Spotify readies local offline music file playback at last

By Chris Burns/

The latest version of Spotify includes preparatory file mentions of local music playback. This code suggests there'll be a toggle for "Show device files" – which would allow the user to show all audio files "on your device" in Spotify's "Your Library." This would allow you to view the music files on your phone – like MP3s you have downloaded from back in the day.

Per an update from Jane Machun Wong, on-device local files support for Android appears to be coming to a wider variety of devices in the near future. Spotify appears to be working to bring the feature to more devices – starting with Beta builds. The company has not yet notified the public about plans to release this feature on any devices beyond test builds – but things are looking up!

YouTube Music has a local music playback option – but there you'll have to deal with advertisements all over the place. Unless you pay the fees YouTube Music incurs. Where Google Music gave you that option without ads – along with music uploads and playback for free – YouTube Music does not.

If you're looking for a Google Music alternative or a Spotify alternative for local music files, take a peek at AIMP. Or if you want to with an alternative to that, take a peek at doubleTwist music and podcast player with sync.

Take a peek at the timeline below for more information on the most recent several updates to Spotify. They're taking things out a whole new door – and not just for music. They're going all out on Podcast upload abilities, just released their most-played songs of the year lists, and had a bit of a hacking incident – just to make things interesting.

Recommended