How to score a free Google Home Mini if you’re a Spotify Premium subscriber

By Simon Cohen October 22, 2019

Google Home Mini Review — Dan Baker/Digital Trends.com

Looks like Spotify is giving away smart speakers again. Almost a year to the day of its last Google Home Mini giveaway, Spotify is back for a repeat performance. It’s giving away free Google Home Minis right now, to all new and existing Spotify Premium accountholders in the U.S. This time, the company isn’t restricting the offer to just family accounts — individual accountholders can get in on the action, too.

To take advantage of this amazing offer, head on over to either the Premium Family or Premium Individual home pages and sign up for a free Google Home Mini.

Why the freebie? Apparently, Spotify was just really happy at how popular the last giveaway was. “At our core, Spotify Premium wants to make it easy to enjoy your favorite music anytime, anywhere. We were delighted by the response of our first Google Home Mini offer last year, which is why we’re excited to extend our partnership with Google and expand the offer to now include both Family and Individual Premium plans,” sais Marc Hazan, Spotify’s vice president of premium partnerships, in a press release. “With the holidays just around the corner, Spotify and Google Home Mini are helping you fill your homes with music you love by simply using your voice.”

Google’s Assistant-powered smart speakers are compatible with many paid and free music services, most notably its own Google Play Music and YouTube Music services, but Spotify’s massive popularity makes it the music service of choice for most smart speaker users.

Spotify has a free, ad-supported tier, but this plan is not compatible with most smart speaker devices. To use Spotify with the Google Home Mini, you need a Premium subscription. Individual Premium plans cost $10 per month and include offline listening options. Family plans cost $15 per month and let up to six different users stream music at the same time.

Discounts on Spotify Premium plans are available — if you’re a student, you can get an individual plan for just $5 per month, which also comes with a free Hulu subscription, making it a fantastic deal. Add on the Google Home Mini giveaway, and it’s a no-brainer for students on a tight budget.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor, A/V

Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like…

Audio / Video

There’s a rare deal on the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones today

Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones seen in black.

The massively popular Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones rarely appear in headphone deals, so if you've had your eye on them for quite a while, you're in luck because they're currently $51 off on Walmart. From their original price of $400, you'll only have to pay $349, but only if you hurry because we don't expect stocks to last long. You're going to miss out on the offer if you take too long, so don't hesitate -- add the wireless headphones to your cart and check out as fast as you can.

Why you should buy the Sony WH-1000XM5
The best headphones that you can buy right now are the Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones, and it's not even close. At the heart is their outstanding wireless sound, supported by top-quality active noise cancellation that uses two processors and eight microphones to block all unwanted sound, as well as crystal-clear hands-free calling using four beamforming microphones and advanced audio signal processing. The wireless headphones also offer Bluetooth multipoint connection so that you can quickly switch between different devices, touch controls for functions like adjusting volume and calling your digital assistant, and Speak-to-Chat and Quick Attention features to stop your music and let ambient sound in without having to take them off.

Audio / Video

Sony’s premium soundbars will finally get support for VRR, ALLM

Sony HT-A7000 Dolby Atmos soundbar close-up of top panel.

It's been a long time coming, but the wait is almost over. Sony's premium home theater soundbars are set to receive a software update that will add support for variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low-latency mode (ALLM), two HDMI 2.1 gaming features that have been absent since these products launched.

The soundbars in question are the Sony HT-A5000, HT-A7000, and the multi-wireless speaker HT-A9 system. All three are scheduled to receive the update this fall, but Sony has declined to share specific timing, saying only that there will be more information closer to the rollout date.

Audio / Video

What is Roku? The streaming platform explained

A roku powered TV hanging on a wall running Roku OS 12.

How do you get your Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or Prime Video fix? Chances are it's through a streaming device or smart TV, and there's a good chance that it's through a Roku device or one running its pioneering streaming operating system. At this point, cord-cutting is old news, and Roku was one of the earliest companies to drive the adoption of web-based streaming with its self-contained, app-driven devices.

Today, watching something "on Roku" is standard parlance and the company's popular platform can be found baked into some of the biggest TV brands in the world as well as in its own lineup of streaming devices sticks, and set-top boxes. Even so, that doesn't mean you totally get what a Roku actually is. What is Roku? How does Roku work? Do you need a subscription to use it? Is it just a device you buy, or is it software?