Can I save music from Deezer?

What is Deezer?

Deezer is a popular music streaming service founded in 2007 that allows users to listen to music on-demand. As of 2023, Deezer has over 90 million licensed tracks in its catalog from record labels and media companies around the world (Source). It is available in over 180 countries and has 16 million monthly active users as of 2022. Deezer offers a free ad-supported tier as well as paid subscription plans without ads and with additional features like high quality audio, offline listening, and simultaneous device streaming.

With Deezer, users can search for and play nearly any song instantly. The service creates customized recommendations and playlists based on listening habits and preferences. It also has human-curated editorial playlists covering genres, moods, activities and more. Deezer provides unlimited skips and can be used across devices like phones, tablets, computers, smart speakers, TVs, cars and gaming consoles.

Why download music from Deezer?

There are several advantages to downloading music from Deezer rather than just streaming it according to various sources. One major benefit is the ability to listen offline without an internet connection (Subjectivesounds, 2023). Once you download songs or playlists from Deezer, you can access them anytime, anywhere – on a plane, commute, or when traveling somewhere without data or WiFi. This makes downloading ideal for situations when streaming isn’t possible.

Downloading also allows you to own permanent copies of the music. As long as you have the files, you’ll be able to listen regardless of what happens with your Deezer subscription or the streaming platform. According to Ask.com (2023), having the MP3 downloads means you have full control and access. Downloading serves as a backup of sorts in case streaming access is later restricted or lost.

In addition, downloading music can avoid the need for a continual paid subscription to Deezer. By acquiring the songs you want outright, you don’t have to keep paying a monthly streaming fee. This can lead to substantial savings over time, especially if you listen to a lot of music regularly (Blocsonic, 2023). Overall, downloading from Deezer enables offline listening, permanent access to music you like, and avoiding subscription costs – key benefits over just streaming.

Is it legal?

Downloading music from Deezer is technically against Deezer’s Terms of Service, which state that users may only “stream” content and specifically prohibits downloading. However, copyright law recognizes certain exceptions like fair use that may legally permit downloading music from Deezer in certain circumstances.

Under copyright law, owners have exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, and create derivative works from copyrighted works. Downloading involves making a reproduction, so it generally requires permission from the copyright holder. However, the legal doctrine of fair use provides an exception if the use is “fair” based on four factors:

The purpose and character of use (non-commercial, transformative, etc.)
The nature of the copyrighted work

The amount and substantiality copied
The effect on the market for the original work

Personal, non-commercial downloading of individual songs may qualify as fair use, but systematic or excessive downloading likely does not. Ultimately, legality depends on individual circumstances. While downloading from Deezer is against their TOS, limited downloading may still potentially qualify as fair use under copyright law.

Methods to Download from Deezer

There are several ways to download music from Deezer, each with their own pros and cons:

Browser Extensions

Browser extensions like Deezloader allow you to easily download music by clicking the extension icon while playing a song on Deezer. This is a convenient way to download individual tracks or albums without any advanced technical knowledge. However, browser extensions may sometimes stop working if Deezer updates its code.

Third Party Tools

Services like TunesKit Deezer Downloader let you download entire playlists or your library. Third party tools give you more flexibility in what content you download. But you may need to purchase the tool or deal with ads. Quality can also vary across different downloader apps.

Recording Audio

Using recording software like Audacity, you can record songs as you play them in Deezer. This avoids any copyright issues. However, recording leads to a loss of audio quality. You also need to record songs manually one-by-one.

Overall, browser extensions provide the quickest way to download music from Deezer. But third party tools give you more advanced downloading options for batches of songs or higher quality files.

Using browser extensions to download from Deezer

One of the easiest ways to download music from Deezer is by using browser extensions. Browser extensions are plugins that add extra functionality to your web browser. There are a couple different browser extensions available that allow saving and downloading songs, albums, and playlists from Deezer.

For example, the Deezer Control Chrome extension provides enhanced controls for Deezer, including the ability to download music. It lets you save tracks, albums, and playlists on Deezer as MP3 files.

Another option is the Deezerify extension. This add-on also allows downloading Deezer content and customizing the look and feel of the site. With Deezerify, you can save music as MP3s or FLAC files.

The advantage of using a browser extension is that it’s quick, easy, and doesn’t require installing any additional software. The downloads are saved directly on your computer. The only catch is that the extensions only work on desktop browsers, not mobile.

