Spotify has been teasing the launch of its HiFi plan for years now, with rumors circulating about how much a plan that includes lossless audio might cost. Despite all the teases, rumors, and leaks, we’ve yet to get an official release window for the feature, even though reports suggest Spotify plans to increase prices soon. Instead, the music streaming company has decided to focus on releasing new features, including a surprising revamp of the direct messaging system that it killed off back in 2017.
The launch of its direct messaging system is the latest addition to the Spotify app, and the company says it will make sharing songs with your friends even easier than it already is. Of course, there’s an argument to be made for having to connect with people on Spotify and then share songs there, versus sharing the links to Spotify tabs on Discord, iMessage, and other messaging services.
I’m unsure if the launch of direct messages will have the desired effect — I’ve yet to actually connect with any of my friends on Spotify despite sharing songs with them pretty consistently through other methods — though your mileage may vary depending on how you use the platform.
Not quite the features users wanted
The other thing to keep in mind with the launch of this new feature is that it isn’t what Spotify users have been waiting years to see. There’s still no mention of when we can expect to see HiFi plans hit the streaming app, despite competitors like Apple Music already offering lossless music listening. Even if Spotify does launch HiFi this year, as some reports have suggested, how many will just stick with Apple Music or services they already have instead of paying extra to receive lossless capabilities?
These are questions that Spotify will have to answer in some form or another, even if those answers are only ever debated in marketing meetings. As someone who has used both Apple Music and Spotify, I much prefer how easy it is to share what I’m listening to from Spotify, as more people have access to it than Apple Music in my friend group. So, the app certainly has that going for it.
Overall, I don’t think a direct messaging system is going to change how I share songs with those friends. Of course, everyone uses the platform differently, and it’s possible there are people out there who actually want even more social elements in the music streaming app. All we can do now is hope that future news releases bring us information about Spotify’s HiFi plans, which continue to be a mystery.
