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The new Spotify (thoughts)
I've been a fan of Spotify since it was introduced and have over time built up a nice set of playlists and use the service for around 80% of my music listening, so when Spotify announced some big changes I was anxious to give it a try as soon as I could.
Along with adding podcasts (both video and audio) they have made the focus of the service the new NOW page, that aims to give you playlists based on what you are doing and the mood you are in. For example you can select 'Morning commute' then it gives you a few options that you can choose by swiping left depending on your mood i.e. you could have a Happy playlist or a metal one!
I lived with this for a day and found the selections to be great, you can follow your favourite playlists you discover and save the songs to your Library.
If you are used to the current interface you won't be too put off as you now swipe to the right to show the various sections:
- Search
- Now
- Moments
- Running (more on this in a sec)
- Music
- Shows (podcasts)
- Your Library
Running
The biggest part of the announcement looked to be around Running where you can pick the type of playlist then as you run it measures your pace and adjusts the music accordingly. In my testing this seemed to work well and did help to motive me but given I listen to podcasts most of the time when I'm working out I'm not sure how much I am going to use this feature but could see that it will be great if you do regularly run with music and fancy a change from your usual playlist.
Podcasts
Having access to select partners is potentially huge but I think for the hardcore podcast listeners they will continue to use their favourite apps. I feel that as a discovery tool this is going to be more targeted at getting more new listeners to shows rather than have people change from their app of choice to following them within the Spotify app.
How's the stability?
I haven't experienced any problems with the new features and it's obviously been well tested in house before release, if you want to try the new app (you have to go to the settings within the iOS app to enable) then I'd say go for it.
Overall
I'm pleased with the direction Spotify have taken here, the app is well polished and I have been using the NOW feature more than I thought I would. If I don't want to listen something more specific I just pick what I'm currently doing e.g. working and then scroll left and right to pick the mood I'm in. The only point to make is that when you select the playlist it will automatically play it, this is ok at first but tends to get a little annoying if you are scrolling through trying to read the playlist description first.
So, overall a nice update and I think that it's a step in the right direction - check it out and let us know what you think.
Author
Lee Peterson