Third party tools

One option for downloading music from Deezer is using third party tools or applications. These allow you to extract the audio files from Deezer and save them on your computer. Some popular third party Deezer downloaders include:

Aimersoft DRM Media Converter – This tool allows you to download entire playlists or albums from Deezer as MP3 files. You can batch download multiple songs and preserve ID3 tags.

Sidify Music Converter – Works on Windows and Mac to download music from Deezer. You can download tracks as MP3 or other audio formats while keeping metadata.

TuneFab Deezer Downloader – Downloads Deezer music in high quality MP3, M4A, FLAC and more. It can download entire playlists and albums and keep all metadata.

The main benefits of using third party downloader tools are the ability to batch download multiple songs, preserve metadata like album art and track info, and convert to different audio formats. They provide an easy way to save Deezer music to your computer for offline playback.

Recording Deezer Audio

One way to download music from Deezer is by recording the audio as it plays. This allows you to capture the songs in high quality audio files that you can then save and listen to offline. Here are some instructions on how to record Deezer audio using software:

1. Install a streaming audio recorder program like ApowerSoft Screen Recorder. This will allow you to record the audio playing from Deezer.

2. Open Deezer in your browser and start playing the song or playlist you want to record.

3. Launch ApowerSoft and configure the audio settings to record system audio. Position the recorder window over the Deezer tab.

4. Click record to start capturing the Deezer audio. Let the song or playlist finish playback while recording.

5. Stop the recording when finished. The audio file will be saved on your computer in a format like MP3 that you can listen to anytime.

Using a streaming audio recording program provides high quality Deezer recordings without any loss. Just be sure not to distribute the downloaded songs widely, as that would infringe on copyrights.

Downloading playlists

One of the most popular reasons to download music from Deezer is to get full playlists. Deezer has millions of user-created playlists spanning every genre and mood. Downloading an entire playlist can be convenient for listening offline or transferring the songs elsewhere.

There are a couple ways to download Deezer playlists:

Use a Deezer playlist downloader tool like TuneFab Deezer Downloader. This is a free desktop application that makes it easy to download any Deezer playlist with one click. You can preserve playlist metadata like song order and cover art.

Use a browser extension like Deezloader Remix. This adds a download button on Deezer to grab playlists. Quality is limited to 128kbps MP3.
Use online Deezer playlist converters like MusicFab Deezer Converter. Paste the playlist URL to download all songs.

The advantage of using a dedicated Deezer playlist downloader is you get high quality 320kbps MP3s with proper tagging. This results in a seamless listening experience once you transfer the playlists to your phone or MP3 player. Batch downloading entire playlists is also faster compared to downloading songs one by one.

Quality and Format

When downloading music from Deezer, the audio quality and format options available depend on your subscription plan. Deezer offers a range of quality levels:

The free Deezer plan provides access to songs at 128 kbps in MP3 format. This is a compressed, lower quality audio file.

The Premium plan upgrades the bitrate to 320 kbps MP3 which provides improved sound quality. Songs are still compressed, but there is less data loss at this higher bit rate.

With a HiFi subscription, Deezer offers lossless CD quality audio at 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC format. This provides uncompressed audio files that capture all of the detail and nuance in a recording. According to Deezer’s support documentation, “FLAC format provides identical audio quality to the original CD” (High Fidelity (HiFi)).

So in summary, free users can download lower quality MP3 files, while Premium and HiFi subscribers have access to higher audio quality options in MP3 and lossless FLAC formats respectively.

Conclusion

In summary, while Deezer’s terms of service prohibit downloading music directly from their site, there are some grey area workarounds like browser extensions, third party tools, and recording audio that technically enable saving music locally. However, the legality and ethics of these methods are questionable. The safest approach is to use Deezer’s built-in feature for downloading playlists for offline listening. This ensures you are staying within their terms of service. Just keep in mind downloaded playlists are time-limited.

For most users, Deezer’s offline listening and playlist download options should sufficiently meet music saving needs. But if you require permanent local copies of songs, it’s recommended to purchase and download them from authorized sources like iTunes or Amazon Music instead of ripping from Deezer. While convenient, bypassing Deezer’s rules comes with risks ranging from content removal to account suspension.

In the end, respecting Deezer’s terms of service allows you to securely access its vast music catalogue. Work within their intended features for saving playlists offline if you want music on the go without worrying about legal repercussions down the road.