Spotify will begin allow its free customers to take advantage of direct streaming via Spotify Connect-enabled speakers, according to The Verge, although individual hardware manufacturers will need to push out a firmware update to bring their speakers up to Spotify’s latest SDK to enable the feature.
Once enabled, however, users will be able to enjoy higher-quality Wi-Fi steaming to their speakers that feature Spotify Connect, eliminating the need to keep the playback device within Bluetooth range.
While Spotify’s free tier will still be ad-supported, and there will a limit on how many tracks can be skipped, the move should offer a boon to those who haven’t been able to take advantage of the Spotify Connect feature, or who may have been paying up exclusively for that feature.
