How to Use SpotDL: A Complete Review, Tutorial, and Best Alternatives

Part 1. What is SpotDL?

SpotDL is a powerful, feature-packed music downloader designed for Spotify users who want to enjoy their music offline. SpotDL is incredibly fast, converting Spotify tracks, albums, and playlists into MP3 files sourced from YouTube with impressive efficiency. It also adds essential metadata like album art, track details (track name, duration, album name, artist name, genre, music label, release date), and even lyrics, keeping your music collection perfectly organized.

SpotDL began as an open-source project on GitHub and was later released under the MIT License. Although it runs on Python, you don't need to be a tech expert to use it. The tool is easy to use, with most people being able to get it up and running without any technical know-how. This ease of use is one of the main reasons SpotDL is so popular, even among users who aren't tech-savvy.

SpotDL integrates seamlessly with the Spotify API, letting you choose exactly what you want to download - whether it's single tracks or full playlists. This flexibility, combined with its speed, makes SpotDL the perfect solution for anyone looking to organize their music, customize their downloads, and enjoy their music offline, anytime, anywhere. While not everyone needs all of its features, they're certainly valuable for those who want full control over their music library.

Part 2. How to Access SpotDL

SpotDL is a simple, cross-platform tool that makes downloading Spotify music easy. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, so regardless of your operating system, you can enjoy its benefits.

Since SpotDL runs on Python, it may require additional software like Python itself, Ffmpeg, or Visual C++ Redistributable. You can download SpotDL from its official GitHub page, where you'll find all the resources, documentation, and instructions needed for setup. Even if you've never used a command-line tool before, SpotDL is designed to be user-friendly. It only takes a few straightforward commands to get everything up and running, allowing you to start downloading your favorite music in no time.

Details:

Part 3. Is SpotDL Safe, Legal, and Worth Using?

SpotDL is a fast and flexible tool for downloading Spotify music, especially for those familiar with command-line tools. However, it comes with potential drawbacks like lower audio quality and legal risks. If you're comfortable with these limitations, it can be a useful tool for expanding your music library.

Spotify Music Converter

A brilliant Spotify music downloader designed to download and convert all Spotify music songs, playlists, albums, artists, and podcasts to MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, M4A, M4B losslessly, offering you a great experience to enjoy Spotify music offline on any player and device.

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Part 4. How to Set SpotDL up for Downloading Music

Setting up SpotDL is straightforward and accessible, even for users who are unfamiliar with command-line tools. Below is a comprehensive guide, including various methods to make the most of SpotDL.

1. Install Essential Components

Before using SpotDL, you need to install a few essential components:

• Python: Install from the Python official website.
• FFmpeg: Install from the FFmpeg official website.
• Visual C++ Redistributable (Windows users only): Install from Microsoft's site.

For macOS and Linux users, these dependencies can be installed via Homebrew (macOS) or APT package managers (Linux).

2. Install SpotDL

Once the dependencies are set up, open your command-line interface (Command Prompt on Windows or Terminal on macOS/Linux), and install SpotDL by running:

pip install spotdl

3. Download Music

To download a track, album, or playlist from Spotify, simply run the following command:

spotdl <Spotify-URL>

Replace <Spotify-URL> with the link to the track, album, or playlist you want to download. SpotDL will fetch the audio from YouTube and save it as an MP3 file.

Real-World Usage Examples:

spotdl https://open.spotify.com/track/2lfPecqFbH8X4lHSpTxt8l

spotdl --file file_full_of_tracks.txt

from spotdl.command_line.core import Spotdl
args = {
    "no_encode": True,  # Option to avoid re-encoding the audio
}
with Spotdl(args) as spotdl_handler:
    spotdl_handler.download_track("https://open.spotify.com/track/2lfPecqFbH8X4lHSpTxt8l")
    print("Downloading second track.")
    spotdl_handler.download_track("ncs spectre")  # Search by track name
    print("Downloading tracks from file.")
    spotdl_handler.download_tracks_from_file("file_full_of_tracks.txt")  # Batch download from file

Extra Tip: Using SpotDL Web Player for Windows

If you're not familiar with Python or prefer a simpler method, you can still use SpotDL via its GUI on Windows 10 or 11:

1. Open your web browser and visit the SpotDL release page on GitHub.
2. Download and install SpotDL according to the instructions provided on the release page.
3. After installation, the tool will open a downloader window in your browser.



4. Type the title of the Spotify song, album, artist, or playlist in the search field.
5. Press the search button next to the search field to find results.



6. SpotDL will display a list of matching results. Select what you want to download and click the Download button.
7. Once you've selected your music, SpotDL will add it to the download queue. Click on the Cloud icon at the top right to view the queue.



8. In the download queue view, click the Download button to start downloading the MP3 files.

Part 5. Top Alternatives to SpotDL

If you are using other operating system such as Mac, or you're expericing any frustration when trying using spotDL, you're highly recommended using ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, which is designed for both Premium and free users to download music directly from the Spotify desktop client.

ViWizard Spotify Music Converter is the best Spotify music downloader for both Windows and macOS operating systems to download the 100% original music files of your favorite contents, including songs, playlists, albums, artists, podcasts, and even audiobooks in batch. You can make them compatible with your devices as MP3, M4A, M4B, WAV, AAC, and FLAC. Your positive listening experience is ensured by keeping the lossless audio and full ID3 tags with the downloaded music files. By embedding this metadata into the downloaded files, ViWizard helps ensure that your downloaded music is properly tagged and organized on your device.

Using ViWizard Spotify Music Converter, you can conveniently download your favorite music from Spotify for personal use. Meanwhile, you gain the ability to transfer and play your downloads offline on your device effortlessly.

Key Features of ViWizard Spotify Music Converter

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• Download Spotify songs, albums, playlists, podcasts, audiobooks
• Convert Spotify music to lossless MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, M4A, M4B
• Support playing offline Spotify music on any device at any time
• Compatible with Windows and macOS, as well as, the latest Spotify

Step 1Select Spotify music

Firstly, download and install the correct version of the ViWizard app depending on your operating system, and configure it on your computer. The Spotify desktop app will be opened automatically for you to access your music library and Spotify's music catalog. From there you can head over to what you want to download from Spotify, and drag and drop the music tracks to the ViWizard app. ViWizard will display a list of added music tracks.

Step 2Adjust output format

Then, you should adjust the output format. Click the menu icon in the upper-right corner of the ViWizard app, and select Preferences from the context menu. Go to the Convert tab, and open the drop-down menu on the current format, and select MP3 or another desired format from it. You can choose to adjust bit rate, sample rate, and channel there. Once done, click OK to save the changes.

Step 3Download Spotify music

Back to the main interface of the ViWizard desktop app, and click on the Convert button in the upper-right corner to start converting and downloaded the added music tracks. Wait for the conversion to complete, and click on the file icon next to the download location at the bottom of the screen. This will open the music folder that contains all the downloaded music files.