I feel that Spotify`s UI has consistently deteriorated for months
I think my biggest gripe is the podcast format. I just want to listen to podcasts on my desktop in a convenient way. why is it so hard to listen to several in a row? why is it so hard to switch to a different podcast?
I cant agree with this more. Its so bad Im thinking about switching
Holy hell this. I can`t stand that I have a song in my liked songs, then go to the album but it shows it not as a liked songs. Then suddenly I have it in my liked songs 3 times. The hell?
This is what the home tab looks like now and I can`t understand the decision at all. Why did they do this? You know The breakup mix tape Usually basically thrown at you in the hallway between Math & P.E. or left in your locker or whatever
The day Spotify removed the traditional library was the day it started to go downhill.
I would welcome this
Theres plenty to unpack from ur list of issues but the one that makes me furious is how often you play a song and theres no way you can add it to a playlist unless you go super deep in the navigation to be able to do so & that way losing track of what you were doing previously
Thats great!
This- sorting your list of playlists alphabetically is the default on iOS
Original compositions are a different category and are completely acceptable.
I dont use Spotify (I know its weird, I still like Pandora) but Ive noticed similar UI degradation in my podcast app, Stitcher lately. It has me wondering what theyre ACTUALLY optimizing, because its isnt *my* user experience. I shouldnt need *training* for a simple app.
I got a free one month trial for Amazon music and then it would have been half the cost/month that I pay for Spotify premium. In the end, an absolute ball ache trying to migrate so just gave up. Canceled the free trial. Spotify got you by the meat and two veg once in ecosystem
I`ve never liked it. When Zune/Groove ended its run I chose Apple Music over Spotify because of that. And because of iTunes Match and being able to play my entire library from the cloud.
Its getting messy and I cant find albums. The discography button is tiny in comparison to other features.
Im now realizing the lack of equipment to make mix tapes in my early 20s may be why Im married today
Mat you know he would have never seen my tweet right
Oh get THIS CARMEN has a playlist titled with my name but there are songs I dont know/dont like on it, and when I pointed this out, he said Sure, ITS NOT FOR YOU
I live in fear of being the person trapped listening to music from my junior high and high school years forever, so I like continuous exposure to new, not listening to the same over & over.
Zune/Groove could for me. Bingo!!!!! Hence, the trauma. I married the guy who didnt make me playlists.
Why manage playlists at all? I barely have time to curate family photos or recipes I want to makeor tax documents. There are services that will serve you up artists or decades or moods without trapping you in a self-imposed personalization bubble.
Matify.
@williamslauram My wife uses my playlists cause she can`t get bothered managing hers and then complains when I put songs she doesn`t like in mine. I`m her Spotify
The year is 1991, my college boyfriend decides he needs to educate me about his fringe musical tastes. The format: a mix tape. Repeat multiple times throughout nineties. TRAUMAdeep trauma, thats whats happening, Mat.
Its been a couple of years now, but preventing you from shuffling a playlist folder was the start of functionality going down hill. Assume it was because Spotify dont want you to curate yourself but rely on their playlists instead.
Probably they hand around reel to reel tapes
Yeah its not good. Probably going to give Apple Music a try soon.
months? years lol
I wont lie, I did not find this very instructive
Years. But their playlist algorithm is so much better than Apple`s, I tried to switch and came crawling back.
ok yeah, sure, but if you play a Star Wars song the seek bar turns into a lightsaber, so.5 stars
This would mean that Spotify at some point had a good UI.
Am I the only person left on earth who does not stream music or
Oh hell yes. Every time I open my playlist Im confronted with Spotifys UX is just awful. Right up there with LinkedIn in terms of me thinking: what do the PMs actually DO at that company?
At this point I would almost (ALMOST) say YouTube Music is better AND that comes with the perk of no ads in YouTube for just a buck or two more!
So. Much. UX suckage. Just don`t get me started on the most basic of all things that has troubled me literally since day one: I JUST WANT TO CLEAR THE FRICKIN QUEUE!!!
Spotify on CarPlay trying to play podcaststerrible. So much of what you wrote in the thread. Not happy with any podcast player be it bugs, notifications, or heating up the phone. Spotify barely recs musics anymore. I use both but more so Apple Music these days.
I wanted so badly to switch to Spotify for podcast listening. All my audio would be in one place. But the interface for podcasts just doesn`t seem to be designed by people who have ever listened to podcasts.
Ive found myself less and less pleased with the interface lately too. e.g. There used to be an easy way to find workout music and such, usually by BPM and now its a very washed out mix of everything heavily based on prefs or something - found it to be completely underdesirable.
