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I am under the impression that Spotify doesn't care a lot about UX in general. Inconsistencies in gesture handling, sessions still buggy after years, being logg

I am under the impression that Spotify doesn't care a lot about UX in general. Inconsistencies in gesture handling, sessions still buggy after years, being logged out as soon as the API is unreachable, directly playing a song when opening a link, etc

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
fattless 5y ago
The inconsistencies bother me the most. I use it a lot while driving, and have to reach down to swipe the screen to skip a song. This is a pretty mindless, natural motion. Sometimes though (till I found out you can disable it) it would switch into car mode with no warning, meaning I need to look down, see the difference, and push the skip button with some precision, potentially dangerous. Why the car mode couldn’t use the swipes is beyond me, or why it exists in the first place. I’ve since turned that off but my frustration is now from the lyrics feature. It’s neat, and interesting in very specific scenarios, but I wish I could turn it off. A diagonal swipe brings it up, meaning I have to check it, swipe down, and then try again, too much for a previously thoughtless action. Yeah I don’t use it for its “intended purpose”, but these are little ux roadblocks that could improve others experiences. I don’t see why it can’t be slightly different.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bartread 5y ago
Agree. They don't care about UX at all. Trivial example: the Home button that doesn't reliably take you home. It's some sort of home/back hybrid where you're never quite sure what it's going to do (this is on iOS). Instead have two buttons: one for Home and one for Back. Then we'd all know what to expect when we pressed one of them. Not difficult, is it? More substantive example: poor integration, to the point of being dangerous, with Apple Carplay, and a generally crappily optimised, unresponsive and, yes, dangerous experience for driving with or without it. Every time my Apple Carplay connection fails it's due to Spotify. Every. Single. Time. Screw you, Spotify: I couldn't give a damn about Joe Rogan but if you don't fix your poor quality, dangerous user experience I'll cancel, because it's not worth a horrific car accident just to switch to a different playlist. (Tangentially, since I mentioned Joe Rogan already, I'm unpleased that a bunch of songs have disappeared from my playlists because of Spotify's poor and purely reactive handling of his podcast. I like the fact that he talks to people from a range of viewpoints, many of which I disagree with: I don't like the fact that it took a social media fiasco and a bunch of artists leaving to label and tag his episodes more responsibly. You should have known what you bought when you acquired rights to his podcast: it's called due diligence. You should have had, and implemented, a business integration plan, in place from day one. Who spends $100M+ without doing this? I'm guessing all you saw is subscriber numbers. Stop being lazy.) I wish I could reincarnate Steve Jobs so he could go and work at Spotify and fire Daniel Ek and Gustav Söderström in an elevator because I honestly can't think of two individuals more deserving of such a fate. (Btw, I realise the thinking here is likely that if you have the artists maybe the product doesn't matter so much but, as the Rogan incident shows, having the artists isn't guaranteed. You need subscribers onboard too, to ensure that artists are less tempted by other platforms an options, which means the UX needs to be solid. Clearly it's not at the moment.)
- mattl 5y ago
  Yeah, he's gonna come back to life and go work for those bozos :/
  - bartread 5y ago
    Indeed. I was particularly grouchy when I wrote that. I don't hate them, but I do find Spotify's leadership deeply frustrating.
el_benhameen 5y ago
They absolutely do not care. My favorite feature is the ability to download podcasts for offline play--podcasts that are then inaccessible when offline because the rest of the UI requires an internet connection to load and function.
- Ourgon 5y ago
  You might want to have a look at Spodcast which does just that, create an RSS feed off Spotify "(s)podcasts": Spodcast is a caching Spotify podcast to RSS proxy. Using Spodcast you can follow Spotify-hosted netcasts/podcasts using any player which supports RSS, thus enabling the use of older hardware which is not compatible with the Spotify (web) app. Spodcast consists of the main Spodcast application - a Python 3 command line tool - and a PHP-based RSS feed generator. It uses the librespot-python library to access the Spotift API. To use Spodcast you need a (free) Spotify account. Spodcast only supports the Spotify podcast service, it does not interface with the music streaming service. Source: I'm the author. https://github.com/Yetangitu/Spodcast https://github.com/Yetangitu/Spodcast
AitchEmArsey 5y ago
I cancelled my subscription last week precisely because of the poor UX. It really pisses me off that they charge what feels like a disproportionate amount (certainly more than I've ever spent on music elsewhere), offer a very simple service only passably well, then waste their revenue on SV dev salaries (with no obvious benefit to the users in features or stability) - and of course their illustrious podcast hosts.
- l30n4da5 5y ago
  > then waste their revenue on SV dev salaries wouldnt really call that a waste if those devs are producing meaningful features and/or fixing bugs. devs work on the features they are told to, they don't direct what features get put in place or even how those features should behave in UX, most of the time. seems more a design and/or project management failure, to me.
  - AitchEmArsey 5y ago
    I'd say if those people are not being utilized to improve the product, then yes it is a waste - who is to blame for the waste is a different matter, but management is the obvious place to look.
    - vimacs2 5y ago
      Considering how shit their cents per listen rates are in recent years, they should honestly be trying to compensate the artists they host more than their devs at this point. I've cancelled my sub largely because of this fact.
paulpauper 5y ago
I used Spotify for free a few times and the interface is terrible . like from the early 2000s. no attempt at modernization or improvement. Compare it to YouTube.
- ibejoeb 5y ago
  Which interface are you using? I use the android app and I'm pretty happy with it. My use case is primarily playing content on Sonos and cast devices.
  - paulpauper 5y ago
    desktop
    - Nekhrimah 5y ago
      The desktop app is indeed horrible. To start with, a substantial part of the right hand screen real estate is permanently to your social media presence. Don't want to connect anything? Still can't dismiss this entire waste of space. On iOS it's fairly simply to remove songs from the active queue. God help you on desktop. No consistency in design. Please pay more UI/UX staff, and less Rogan.
      - boxingrock 5y ago
        on MacOS -> View -> Friends Activity... come on man
        Nekhrimah 5y ago
        Ok thanks.
zthrowaway 5y ago
I’m sure their UX Researchers try, but like most shops their findings never make it into the skulls of the PM’s and Devs. There’s a massive issue in our industry with R&D ignoring UX research guidance, or just flat out thinking they know better.
radicality 5y ago
Agreed, the UX is awful. Just a moment ago I was attempting to unshuffle my Discover Weekly playlist on an iPad, and honestly still have no idea how to do it. The big green play button shows a small activated shuffle icon, but how to undo it is either impossible or requires knowing the right sequence of UI button presses, swipes and magic spells.
ardit33 5y ago
Many (not all though), of their best engineers and designers have left after the IPO, that's why. So, a lot of people that made it a success initially have moved on. They don't pay super well, so the new people that came later on are not necessary the best. That's why Spotify has been slow on introducing new features or fixing existing ones.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

