We can't get enough of the @songkick app! Check it out in today's App of the Day: http://t.co/z4ltKYTo
One's company? Send us your "happy to be single" tracks to build a great playlist for next week http://t.co/Vzh7f174
#BobMarley would've been 67 years old today #MusicMonday http://t.co/YZNqOrCx
Do you have any playlists with #BestBandsIHaveSeenLive? Share them! #playitforward
RT @himupnorth: @Spotify Radio app is fantastic. Discovered loads of new artists that way.
What's your 'how-did-I-ever-live-without' #SpotifyPlatform app? Share with us your favorite new feature!
#FollowFriday our friends from @thisdayinmusic who gave us the tunes for this week. Check their playlists here http://t.co/g2Te1NSw
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Here's a playlist to help you cope with the news. http://t.co/EDZ5BynZ #playitforward
Hey @disneymusic, we can help you to share your playlists. Follow us so we can DM
Check out our playlist with the nominees from the @NMEmagazine Awards 2012 http://t.co/hZ5kqIoX
Bumping up the bitrate
Providing great sound quality has always been an important goal for us. When we launched last year we implemented what we think is a very nice sounding stream at 160 kbit/s. A little later on, after a lot of user feedback, we decided to make sound normalisation an optional setting for those who prefer their music unaltered. Now, we’re taking the next step in offering an unparalleled listening experience.
Today we’re really excited to announce that Spotify Premium users will be able to listen to music at double the current quality, this is the first of many new premium features we plan to launch. In the latest release of Spotify, premium users have the option to enable streaming at up to 320 kbit/s using the Ogg Vorbis q9 codec – the highest streaming rate for any online service.
If you are a premium subscriber you can enable higher quality streaming by going to the preferences menu and clicking “Enable high bitrate”.
Initially, not all tracks will be available at the higher bit rate. We’ve begun converting the most popular tracks first and over the next few of weeks and months we’ll be adding more and more high quality tracks until the entire catalogue is available in hi-fi.
Wo! awesome! thanks ;D
but the checkbox is grayed out for me? :/ (I have premium, so that's not the issue)
Me to.. Grayed out.. Premium..
Also grayed out for me :-( I have a premium account... Is it because I'm in Germany?
We're looking into it, might not have rolled out to all users yet. Try restarting and see if it helps at all?
I'm from Sweden, so probably not.
restart did not fix it
well done!
Here is the french announce : http://blogmotion.fr/internet/spotify-en-qualite-cd-pour-les-comptes-premium-3241
@andres: Have you changed the colors to darker greys? I get the feeling that there's more contrast ;)
Nice! However, my checkbox is also greyed out. Premium Sweden..
Mine works just fine (Premium, Norway, Mac). It would be nice to know what rate the currently playing track is, though.
@trondeg: I second that.
Works perfect for me. Premium @ sweden. Thanks! :-)
I've just bought Premium becaus of the 320 kb/s. Thank you! When are you rolling out lossless? ;) Best, Arinbjørn
Greyed out for me. Premium Sweden.
Works for me. Premium @ Sweden. AWESOME too by the way :D
It works fine for me. Swedish premium user running spotify in linux. I won't use the higher bitrate though, as Ogg Vorbis becomes transparent to most people (including me) at much lower qualities than the default q5. There are very few tracks where people could actually tell the difference between q5 and q9 (or lossless for that matter).
Greyed out here too. Premium, Sweden :'(
Any method of identifying when a track is encoded using 320kbps? And also; Great stuff! I was actually considering going back to the free version, but now i'll definintly stick to Premium!
@alfagtv - There's no method to identify the tracks, we plan to encode all of them in 320 so we didn't think it would add much to identify them.
This is what I asked for, and now I got it, and you got a new premium subscriber as a result.
Great stuff guys! It's grey for me too, but that will probably change soon. Now all I need is the Android client! :D
Grayed out for me too. Premium in sweden.
Upgraded to 0.3.17 rev 49173, but high bitrate is grayed out anyway :(
Sweet :)
Just so everyone knows, it could take a few hours before all premium users can enable this option as it is in the process of being rolled out.
Fantastic! I had the high bitrate button available immediately after signing up to Premium!
Greyed out for me as well. Sweden/Premium.
Premium account here too and hq option grayed out. Tried multiple restarts, and on different computers. Spotify Version: 0.3.17r49173, WindowsXP
Nice to see additional benefits of going premium <3
Thanks a million!
Greyed out here, - Premium Norway.
Can you give an exampel on a track in high bitrate so I can test if I can dell the difference ?
"Any method of identifying when a track is encoded using 320kbps?" Most users are supplied with a pair of devices known as EARS (Extreme Aural Recognition Sensors). These are useful for detecting sound waves (note: requires air to operate) and can help to identify such acoustical input as vocal communications from other users, the sound of approaching danger (e.g. lions, stampede of elephants, your momma), or music. In the case of music, you may find your EARS deliver variable quality input. This is likely due to the sound source. Unfortunately EARS contain few user-servicable parts, however if you feel their operating parameters are not satisfactory, try ticking the "Enable high bitrate” checkbox. If you find the audio quality sounds "better" or "clearer" then it is likely you have fixed problem with your EARS. (sorry alfagtv, I couldn't resist!)
afront: I lol'd.
Great Stuff ! thx a lot :)
The feature should be fully rolled out now, if you still have it grayed out please let me know.
HQ audio is the one feature I've waited for to become a Premium subscriber. However, I will wait until the genres/albums/tracks I'm into are available as HQ before forking over the cash. You see the problem instantly, I'm sure: how can I tell when to make the leap to Premium? That's right, there's no way to tell when a track is available in HQ. EARS, like afront puts it, are of no help what-so-ever in making the distinction between regular and HQ if one isn't a Premium member, and I won't pay tenner a month for who knows how long until Spotify gets round to the music I like.
Then you'll just have to wait until Spotify says they're finished rolling out 320 kb/s. For me it was enough to being able to listen to the differences. Will do a a/b test between 320 kb/s and lossless tonight.
could u please enable spotify in Denmark
I'm in a similar boat to pteittinen in that I will move to premium once all tracks are high bitrate. So Spotify, please make sure you notify us when you're done converting the entire library! Cheers
@andres: yup, works now! thanks ;)
Lovely, thanks!
@pdaddyo - We'll definitely try and let people know, it's an ongoing process so more and more will come online in the next weeks and months.
@andres: Yeah, a restart solved it now. Thanks.
upgraded to premium straight away, my spotify hasn't updated to 0.3.17 yet though... come on! (Uk user)
tried to buy a one month premium pass, you said my credit card is no good. i know it's good! can you enable more ways to pay? premium SMS, bank transfer, pay pal, something?
Upgraded to premium for this alone! I hope you can update your catalogue in high res asap :) Will there be an indicator which shows which tracks have been converted? Keep up the good work.
luv it..but I still don't think I'll go for premium until upgrade info is less vague than "next few weeks...AND months". As it seems you're starting with more popular stuff and I'm way more insterested by the polar opposite (one key feature of spotify is to bring at lot of underground labels/content vs those awful mainstream platforms & la Deezer & co...) , it would be quite annoying to upgrade now and notice zero quality change before six months... see my point ?