Theres a really bad tendency with the professional incentives of product managers leading to pointless redesigns. Redesigned Library UI >>> Kept it the same bc it was completely fine actually. Maybe internal metrics say otherwise idk
Win the user over, Spotify, don`t put handcuffs on them Their UX for podcasts is terrible. It does not even come close to what modern podcast apps can do. And it pisses me off that they are making exclusivity contracts with some shows (which were previously open) and I have no other option but to use their crappy app.
This in particular drives me crazy
Yes, try blocking a hashtag in twitter, it takes 20 steps.
I basically can`t use Spotify for podcasts anymore Its insane how difficult it was for me to resume playing a podcast I had listened to earlier the day before. Good on them for solving all of the tough licensing problems but they need to fire whoever is making these kinds of design choices immediately.
Why is it impossible to "close" / "hide" the "Friend Activity" bar in the client? I have never ever used it. spotify
Developers call those "features" - it doesn`t matter the outcome of the feature, it just matters that something changed - cuz change means Innovation - and if you don`t like it- they throw "growth mindset" at you - Devs are the modern day Lucifer :P haha Biggest pain point for me right now is the daily mixes either being impossible to find (used to be like all 5 in a row on home page?), Or playing the wrong music, i.e. one day the mix is genre A, next day it`s genre B, and resuming it the next day isn`t the mix I want.
The decline has been noticeable with some of the lastest updates that rolled out over the past 1-2 months.
I thought I was the only one that felt this, Spotify used to be more organized but for real my Library not having a category between playlist, podcasts, radios, artists I follow etc is just chaotic
Yup, its terrible. I also hate how I cant play music on two devices. E.g. car and house concurrently. I have a fam plan but that requires each device to have a different account with different playlists and favorites
I just want fast user switching between family members on the iPad. It`s so bad today
Agreed! Has anyone tried Ive been considering switching services.
Cant be worse than iTunes these days?
I keep Spotify because of the Discover weekly playlist. Thats it. Everything else is far worse than Apple Music. (and family plans too).
My Daily Mixes have also deteriorated badly. For ex, the other day in my Daily Mix 1 was a Billy Joel song. I haven`t listened (on purpose) to a Billy Joel song for at least 25 years, another 25 w/o him would be ok, and nothing in my listening history would suggest Billy Joel.
I apologize, but seeing you`re affiliated with Microsoft, I have to take the shot. 22 years of Active Directory and ADUC still wipes out whatever you typed when you switch from Users to Computers. I`m convinced Microsoft`s UI is designed to get you to learn Powershell.
I`m gonna frame this tweet.
Or UX research. But clearly they would do their best to ignore you.
Usage is QA these days.
I try to avoid updating the Android version as much as possible bc every time it gets more annoying and chaotic. They seem to be in a competition to perpetrate as many crimes against UX as possible. I wonder what the heck their PMs are doing.
I work in vaccine hesitancy messaging now, but my passion for spatial interfaces has never waned. Had a whole co around it in fact. 2006 v 2012. Would love to chat. how 50% of all these apps comes down to 10 or so entity types and your job is get the user to find and manage them in the shortest space of time with the minimum effort.
It still annoys me that theyve had almost a year to add Apple HomePod support, but still nothing. People are buying HomePods and not being able to use Spotify, so are switching to Apple Music or Pandora because it works. I just dont get what business sense that makes.
HEAR, HEAR Or why in the world is information about artists not accessible by click from the artists main page anymore? Why do you have to scroll for (and most likely: miss) it?
Btw low key cackling that you QTd and I one after another. The trouble we use to stir up 16 years ago for Microsoft..
Yeah, so when I listen to the traditional gimlet podcasts in my pod app of choice and hear promos for new "only on Spotify" shows they are just wasted on me entirely.
The least they could do is make a decent landscape view in car view. My phone is always in landscape view when in my car, and spotify does not offer it, and has stated it will not support it.
I mean its almost like the awful search box position in office now
Example: But there are hardly any. And those few that exist have their own problems so... why bother? :)
What folks ignore is that in this world it`s not enough that there`s a setting somewhere or a workaround here and there. In this world, an extra half a second to do something and you start considering alternatives. A few of those and you`re done.
I tried using Spotify for podcasts briefly and then bailed out. It is not a good UX. Which then makes it really annoying that Spotify makes a bunch of their podcasts "only on Spotify" Cool, well I won`t be listening to them then.
I still don`t understand why they removed the global search box from the top of the desktop app and now force you to click "Search" in the menu to then display the field where it used to be... whoever made this decision does not understand UI/UX design or accessibility at all.
it`s nothing new I don`t really get it, but okay. Not sure how it`s quicker to scroll through 250 playlists even if you know where it is than hit three characters and see it likely pop up. Don`t really get the "same order" for songs. You can sort by when they`re added.