fattless 5y ago

The inconsistencies bother me the most. I use it a lot while driving, and have to reach down to swipe the screen to skip a song. This is a pretty mindless, natural motion. Sometimes though (till I found out you can disable it) it would switch into car mode with no warning, meaning I need to look down, see the difference, and push the skip button with some precision, potentially dangerous. Why the car mode couldn’t use the swipes is beyond me, or why it exists in the first place. I’ve since turned that off but my frustration is now from the lyrics feature. It’s neat, and interesting in very specific scenarios, but I wish I could turn it off. A diagonal swipe brings it up, meaning I have to check it, swipe down, and then try again, too much for a previously thoughtless action. Yeah I don’t use it for its “intended purpose”, but these are little ux roadblocks that could improve others experiences. I don’t see why it can’t be slightly different.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bartread 5y ago

Agree. They don't care about UX at all. Trivial example: the Home button that doesn't reliably take you home. It's some sort of home/back hybrid where you're never quite sure what it's going to do (this is on iOS). Instead have two buttons: one for Home and one for Back. Then we'd all know what to expect when we pressed one of them. Not difficult, is it? More substantive example: poor integration, to the point of being dangerous, with Apple Carplay, and a generally crappily optimised, unresponsive and, yes, dangerous experience for driving with or without it. Every time my Apple Carplay connection fails it's due to Spotify. Every. Single. Time. Screw you, Spotify: I couldn't give a damn about Joe Rogan but if you don't fix your poor quality, dangerous user experience I'll cancel, because it's not worth a horrific car accident just to switch to a different playlist. (Tangentially, since I mentioned Joe Rogan already, I'm unpleased that a bunch of songs have disappeared from my playlists because of Spotify's poor and purely reactive handling of his podcast. I like the fact that he talks to people from a range of viewpoints, many of which I disagree with: I don't like the fact that it took a social media fiasco and a bunch of artists leaving to label and tag his episodes more responsibly. You should have known what you bought when you acquired rights to his podcast: it's called due diligence. You should have had, and implemented, a business integration plan, in place from day one. Who spends $100M+ without doing this? I'm guessing all you saw is subscriber numbers. Stop being lazy.) I wish I could reincarnate Steve Jobs so he could go and work at Spotify and fire Daniel Ek and Gustav Söderström in an elevator because I honestly can't think of two individuals more deserving of such a fate. (Btw, I realise the thinking here is likely that if you have the artists maybe the product doesn't matter so much but, as the Rogan incident shows, having the artists isn't guaranteed. You need subscribers onboard too, to ensure that artists are less tempted by other platforms an options, which means the UX needs to be solid. Clearly it's not at the moment.)

