Spotify's Annoying
I’m at my local bar. They play various rock playlists. It happens again. [Record scratch] The music abruptly stops for another song. Immediately someone is cursing, ‘@#$%! I didnt mean to play this, I swear!’
I can not count the times a good vibe was killed by Spotify’s interface. It’s a UX issue that makes me question if Spotify developers use their product different to everyone I know. I’ll break down the issues into 2 parts:
1. Two queues
2. Accidental clicks
I will caveat this rant with two INB4s. First, I’m speaking on Spotify because it’s the common streaming service, that I use. I have no clue if these problems are mirrored on Tidal and other streaming services. Second, I am assuming most Spotify users want endless streaming. The vinyl and CD streaming experience are different to Spotify, and have more focus on finality. Records stop. Spotify shouldn’t. While Spotify is capable of this ‘one album’ or ‘one EP’ listening experience, Bandcamp or Winamp are better for it. Music streaming services should be designed for endless playback, with activity like parties in mind, feeding our ADD/ADHD times. Flow forever.
When you finish at a busy supermarket, you wind up in a queue (line) of people waiting to pay. Let’s identify this queue with persons A, B, C etc. An elderly person, X, in need of 1 item, asks to jump in the queue. The teller doesn’t stop scanning A’s items. But the line agrees to let X jump ahead. The new order is: A, X, B, C.
At least it should be. Spotify treats person X as a seperate queue — the line jumper queue. This second queue is ‘off the record.’ That means the first queue (A, B, C) abruptly stops after person A to let in a second queue. We have normal queue, A, B, C, and the expedited, cool kids queue, with X, Y and Z.
This “two queue” system is not obvious to Spotify users. There is some utility. If you’re listening to Adele’s new album — she insists you listen in order — but suddenly need to play an unrelated 80s jam, then two queues are great. You didnt mess up the order of Adele’s album! She’s happy. You can jump to the previous or next Adele track without hearing the 80s jam again. That hiccup is forggoten.
Again, I don’t believe most Spotify users are searching for one thematic album. They want endless playback. They want A, X, Y, Z, B, C. If they go back one track from B, they want Z, not A. Sorry Adele.
In the status quo, Spotify has no way to reference X, Y and Z after they play. You need to remember them. There’s just A, B, C here. Never heard of X, Y, Z. This annoyance is most prominent, for me, when I queue a song, only to accidentally skip it. Since I can’t go back, I need to search and re-queue the song. When I’m working out, this is a frustration akin to headphones ripping out from my ears after I bend like I’m in Legally Blonde (great movie). I have to fully stop what I’m doing and focus to remedy the situation.
Check out a similar, but different issue, and the best explanation, from seven years ago: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Your-Library/Help-me-understand-Spotify-s-queue/td-p/1246799
I’m a programmer and confused by this best answer. And after seven years, the acutal problem persists.
Why does Spotify not make this queue distinction clear? I have no clue. They want us to learn on our own.
It seems obvious to me to provide two options: The ‘one-time, jump in the line’ queue that we’re used to, and the normal queue we see in our everyday lives. I would simply offer two buttons, “Add to Quick Queue” and “Add to Current Queue.” If you click ‘Add to Quick Queue’ on tracks X, Y, Z, you have the current experience of listening to A, B, C with X, Y, Z cutting in after A, then disappearing. But if you click ‘Add to Current Queue"‘ you get the expected A, X, Y, Z, B, C. You rewind from B, and hear track Z. Easy!
Let’s say Spotify listens to me, an idiot, and implements my ‘two queuing methods’ concept. In fact, they love it so much they even replace the all too commonly accidentally pressed ‘Play (now) Button’ with the new button, ‘Add to Current Queue.’ They fixed a major chunk of my problem. An accidental click doesnt stop the playlist you’re listening to for a new one. You don’t need to re-find and replay the last track. Don’t stop.
People will always accidentally play the wrong tracks and playlists. Someone can interrupt your TSwift listening party with some inappropriate good music, and not know until the boo-ing starts. We face an issue on the user’s end, where the (track) selecta made a mistake, not the app.
Spotify should fade out and fade in based on your settings, even when you click ‘Play (now)'.’ This will immensely help the vibe. “Play” doesn’t need to mean, “PLAY RIGHT NOW!” It can mean “Play in 2 seconds.” I promise, everyone will prefer it that way. We didn’t decide a 2 or 3 sec delay for just some of the time.
Next, there should be an undo button. Microsoft had “undo” decades ago. Spotify still hasn’t figured it out. Someone killed the party playlist when they accidentally played a Joe Rogan podcast? Undo. Prob solved.
This just requires a cache of the previous queue playing. Which shouldn’t take up tons of space. Honestly, I’d prefer a cache of queues over every track, even if it means more loading time. Too many smart phone’s have the majority of their internal memory taken up by track cache that we might maybe one day need. Cache what we need, and not what we want if we happen to lose internet for 6 hours but want playback.
This stuff seems too obvious. I must be missing something. PLEASE, comment below if you had similar experiences to me — like accidentally playing something, causing you to lose what you were playing, or accidentally skipping a queued track, so you need to research it to hear. Or comment a better solution. I want to hear your opinion!
