Can you download music from Spotify to mac?

I have tried downloading songs from Spotify to Mac on Mac before. I have tried several methods and summarized 3 more reliable ones. See which one is suitable for you.

1. Spotify Premium official download (the simplest, but with limitations)
Suitable for: Already subscribed to Spotify Premium, just need to listen offline in Spotify.
Operation:

1. Open Spotify for Mac and log in to Premium account.
2. On the playlist or album page, find the "Download" button and click it to cache it locally.
3. It can only be played in Spotify, and cannot be exported to MP3 or played across devices.

The downloaded songs are in encrypted format and cannot be played on other players.
After the subscription expires, the downloaded songs will become invalid.

Method 2: Mac's built-in "Audio MIDI Setup" recording 
If you are using the free version of Spotify, you can use the tools that come with Mac to record music.

Advantages: No software installation is required, and Spotify songs can be converted into audio files.
 Disadvantages: Recording requires real-time playback, which is inefficient and requires manual editing.

Specific steps:

1. Open "Audio MIDI Setup" (found in Applications > Utilities).
2. Click "Create Aggregate Device" and select "Built-in Output" and "Built-in Input".
3. Open QuickTime Player and click "File" > "New Audio Recording".
4. Play a song on Spotify and start QuickTime recording at the same time.
5. Click "Stop" after recording, and then export the audio file (the format can be MP3, AAC, WAV, etc.).

⚠️ Limitations:

Can only record in real time, and you have to wait 3 minutes for 3 minutes of playback.

Method 3: Use the browser "Developer Tools" to grab the audio stream 
When the web version of Spotify is playing, it actually loads the audio stream file, which we can find with the "Developer Tools".

1. Open Spotify Web Player (URL: https://open.spotify.com) with Chrome or Edge browser.
2. Press F12 to open the "Developer Tools" and switch to the "Network" tab.
3. Click "Media" and then play Spotify songs.
4. Find the .mp4 or .ogg file, right-click to copy the link, and open it in a new browser tab.
5. Right-click "Save As" to download the audio file, and then you can use fffempeg to convert the format.

fffmepeg -i downloaded_audio.ogg -acodec libmp3lame output.mp3

⚠️ Limitations:

Not all songs can be used with this method, sometimes the audio is segmented.

Although there is no official method to download songs from Spotify to Mac, these solutions can be implemented as workarounds. Try which one works for you!