That was true in the past but it's no longer true. I don't know when it changed.

That’s absolutely still true. I just disabled Spotify app link handling, and then Spotify opens in Firefox on my phone. And on Desktop it works the same way.

When I open a Spotify link as a webpage, I can't play that song unless I have an account. At some point in the past you didn't have to.

You always had to, in the past it gave a 30s preview. It still does that in Discord.

At least for me in the Netherlands, for the past month if I click a link to a specific song, I get redirected to a page to start a radio based on the artist and encouraged to upgrade to Premium.

I've had to get friends to share the titles manually, before I found Odesli to be able to convert them.

Right, but before it just loaded the page of the album/playlist and told you to sign in to your account. It has never allowed you to play songs without a sign in.

Yeah, the generated preview (depending on what application the link is shared in) can play a 30 second sample, but if you want to listen to the whole song you need to have an account, and if you don't have a subscription you'll likely get an ad first.

It's why I often share a youtube link instead, it plays inline a lot of the time and when it plays inline it often doesn't have ads. But that may also be because I have an effective ad blocker (for now).

> Do the spotify links not just open the song in some kind of web app if you dont have spotify installed?

The page won't even load if you don't have the DRM plug-in installed.

I don't think you can _listen_ to the song without an account anyway.