I remember the time where there was no party without constant Spotify ads running over the speaker, that's the only type of free account I know of.

Other than that my point was how incomplete it is and always was. It could be nice as additional catalogue to my music, but for me it's missing to many of my favourite songs to use it as main driver.

Edit:// in Switzerland downloading music for private use is no crime. So the initial situation was different I guess.