[Jtom94]

I recently download spotify and their music sounds really great. It sounds so much better than pandora or any other music player online. How do i get my music to sound like it does on spotify? What compression or rate are they playing their music?

 

[mark2410]

http://www.spotify.com/uk/help/faq/tech/codec-quality/
 

What quality does Spotify stream in?

We use the Ogg Vorbis format for streaming. There are three quality ratings that we use:

1. q3 (~96 kbps)
2. q5 (~160 kbps)
3. q9 (~320 kbps)

Note: not all tracks are currently available in high bitrate.
Desktop: Streams are q5 quality. Premium subscribers can enable higher bit rate streaming at q9 from the preferences menu.
Mobile: A higher quality q5 is offered, along with a “low bandwidth” option of q3. You can choose separate qualities ratings for streaming and synching in the More tab of your Spotify mobile app.

 

[firev1]

Ogg is a newer format somewhat superior to mp3 at especially at lower bitrates so you get more bang per bit of data.

 

[HairPhones]

For juxtaposition,
 
Pandora streams music at 64kbps AAC.
 
http://blog.bitcartel.com/2008/04/pandoracom-tale-of-two-codecs.html
 
 
If you want music that sounds as good as those on Spotify, then you could upgrade your music library to one with more bit rate per song.

 

[dwinnert]

How about compared to MOG which does 320 only?