We’ve been dreaming of listening to lossless audio through Spotify ever since the music streaming service announced plans for Spotify HiFi all the way back in February 2021. More than three years on, the upgrade might finally be arriving, with a new name.
Thanks to some diligent digging into the Spotify for Android code by the user Hypixely on Reddit (via The Verge), we now have evidence for an as-yet-unannounced Spotify feature called Music Pro, which Spotify is describing as an add-on.
With mentions of “16-bit and 24-bit high-fidelity sound” and “Lossless listening” in the code though, this sure sounds like Spotify HiFi. Apparently, advanced mixing tools and playlist filtering features are going to be included too.
There are no hints on price or when we might see this, but all the indications are that there’ll be a new Music Pro add-on available for Spotify soon, including goodies such as lossless audio and the advanced remixing tools we reported on yesterday.
Spotify takes its time
In the words of the Beatles, it’s been a long and winding road to get to this point. Since Spotify HiFi was originally announced in 2021 (and promised for later that year), we’ve had so little official news about it that we were prepared to declare the project dead.
However, leaks from insiders and hidden code spotted in the Spotify apps have previously rekindled our hopes. In the past there’s been mention of a new ‘Supremium’ plan, which now seems to have morphed into Music Pro.
Code discovered in September 2023 pointed to a fee of $20 (about £16 / AU$31) per month, with extras such as AI playlist generation (since launched in beta for Premium subscribers), new ways to sort through your playlists, and more personalized music recaps.
Spotify is clearly keen to get more money out of its users, and audiophiles may well be tempted into splashing out on Music Pro, if it has enough appeal. This should all be made official sooner rather than later… we hope.