Best way to record digitally from spotify

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Longchops

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OK so there's a few albums only available on spotify that I want to have physical copies of (only have a free trial and not paying £0 a month for it when it finishes, yeah I am that tight, haha)

I think I'm going to record them minidisc, anyone know if can you get a digital output from spotify and if that would work? I see some people using DACs with spotify so surely it must be possible.

Have an original iPad air, an original iPhone SE and a 2012 macbook pro I can use. Would I need any adapters or anything?

Cheers
 

SteveR750

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OK so there's a few albums only available on spotify that I want to have physical copies of (only have a free trial and not paying £0 a month for it when it finishes, yeah I am that tight, haha)

I think I'm going to record them minidisc, anyone know if can you get a digital output from spotify and if that would work? I see some people using DACs with spotify so surely it must be possible.

Have an original iPad air, an original iPhone SE and a 2012 macbook pro I can use. Would I need any adapters or anything?

Cheers
You can only keep a hard copy on a device as long as you're subscribed to their service. You can once your sub expires, the files will be wiped. They're encrypted to prevent theft of material such as that which you're proposing, so in short no you can't, unsurprisingly.
 

Longchops

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You can only keep a hard copy on a device as long as you're subscribed to their service. You can once your sub expires, the files will be wiped. They're encrypted to prevent theft of material such as that which you're proposing, so in short no you can't, unsurprisingly.


I'm not sure you understand what a minidisc is or how it works. Its like a recordable miniature CD in a plastic shell that were popular in the 90s, they can't be remotely erased without using fire or nuclear weapons

Since posting I've discovered this absolutely can be done btw, I was very surprised to find out myself. Spotify actually offers a digital output with a fairly high bitrate on the max setting. There was a question of legality which another user brought up, so you have to stick to stuff you own a physical copy of which is what I've been doing.

Or you can also just press record on the minidisc player and play spotify through the minidisc's DAC and it sounds about 1000% better. You can pickup an old minidisc player for about £30 whereas a DAC is about £50-£70, I'd say its a pretty nifty trick......
 

iMark

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The DAC in Minidisc recorders is indeed pretty good. An even better feature is the ADC on some decks. Great for recording any audio from my amp.

There's also good recording software available to record any sound on a Mac. One example is https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/

We use Spotify Connect on our Yamaha R-N602. That sounds pretty equal to sending the audio through our Minidisc deck.

There's also the option in Spotify to download tracks on a device. Very handy on a smartphone, tablet or computer if you don't want to use mobile data while travelling.
 
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Longchops

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There's also the option in Spotify to download tracks on a device. Very handy on a smartphone, tablet or computer if you don't want to use mobile data while travelling.

Ah I think that was what steve was talking about......

They must be the files that time out and get deleted, lol

Man, at the start of lockdown I managed to score about 30 brand new minidiscs from a young lady who wanted a quick sale so I made her reasonable offer and wham!

I know its bad but I was planning on flogging them for a 30% profit. I've actually ended up useng them all. Its such a good format
 
I'm not sure you understand what a minidisc is or how it works. Its like a recordable miniature CD in a plastic shell that were popular in the 90s, they can't be remotely erased without using fire or nuclear weapons

Since posting I've discovered this absolutely can be done btw, I was very surprised to find out myself. Spotify actually offers a digital output with a fairly high bitrate on the max setting. There was a question of legality which another user brought up, so you have to stick to stuff you own a physical copy of which is what I've been doing.

Or you can also just press record on the minidisc player and play spotify through the minidisc's DAC and it sounds about 1000% better. You can pickup an old minidisc player for about £30 whereas a DAC is about £50-£70, I'd say its a pretty nifty trick......
You have misunderstood Steve. Spotify remains the owner of the music you download. When you stop subscription to Spotify, it is illegal to possess music downloaded from Spotify. Similar to Sky movie downloads. You can listen to the music only as long as you have a Spotify subscription.

If the music is available on Spotify Free, you can continue to listen without paying (but can't download in free account).


Can you download music from Spotify?

Yes and no. With Spotify Premium you can set music to be available "offline" but it's not the same as downloading music in the traditional sense. For example, you can't try to game the system by downloading an album then cancelling your subscription at a later date. And you can't download the tracks to burn them to a CD or copy them to other devices.

The idea of Spotify's offline mode is to allow you to have access to your favourite music when you're trying to save mobile data or travelling somewhere where access to the internet might not be easy.
 
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Deleted member 188533

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Alright guys I had to get clarification from above on this one. We're getting into a legal grey area here and for the good of the site I'm going to close this thread.
 
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