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Paul Brown recently wrote a great article on Why Spotify is an iTunes-killer worth paying for. In it, he mentions that you can sync your local music with Spotify on your mobile. This feature’s been around in Spotify for a while now but it seems that not everyone was aware of it. Instead of having to use cables or manually copy files to your phone, Spotify can sync them for you via WiFi. So to complement Paul’s article, here’s an expanded How To Guide.
NOTE: since this article was written, Spotify updated their app to make it easier to sync (see the comments below). Basically you should now see you smartphone/iPod appear in the new Devices section in Spotify desktop. You can then just tick the playlists you want to sync, or make Spotify sync everything.
.1: Import to Library
Spotify is a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs.
First of all, if you’ve not already done so you need to import the MP3s you want to sync into the Spotify Library:
- Start Spotify on your desktop.
- Click the Library link then follow the instructions to import the MP3s into Spotify. You can browse to a folder to import or simply drag-and-drop the music files into the the Library’s Local Files view:
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Spotify Desktop Not In Sync With Mobile Apps
Add another device that supports Spotify or has the app (like a speaker or laptop). Connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network, and log in to Spotify. Listen out loud. Close Spotify while establishing the connection. Close any other apps you’re not using. Once you’ve checked the above, try restarting the connection: Turn off the Bluetooth on your speaker or sound system. With the Bluetooth settings on your device with the Spotify app switched on, delete the information of the speaker or sound system. How to Add Songs to Spotify. To clarify what you're doing here, you're not actually uploading music in the sense that you're sending it to Spotify's servers. Instead, you're adding your local music to directories on a desktop machine to Spotify, at which point it will include that content when it displays your collection. Open Spotify on your phone or tablet. Tap the Spotify app icon. This will open your Spotify home page if you're logged in. If you aren't signed into Spotify, enter your username (or email address) and password before continuing. If you're using a tablet, make sure that it's on the same Wi-Fi network as the desktop computer. Open the Spotify app on your phone, and you should see it pop up under the devices listing on the left side of your computer's Spotify app. Click the icon for your device and you should see this. Spotify Premium lets you download up to 10,000 songs on up to five devices, so that you don't have to use your precious mobile data to stream your favorite music and podcasts on the go.
2: Create Playlist
Create a new playlist then drag the tracks you want to sync from the Local Files area into the playlist. You might want to create one playlist per album, a “New Tracks 2011” playlist, or one big playlist with all your local music. For example, here’s a playlist for the Arcade Fire album The Suburbs:
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3: Connect Phone and Sync
Now make sure your phone is connected via WiFi to the same network as your PC (this step is important: you can’t sync local files over 3G). Also make sure Spotify is still open on the desktop, otherwise the files wont sync.
- Start Spotify on your mobile.
- Click Edit Offline Playlists then locate the new playlist(s) you created earlier. Tick them to start the offline syncing. The local files from your PC are then downloaded to your mobile:
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Spotify Desktop App Not Opening
As you add or remove local files to these playlists on the desktop, the mobile version keeps in sync with the changes. So in three easy steps, I now have Arcade Fire on Spotify Mobile!
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