits

The number of downloads allowed varies by service:

• Spotify allows you to download up to 10,000 songs across 5 devices on its Premium plan
• Apple Music permits an unlimited number of song downloads for subscribers
• YouTube Music lets you download up to 500 songs for offline listening
• Amazon Music subscribers can download hundreds of playlists and albums for offline access

How to Download on iOS

On iPhone or iPad, open your music streaming app and:

1. Tap the Download icon (downward arrow) next to a song, album, or playlist to save it offline. The icon will change to a checkmark when downloaded.
2. To see your full list of downloads, tap your Library and select Downloads.

Refer to Spotify’s instructions for downloading tracks on iOS.

How to Download on Android

The process is very similar on Android phones and tablets:

1. Tap the Download button by any song, album, or playlist.
2. Open the Library tab to access all your downloads offline.

Check your streaming service’s Android app for specifics on managing downloads.

Download Music on Your Computer

To download music on your Mac computer using Apple Music:

1. Open the Apple Music app and find the song, album, or playlist you want to download. Click the Download button next to it. ¹
2. The content will begin downloading. Monitor the progress in the app’s Downloads section.
3. When finished, you’ll find your downloaded content in the Downloads section of Apple Music. From there you can listen offline.

To download music on your Windows computer:

1. Open the Apple Music app for Windows or the iTunes app.
2. Find the content you want to download, click the download button next to it.
3. Your downloads will appear in the Downloads section. Track progress here and listen offline when ready.

Similarly, most other top music services allow you to download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening in their desktop apps. This includes services like Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and others.

Save Music for Offline Listening

To save music for offline listening on Spotify, tap the download icon next to any song, album, or playlist you want to download. The downloads will start automatically. You’ll see a green arrow next to items when the downloads are complete.

Default locations for downloads:

• iOS devices: Files app
• Android devices: Spotify app > Library > Downloads
• Windows: C:\Users\ [your username]\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Offline
• Mac: /Users/[your username]/Library/Application Support/Spotify/Offline

To organize your library:

• Use playlists to group songs by mood, genre etc.
• Follow artists you like so their new releases are easy to access
• Use the Recently Played section to find music you listened to offline

Listen to Downloaded Music Offline

Once you have music downloaded for offline listening, accessing your offline library is easy even without an internet connection. Here are instructions for accessing downloads offline:

• On iPhones, open the Spotify app and tap on “Your Library” then “Playlists”. You will see a green downward arrow icon next to any playlists that have been downloaded for offline playback. Tap on the playlist to listen offline.
• On Android phones, open Spotify and tap on “Your Library” then “Playlists”. Tap on “Download” to access your offline content. Toggle the switch next to specific playlists or albums to make them available offline.
• On desktop or laptop computers, open the Spotify app and click on “Your Library”. Click on “Playlists” or “Albums” to access your downloads and listen offline. There will be a green checkmark indicating what is downloaded for offline access. Click on a playlist or album to start listening.

Some tips for playing downloaded music offline:

• Make sure you have opened the Spotify app at least once while connected to the internet before trying to access your offline content.
• Check your device’s settings – Airplane mode must be turned on, WiFi and mobile data should be disabled.
• If you have issues accessing your offline library, close and reopen the Spotify app or restart your device, then try again.

Options for Downloading Video

Many music streaming services allow users to download videos to watch offline in addition to just audio tracks. The most popular services like Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music offer some video download capabilities.

Apple Music allows you to download music videos to watch offline within the iOS Music app (1). However, the videos are standard definition quality even if you have a higher tier subscription. There is no option to select HD quality when downloading videos.

YouTube Music similarly lets you save music videos for offline viewing at standard definition quality. Paid YouTube Premium subscribers can download videos at higher resolutions up to 1080p HD. An advantage YouTube Music has is that it draws videos from YouTube’s entire catalog beyond just official music videos.

Spotify has the most limited video features among the top services. You cannot download music videos at all for offline playback within Spotify. The app is audio-focused, so for video content you would need to use a separate YouTube app.

Overall, Apple Music and YouTube Music offer the best options for saving music videos to watch offline. Apple Music may be preferable if you want strictly official videos in one consolidated app, while YouTube Music provides more variety at the expense of video quality control.

Downsides of Offline Listening

While downloading music for offline playback has its advantages, there are some downsides to consider as well:

One major limitation is device storage space. Most mobile devices and computers have limited storage, so you may run out of space for downloads quickly, especially if downloading large music files or playlists. According to one Quora user, downloading Spotify’s full library of 30 million songs could take up 35,000 gigabytes of storage.

In addition, most music services limit the number of times you can download songs or playlists for offline listening. Spotify, for example, lets Premium subscribers download content on up to 5 devices before removing downloads from other devices.

There are also catalog availability limitations for offline listening. Not every song or album may be available for download due to licensing restrictions. So you may not find everything you want to listen to offline.

Finally, audio quality can suffer with downloaded files, depending on the format and bitrate. Streaming services often deliver better sound quality, especially at higher tiers. So audiophiles may prefer streaming over lower-quality offline downloads.

Conclusion

Downloaded music lets you listen anywhere without requiring connectivity, whether that’s on a commute, flight, off-grid cabin, or just to save data. Summarizing the major steps, first choose a music service that allows downloads based on your listening needs. Then save albums, playlists, and songs for offline access on your mobile device or computer. The downloads can be managed in the service’s app or music player. Finally, tap the downloaded content during offline listening.

Offline listening avoids streaming interruptions and reduces data usage, while still providing access to millions of songs. For road trips, flights, and anywhere without WiFi or cellular service, downloaded music can keep you entertained. Downloading for offline use also prevents problems like buffering, stuttering, and sudden drops in audio quality. Just be sure to download content before losing your connection.

In the end, downloading music for offline use offers convenience and reliability. Follow the simple steps for saving content on your preferred service and device. Then relax and enjoy your favorite playlists anywhere, anytime, without requiring a stable internet connection.