In the digital era, music streaming services have revolutionised the way we listen to and discover music. With a vast library of songs, albums, and playlists at our fingertips, we can access our favourite tunes anytime, anywhere. However, many streaming platforms now offer the option to download music, allowing users to enjoy their favourite music offline. In this article, we’ll delve into the benefits of downloading music from your preferred streaming service and explore how it can enhance your overall listening experience.
What Are The Benefits Of Downloading Your Music?
1. Uninterrupted Listening
One of the key advantages of downloading music is the ability to listen without an Internet connection. Whether you're commuting, travelling, or simply in an area with poor network coverage, having your favourite songs, albums, or playlists stored on your device ensures uninterrupted listening pleasure. You’ll no longer experience buffering or interruptions due to weak signals, thereby giving you the freedom to enjoy your music wherever you may roam.
2. Save Data and Battery Life
Streaming music consumes a significant amount of data, especially when you're constantly on the move. Plus, it only gets worse if you decide to stream Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless offerings. By downloading music, you can save your data for other important tasks and avoid hitting data caps imposed by many cellular providers. Additionally, streaming music requires a stable internet connection, which can further drain your device's battery. Downloading songs lets you conserve battery life by playing music directly from your device's storage.
3. Enhanced Sound Quality
While streaming services typically offer high-quality, or in some cases Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless audio, downloading music takes the listening experience to another level. By downloading songs, you can enjoy them in their original, uncompressed format, thereby ensuring that you're not limited by the stability of your Internet connection. Audiophiles and music enthusiasts will particularly appreciate the improved sound quality that downloading music offers.
Now, you may be sceptical for surely a stream should be the same quality as the downloaded counterpart. Yes, it should be, but in the case of Apple Music, for instance, you’ll notice when you go to Settings > Music > Audio Quality > Wi-Fi Streaming (or Data Streaming) that at the very bottom of that screen, there is a statement that says:
Support varies and depends on song availability, network conditions, and connected speaker or headphone capability.
Interestingly, none of these statements are present in the Downloads subsection. Nevertheless, the core element to focus on here is network conditions.
Using Apple Music as an example, when I’ve had limited cellular coverage and been trying to stream with Lossless (ALAC up to 24-bit/48kHz) selected, as the car would drive in and out of strong coverage and dip down to a single bar, the stream would switch from Lossless to Lossy on the fly. In my opinion, this is done because Apple doesn’t want you to have an interrupted experience if it can help it and automatically determines that if you have limited cellular coverage and signal strength, then you will be delivered a lower quality stream rather than leaving you with no music at all or one that drops in and out throughout your journey.
Logical, isn’t it? You could almost call it a feature. The problem is, without downloading, you’re not guaranteed to get the music delivered to you at your preferred level of quality. Whether or not you can hear a difference, particularly in a moving car, is a discussion for another day. However, by downloading the lossless version, you can avoid that possibility entirely.
You may also notice in cellular options that Apple has an even lower option than their regular lossy AAC 256 kb/s stream. Yes, dear reader, this automatic downshifting of quality may even dump you down to High Efficiency (HE-AAC) at ~64 kb/s and trust me, you’d notice that difference. For a point of reference, Apple Music Radio streams use the HE-AAC audio codec and it is so audibly different to their AAC 256 kb/s streams that I rarely listen to the radio option because it is, noticeably, sonically compromised; a shame considering some of the shows are otherwise well-produced and entertaining.
4. Overcome Geographical Restrictions
Music licensing agreements can vary across different regions, resulting in geographical restrictions on certain tracks or albums. However, by downloading music from your preferred streaming service, you can bypass these limitations when travelling abroad. Once downloaded, the songs, albums, and playlists are stored on your device, granting you access to your favourite music, regardless of where you are in the world.
Are There Any Disadvantages To Downloading Your Music?
As with anything, there are counterarguments to be made and this topic is no exception.
Before taking a look at the one big disadvantage of downloading your music it’s important to note that sometimes if you don’t have any cellular data, at all, the app on your phone can’t touch base with the server to confirm that your subscription is still valid. At those times there is a possibility that the music you have downloaded won’t play. It isn’t, however, a regular occurrence but it happened to my son recently. Once he reconnected to the Internet, I was never able to replicate the issue again, but it is something to be aware of. Hence, if you feel you’re going to be without Internet for an extended period, then it is advisable to buy music digitally or continue to rip your CD collection as those options are not reliant on an Internet connection.
Lack Of Storage
As much as many of us, myself included, value our iPhones the one nagging element is that there is no way to increase the internal storage post-purchase. Android users most certainly have the advantage here for they have traditionally been able to add high-capacity microSD cards to their phones in order to expand the available storage, but things are changing.
Flagship Android phones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S23, no longer offer a microSD card slot. Subsequently, it’s fair to say that most people opt for a phone with a modest amount of storage, perhaps not paying attention to their storage needs, instead looking at the associated costs for these devices are far from affordable. Of course, it depends on what you choose to store, as well as the quality of the music you choose to download, for you may be completely fine with modest storage options.
If your storage requirements exceed the entry-level storage options, then take the time to carefully consider how much storage you require. A good rule of thumb is to buy a device with twice the amount of storage you’re currently using on the device you have today. For instance, if you have filled up 128GB then it is logical to aim for 256GB of storage next time you upgrade your device.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you spend money that you don’t have, but if you can comfortably afford a device that has more storage, then there is a very good chance that the freedom and flexibility you’ll achieve will outweigh the exorbitant price tag.
If, for whatever reason, additional storage is not an option, but you’d still like to download your tunes for offline listening, then consider downloading only certain albums and playlists; the ones you couldn’t imagine living without. For instance, I’d take a look at my ranked lists for the best albums and download them accordingly. Following this approach, I would then swap the music out on a weekly or monthly basis so that while I was focusing on a few of my absolute favourites, there was always a new selection of music to enjoy.
Regardless of how you prefer to listen to music from your preferred streaming service, downloading can be, and is for this writer, a game-changer in the world of music consumption. It provides the flexibility and freedom to enjoy your favourite songs, albums, and playlists anytime, anywhere, without being tethered to an Internet connection. By saving data, while also ensuring sound quality remains paramount and uninterrupted, downloading music enhances your overall listening experience by ensuring that your favourite tunes are always just a tap away.