Introduction
Today we are reviewing the very famous and the best Music Streaming app called Spotify. So hello everyone my name is Shahid and I have been a professional web developer and a blogger for the past 10 years. I have been reviewing apps for a decade now, and during this time I have been using Spotify on a daily basis and Spotify is one of my favorite apps in terms of streaming music. So that’s why today I am reviewing Spotify and telling you about every single feature of Spotify. So you can also elevate your music listening experience with Spotify.
What Is Spotify
Spotify is the largest music streaming service on the planet and I’m going to walk you through how to use it, and whether you’re brand new to Spotify or you just want to learn how to use the service better. There’s something for everyone in this how-to guide. So let’s dive in and talk about what you can play using Spotify.
Today on Spotify, there are two primary types of audio that you can listen to: Podcasts and Music. And first, we’re going to take a look at music. Unlike most other music streaming services, Spotify has an ad-supported free tier, which is helpful if you want to share music or a playlist with somebody who doesn’t have Spotify since signing up for an account is free.
However, not all of Spotify’s features will work with the Spotify free tier. So I’ll make sure to note which features don’t as we go through them. If you’re a new user of Spotify, the platform will typically ask you to pick a few artists you like to help it start recommending music to you.
Now, if you are a user of a different music streaming service coming over to Spotify and you want to bring over your favorite artists’ playlists albums, etc. There are a few different ways to do this. You can use solutions from the web like Soundizz or FreeYourMusic which will do this for you automatically, though those solutions might require you to pay a monthly fee.
Now the other way to go about doing this is just to do it manually and that’s what I did when I switched over from YouTube Music. I just brought up the artists and songs I’ve liked over the past 2 years on that platform, and one by one went into Spotify and made sure I liked the same songs by clicking the little heart icon next to each track.
Downloading Spotify
So once you’ve initially set up your Spotify account, the next step is to download the Spotify app on all the devices you want to listen on. Spotify has a ton of apps for all different types of devices. You can download Spotify on MacOS, Linux, Windows, iPadOS, iOS, Android, WatchOS, TVOS, Google TV, FireTV, and Roku and you can use Spotify through a web browser as well, with support for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Safari web browsers.
Search Songs on Spotify
Now when you want to play a song, artist, or album on Spotify, the main way you’ll go about that is by using search. For example, if I search for Taylor Swift on Spotify, you’ll see that I get results for playlists, albums, and songs on the Desktop and web player, but on Spotify’s mobile app, it’ll default to showing you the top results.
You filter these results further by tapping the buttons below the search bar to filter by a specific category like Albums, Playlists, Songs, etc. Let’s filter these results to look for a specific album, Folklore. I’ll just tap albums, then tap the Folklore album. We’ve now been taken to the album’s page where you can see all the tracks on the album. Select the green play button to start playing the entire album.
Like & Dislike buttons
Liking an album, song, or playlist, will help train Spotify’s algorithms to learn what music you like to listen to. Spotify also has a dislike button you may see when music is playing. You can select it when Spotify plays something you don’t like to help teach its algorithms to play less music like that song. Also, if you skip a song, it’ll take that into account with its recommendations.
Download Songs
If you see a down arrow in a circle icon, next to the heart button, this means you can download the album as well. If you don’t see this button, it’s likely because you’re not subscribed to Spotify Premium. Spotify’s monthly music subscription plan, where you don’t have ads and can download up to 10,000 songs on each of up to 5 different devices.
Now Playing screen
All right, next, let’s take a look and see what happens when you play a song on Spotify. When you do this you’ll see Spotify’s music player pop up which is this simple bar that appears at the bottom of your Spotify app. On a mobile device, you can tap it to make it full-screen. On iPad, you can see the full Now Playing screen by tapping the album art, but on the Spotify Desktop and web player it’ll stay as a bar at the bottom.
With the Spotify music player, you’ll see a play and pause button, skip forward and skip back button, and a Shuffle button, which if you’re playing an album for example, will shuffle the order of the songs on that album. Another button you’ll see is the repeat button. Hit it once to repeat the album or playlist you’re listening to so it’ll be on a loop. Hit it again to just repeat the track you’re currently listening to on a loop.
Now, if you’ve decided to play just a single song in the Spotify app, for example, I’ll search for Tiny Dancer, play that song, and once that song finishes, Spotify will determine what to play next, and when this, the Now Playing screen will look a little different. The shuffle and repeat buttons are gone a you’ll just see a like and dislike button.
Spotify Connect
Next, towards the bottom of the Now Playing screen on a mobile device or on the right side of the display you’ll see the Spotify Connect icon. Now what is Spotify Connect? Spotify Connect, you can think of it as a way to control and listen to music on different types of devices.
So think of other computers, phones, SmartTVs, speakers, game consoles, cars, and other devices. you can basically use the app on any device including the web player for the browser, as a remote to control the music, playing on any device, linked to your Spotify account, or any device on your local Wi-Fi network.
“Hey Spotify” feature
Now, if you don’t want to use a third-party assistant to control your music on Spotify, but you still like the idea of using voice commands, you’re in luck because Spotify has its own voice command feature on the Spotify app for iOS and Android.
Lyrics Feature
now, the last feature to mention on Spotify’s playing screen is the new Lyrics feature, which you can access you tapping lyrics at the bottom on mobile and iPad iOS, and on Desktop and the web player you get to this view by clicking on the microphone button. Spotify’s new lyrics feature now not only shows you the lyrics to many popular songs but also will time them to the music as you listen, perfect for those who want to sign
Three Dots Menu
Now the last thing to take a look at in the Now Playing screen are the 3 dots in the top right corner that you see on the mobile and tablet versions of the Spotify app. Clicking the three dots brings down a new menu that includes options such as like and don’t play this song, options like, Add to playlist, which will let you add this song to a custom playlist, add to queue, shuffle, repeat, share, Go to radio, view album, which will show you the album the track is from, View artist, song credits, and sleep timer, which will stop the music after a set time if you’d like to listen to music as you go to sleep.
Podcasts
Next, is podcasts. You can find podcasts to listen to on Spotify either by searching for them or browsing episodes Spotify thinks you’d enjoy on the Home screen. When you click into a podcast episode, you can easily add it to your Podcast episode queue by clicking the little Plus Button. You can access the Your Episodes queue in your Library by selecting the Podcasts & Shows filter. When you’re playing a podcast, the Now Playing Screen will look a bit different.
You’ll see the play head, podcast artwork, a podcast speed button that lets you control the speed of playback, a 15-second skip forward and skip back button, a sleep timer that will stop playing the podcast after a set time you select, and the share and queue buttons you’re used to from the Music Now Playing screen.
Ending Note: You can download the app from the Google Play Store. We hope you like our review if you like it don’t forget to share it with your love once and we will see you in our next article. Bye!