With the downloading service, you keep the songs you pay for, regardless of whether or not your Spotify account is open. If this is the case, then there would be no DRM restrictions on the content as the MP3 format is not compatible with DRM. I have heard that the downloaded music files are MP3s.

Downloading is not available where I am, so my knowledge on that subject is a bit more limited. For offline playlists, there is a limit of 3,333 total songs that can be available offline at any given time.ĭownloading on the other hand is something that is enabled in certain areas. So, in that context, the songs are basically DRM protected. You are restricted to playing those songs through the Spotify client. When the songs are cached, they are encrypted, so it would not be possible to remove them, and do with them as you please. Offline playlists are essentially a cached stream, and not individually stored songs. The offline playlists are not related to downloading either. You are correct in that Spotify Premium and downloading are not the same thing.

I think I can answer all but one question you have.

Spotify mp3 player reddit