Someone check if Netflix` lead UX designer moved there.
Hey FYI for your papercuts list. Low effort/high value fixes.
And the social aspect was cool. Mix view was super useful.
I habitually have to restart the desktop app, as it freezes. And yes, discoverability in the UI is pretty bad, from my experience, both on an iPad, on a phone and in the desktop app.
Just out of curiosity, why would you want your playlists alphabetized?
Gotcha! Yeah, thats long annoyed me.And I just noticed I had to connect to the Internet to use my AirPods.
Youre right! Now you have to do sort->unplayed explicitly to make the payed episode disappear from the list
Bring back Zune Music Pass. I kid...but like also...I really miss it.
This too btw, there are workarounds to install a version from before last may that doesn`t have the redesign bits... and then also block upgrades.
Okay, but to be fair, there`s a search button right next to the Playlists in your library so if you know what it`s called it should be easy enough to find what you`re looking for. And if you don`t, alphabetization won`t help.
ah, sorry. idk if I misremembered or they deleted posts... now it`s "only" 93 pages and a lot more at this other post The algorithmic playlists/ recommendations quality has been in free fall all year
Good to know I`m not alone for years. Their new desktop app redesign had 130 (!) pages of 95% negative feedback
To be clear, I meant my list of playlists, not the playlist`s list. But probably both y0! Winamp from two decades ago got you covered ;) AND ITS FREE (gotta love how all these companies have engineered new ways to suck AND make you pay for that suckitude at the same time hahahaaa)
I think you don`t know how to use it. You can sort playlists alphabetically by artist, album or song, you can remove songs from a playlist easily (it`s two buttons instead of one) and you can turn off car mode permanently.
Spotify`s mobile app UI has always sucked.
For a few weeks now, Spotify has stopped highlighting the currently playing track in a playlist. And thats just the tip of the iceberg, so many small inconsistencies and annoyances, its insane.
Totally! If they at least had 2-3 different options of "car view" to choose from it would be great and yeah, c`mon, REMEMBER THE USER`S CHOICE FOR GOD`S SAKE
Totally agree. Seems almost like they`re desperately implementing changes just to be "innovative", but UI-changes doesn`t add value, just confusion. Spotify
Yup. Most people do not prepare their environment by thinking about constructing the right filters to get them what they want. This is how information workers who manage feeds and workflows operate. This does not serve a consumer`s job-to-be-done.
It does have a Played button to signal it has been played I agree it could be more obvious, tho let the playlists rot. If artists republish their work, heal it automatically.
Car view is not useful. And if I never asked for it and always make it go away, assume I don`t want it.
Podcasts are not playlists. Putting them together may be fine if you create the right filters, which you didn`t. Add that to the random order and it becomes chaos.
Spotify engineer reads this & grabs this nugget for their performance review: "Delighted customers by delivering consistency in UI"
They must have taken a cue from....@YouTube... where my Play Movies used to be. "My Library" is a random mess. But, sure, I can pick dark mode theme Thats my initial thought about Amazon Music, now that the whole family is on Spotify I sort of wish it back
They should release a shell instead
I kind of just gave up on using it for anything other than playing my playlists.
This is a really big pet peeve for me. the podcast episode list as a visual indicator of what was and was not listened to. Big UX fail.
Yeah, pretty sure we solved this 20 years ago.
Funny, I hate that Apple (or Mazda)does this - I mean, I love Ahead by a Century, but I dont want it to play every time I connect my phone to my car. Dont your playlists stay in the right order if you dont have the shuffle button on? That would drive my crazy in my workout
Its gone through phases since forever lol
They added options to sort by more properties in a poorly thought through way. Can still sort alpha by artist/title but not the default because why?
Agee. Agree. Agee. As someone who uses the app for over 4 hours a day, I find the updated interface extremely annoying
It literally couldnt get the currently playing track correct today. Told me the last one was still playing. Software development is hard but not THIS hard
That was partly behind my switch to Apple Music. Spotify feels like its had a goldrush of feature adds and is trying to find the most appropriate way to squeeze it in with the old UI.
My 16YO vehemently agrees. I dont hear much from her but this in particular, I hear regularly.
Cant agree more. They are messing it up more.
It`s the thing which makes me try and switch to a competitor every once in a while. The value placed on their own algorithms is put above that given to users to simply browse/manage their own libraries.
You don`t like consistency?
For example, some of us just want a playlist to be in an alphabetic order. This used to be possible. Now this setting is just ignored and it fucking randomizses the order depending on how you get there. This isn`t hard.
And it was not good to begin with
Its legitimately unusable
