It was nearly four years ago that Spotify touted its next big feature for music lovers: lossless streaming, aka Spotify HiFi.

Finally, Spotify Premium users would get the chance to “upgrade their sound quality” from Spotify’s lossy 320Kbps Ogg Vobis codec to lossless CD-quality audio, with Billie Eilish and Finneas extoling the virtues of lossless Spotify HiFi streaming in a promotional video. The launch date for Spotify HiFi: “later this year,” meaning sometime before the end of 2021.

Left unsaid but implied in Spotify’s February 2021 announcement was that Premium subscribers would be charged extra for lossless streaming. How much extra wasn’t clear, but the whole “upgrade” wording sure made it sound like you’d have to pay more for Spotify HiFi, thus helping Spotify inch its way tow

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