Just how annoying are the ads?
I have never subscribed to Spotify. Music just isn't that terribly important to me and having a thumb drive with Home Free songs that I can play in the car is really about all the interest I have in curating play lists and being able to listen to music (OK, I do have an ancient iPod that still works just fine and has enough songs on it that I don't get bored). That being said, music is incredibly important to my sister. For Christmas last year, she gifted me a nice Bluetooth speaker and gave me some $$$ and told me she really wanted to pay for a Spotify premium subscription for me. But I don't have anything really to play on the speaker--no music saved on my phone (I know--*gasp!* 😁). I briefly looked into Spotify...I see that a year's subscription would be $18.99/month, which to me wouldn't be worth the money (I don't make that much, and what money I do make, I can think of a thousand better uses for it). A free Spotify account doesn't sound that bad...but just how frequent and intrusive are the ads? If we're talking one every 3-4 songs, that's fine. If we're talking 3 ads after every song, then nah, forget it.
I'll show myself back to the 1990s now...<g>