Spotify's free users can now search and play songs with ease

Spotify free users can now search and play specific songs with an actually decent update announced Monday.

Detailed in a company blog post, the audio streamer now lets non-paying users play any track or podcast by searching directly for it, a feature previously only available with the paid tier, Spotify Premium.

Ad-supported accounts had to previously shuffle through albums or playlists to reach a particular song, with six skips allowed per hour. Mashable sister site CNET tested the updated free tier and found this skip rule no longer applies.

Spotify free users can also play songs and podcasts shared by friends, removing the hurdle when sharing a Spotify track link to a friend without a Premium account (this also applies to artists sharing tracks). Free users have always had the ability to create playlists, but now the tier has access to the custom cover art tool launched in 2024. Plus, last year, Spotify made its algorithm-generated daylists available to free users.

So, what's the point of paying £11.99/$11.99 per month for Spotify Premium, then?

The free update comes after Spotify announced lossless audio for Premium users, a long-promised feature, and the testing of custom transitions in playlists for this tier. Free accounts also still don't have access to 15 hours of monthly audiobook streaming, offline downloads, track queuing, ad-free listening, or the AI DJ feature, but the newly launched chat feature is available to both free and Premium users over 16.

Though free users can't queue songs, you can join collaborative Jams that a Premium user has started, and per Monday's blog post, Spotify has officially unlocked its lyrics feature for free users (these were previously paywalled).