Spotify’s removed its 10K library limit — but it won’t replace my MP3 collection

You’re gonna have to pry my digital music library out of my cold, sweaty hands. Yeah, I have a subscription to a music streaming service (who do you think I am? your grandad? come on) — but this is in addition to my MP3s, not as a replacement.

But — and here comes the part you’re interested in — Spotify has gotten substantially better at being your central music hub. And I’m gonna tell you why: because it has removed its 10K library limit.

Considering this ticket was first raised in 2014, it’s shocking it took this long to be implemented.

[Read: Future AirPods might jam light sensors into your ears because… health]

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Previously, you could only save 10K items (effectively songs or albums) in a Spotify library. When you reached this point, you were confronted with this fucking frustrating message:

What the removal of this 10K library limit means is you can now save as many tracks as your heart desires. Want all of Aqua’s music, but don’t want to delete your Ricky Martin anthology? Spotify has you.

Basically, for anyone vaguely serious about their music, this is a Good Thing™. A deep library is now within your grasp.

Thing is, it’s still got nothing on having an actual digital music collection.

Yeah, Spotify is amazing for discovering music and diving into discographies — and I think I’ll always have a subscription — but when it comes to actually building and crafting a library, having the actual digital files is heads, shoulders, knees, and toes above the streaming service.

Really, it’s the combination of hundreds of small things that make your own digital music collection worth it.

Selecting an artist and only having the albums and tracks you want. Not having top tracks shoved in your face. The ability to define the file quality per track or album. Choosing your own genres. Navigating by them. Easily separating artists you need to check-out, as opposed to stuff that’s part of your library — it goes on and on.

As someone with a pretty big (if I say so myself) digital music collection, Spotify lifting its 10k library limit makes it far more appealing as my central service. But, I’m gonna keep on boomering, and it’s gonna take a bit more than this to make me give up my MP3 collection.

Nice try, Spotify, but not today.