You've probably heard of Spotify Web Player. A first look at the Spotify web player. A first look at the Spotify web player. Spotify has changed the way many of us consume music, myself included. I used to buy albums on a regular basis, but once the time came when I removed the CD from my computer's hard drive... Read More You may even have found reasons to use Spotify Web Player. 7 Reasons to start using Spotify Web Player today. 7 Reasons to Start Using Spotify Web Player. So, it's about time many of us asked ourselves:Why not use the web app instead? Read More
But did you know that Spotify has now given its web player a makeover? It's hard to know why Spotify felt the browser-based version of the app needed an update, but the streaming service has delivered regardless. Well we say “improve,” but this feels more like a downgrade.
To be fair, Spotify deserves some credit here, because it has pulled off the impossible. That's right, dear reader, the latest update has made Spotify's web player worse. Now it's harder to use, uglier to look at, and stripped of its best features.
You can try out the new Spotify Web Player for yourself, or you can save yourself from that torturous experience by letting us tell you what's wrong with it.
Where to start? It's miserable. Frankly, it's amazing that someone at Spotify looked at the new UI and decided it was an upgrade over the previous version. It's not.
Take a look at the new landing screen in the screenshot below:
Only four icons fit on the screen. Four For an app that boasts over 30 million songs, this seems somewhat... limiting.
It's the same story if you click Discover or New Releases . Sure, you can zoom out and the page will automatically resize, but then the menu on the left becomes so small you can't interact with it.
And where did that red tint come from? Isn't the Spotify brand supposed to be green?
There is nothing better if you click on a playlist. By default, the screen can only accommodate the first seven songs. If you have playlists with hundreds of entries, prepare to have a sore scrolling finger.
Don't worry, artist profile pages are sure to be better. Do not flatter yourself. Check out Shakira's page below. None of the relevant information is central to her and her top hits, her biography and her albums require a lot of clicking and/or scrolling to find them..
Oh, and did I mention there are no built-in navigation tools? If you wish to return to a previous screen, you must use your browser controls. At best, it's clumsy. At worst, it's corporate negligence.
Well, then the design is a downgrade. But we can forgive that aspect if Spotify has included many exciting new features.
No Instead, Spotify has removed some of the unique redemption features from the old web player. And there doesn't seem to be an easy way to get them back. How to restore the best features that Spotify has removed How to restore the best features that Spotify has removed Spotify may be the best music streaming service available, but it has removed some features in recent years. Find out how to bring back the best lost features of Spotify forever. Read more . The company has clearly been reading Apple's guide to "less is more." Except in the case of Spotify, less is definitely less.
First of all, there is no more Last.fm integration. If you've scanned all of your listening to the web's favorite music cataloging site, you'll need to move on.
The radio function has also disappeared. If you liked selecting an artist and letting Spotify do the hard work, forget it. All the responsibility is now on you and your playlists. And your scroll finger.
But relax, at least you can make a list of songs so you don't have to revisit the app and select new ones. Sorry no. You used to be able to. Now you can't.
The list goes on:
If you end up seeing the new Spotify Web Player, feel free to let us know of any other missing features. We're pretty sure we didn't catch them all.
One of the most fundamental features of any music player is the volume control. You want to be able to set your level and forget about it, safe in the knowledge that you won't explode your eardrums while listening.
It seems that Spotify is unable to properly implement this most basic feature. If you leave the window in which Web Player is open, the volume will automatically bounce back to 100 percent when you return to it. Not 50 percent annoying but manageable, but 100 percent health endangering.
If such a simple feature breaks, it makes you wonder what other bugs are lurking in Spotify Not working? How to fix 8 common Spotify issues Spotify not working? How to Fix 8 Common Spotify Problems Like every other service known to man, Spotify is prone to problems that affect millions of users. We have identified the most common problems and found solutions for all of them. No problem. Read more . It turns out there are many.
For example, try starting a new song when another song is already playing. Most of the time it doesn't work. You need to hit Pause then Play to make it work.
Or try clicking through all your playlists. I guarantee that many of them will not load. Elsewhere, users have complained that they can't add songs to collaborative playlists, keyboard keys How to Control Spotify Web Player with Your Keyboard How to Control Spotify Web Player with Your Keyboard One of the downsides of using Spotify's web player is that you can't control playback with your keyboard, that is, until you install this nifty browser extension. Read More folder.
In the midst of all the negativity, I stumbled across a new feature.
It appears that currently playing songs are now synced between the web app, desktop, and mobile. Although I must insist, this worked on my account, but not on my wife's account. So maybe you should consider it a bug instead of a feature.
In case you've lost track of the score, it's currently 23 severe negatives vs. one tiny positive , and I'm not even exaggerating.
I love spotify. I am a premium subscriber 6 things to consider before subscribing to Spotify 6 things to consider before subscribing to Spotify Spotify is a fantastic music streaming service. However, it is not perfect. With this in mind, here are some things to consider before subscribing to Spotify. Read More But this is more than just features. Every part of the new web player is disappointing.
Is it intentionally bad? Is Spotify trying to bring users to its desktop or mobile apps? Did the company just not properly test the new Web Player? Is Spotify under pressure from record labels to get people to listen to mainstream artists? We really don't know. But we do know that the new webplayer is worse than the old webplayer, and that's disappointing.
Let us know your thoughts on Spotify's new web player in the comments below.