mattl 5y ago
Yeah, he's gonna come back to life and go work for those bozos :/
- bartread 5y ago
  Indeed. I was particularly grouchy when I wrote that. I don't hate them, but I do find Spotify's leadership deeply frustrating.

el_benhameen 5y ago

They absolutely do not care. My favorite feature is the ability to download podcasts for offline play--podcasts that are then inaccessible when offline because the rest of the UI requires an internet connection to load and function.

Ourgon 5y ago
You might want to have a look at Spodcast which does just that, create an RSS feed off Spotify "(s)podcasts": Spodcast is a caching Spotify podcast to RSS proxy. Using Spodcast you can follow Spotify-hosted netcasts/podcasts using any player which supports RSS, thus enabling the use of older hardware which is not compatible with the Spotify (web) app. Spodcast consists of the main Spodcast application - a Python 3 command line tool - and a PHP-based RSS feed generator. It uses the librespot-python library to access the Spotift API. To use Spodcast you need a (free) Spotify account. Spodcast only supports the Spotify podcast service, it does not interface with the music streaming service. Source: I'm the author. https://github.com/Yetangitu/Spodcast https://github.com/Yetangitu/Spodcast

AitchEmArsey 5y ago

I cancelled my subscription last week precisely because of the poor UX. It really pisses me off that they charge what feels like a disproportionate amount (certainly more than I've ever spent on music elsewhere), offer a very simple service only passably well, then waste their revenue on SV dev salaries (with no obvious benefit to the users in features or stability) - and of course their illustrious podcast hosts.

l30n4da5 5y ago
> then waste their revenue on SV dev salaries wouldnt really call that a waste if those devs are producing meaningful features and/or fixing bugs. devs work on the features they are told to, they don't direct what features get put in place or even how those features should behave in UX, most of the time. seems more a design and/or project management failure, to me.
- AitchEmArsey 5y ago
  I'd say if those people are not being utilized to improve the product, then yes it is a waste - who is to blame for the waste is a different matter, but management is the obvious place to look.
  - vimacs2 5y ago
    Considering how shit their cents per listen rates are in recent years, they should honestly be trying to compensate the artists they host more than their devs at this point. I've cancelled my sub largely because of this fact.

paulpauper 5y ago

I used Spotify for free a few times and the interface is terrible . like from the early 2000s. no attempt at modernization or improvement. Compare it to YouTube.

ibejoeb 5y ago
Which interface are you using? I use the android app and I'm pretty happy with it. My use case is primarily playing content on Sonos and cast devices.
- paulpauper 5y ago
  desktop
  - Nekhrimah 5y ago
    The desktop app is indeed horrible. To start with, a substantial part of the right hand screen real estate is permanently to your social media presence. Don't want to connect anything? Still can't dismiss this entire waste of space. On iOS it's fairly simply to remove songs from the active queue. God help you on desktop. No consistency in design. Please pay more UI/UX staff, and less Rogan.
    - boxingrock 5y ago
      on MacOS -> View -> Friends Activity... come on man
      - Nekhrimah 5y ago
        Ok thanks.

zthrowaway 5y ago

I’m sure their UX Researchers try, but like most shops their findings never make it into the skulls of the PM’s and Devs. There’s a massive issue in our industry with R&D ignoring UX research guidance, or just flat out thinking they know better.

radicality 5y ago

Agreed, the UX is awful. Just a moment ago I was attempting to unshuffle my Discover Weekly playlist on an iPad, and honestly still have no idea how to do it. The big green play button shows a small activated shuffle icon, but how to undo it is either impossible or requires knowing the right sequence of UI button presses, swipes and magic spells.

ardit33 5y ago

Many (not all though), of their best engineers and designers have left after the IPO, that's why. So, a lot of people that made it a success initially have moved on. They don't pay super well, so the new people that came later on are not necessary the best. That's why Spotify has been slow on introducing new features or fixing existing ones.