With Spotify Premium on your phone, you can end an evening with The Weeknd's Out of Time and Drake's Fountains without power ballads from the Cats soundtrack ruining the moment. With the free version, you're forced to listen in shuffle mode outside of select playlists, such as Daily Mixes. The biggest reason to upgrade if you use Spotify's paid app on your smartphone is the ability to play any song you want. Several of these features and settings apply to the service's mobile app, and we noted where Spotify Free may or may not differ if you're listening on a phone, desktop or tablet.

Unlike Apple Music, Spotify offers a free, ad-supported version of its service, which poses the question: Should you pay to listen? In addition to removing the ads that interrupt your music-streaming enjoyment, there are six good reasons to pony up $10 (£10, AU$12) a month for Spotify Premium. Out of its 400 million-plus user base, 182 million are paid subscribers, and it's one of top music streaming services in the world. Spotify boasts more than 50 million songs in its catalog and grants users access to the entire archive, regardless of their subscription level.

Spotify premium benefits