quiz: try copying the name of a track/album from the desktop app
Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
41–50 of 83 posts
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#42I actually like the Spotify app. For things I am (and maybe most normal users?) interested in, it works really nice: choose a song, listen to it, listen to the bands other songs, listen to their "radio" with similar songs, find new interesting bands, repeat.
Same. There are a lot of apps way, way worse than Spotify, including Apple Music.
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#43The android app has been awful for years now.
Don't even think of using it if you have a bad connection, even the context menus have an animated loading circle thing.
I'm now actually trying out other services, the official youtube music app won't even launch since I don't have google play services. But there's a lot of free/open-source clients too so I'm currently going through these.
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#44Podcast is one of two the reasons I've unsubscribed Spotify (as you describe, the UX is terrible). The other one, I was not able to "teach" the algorithm what I like even after 3 months.
Similar here. "Podcasts" (without RSS feeds) really ground my gears and eventually I got fed up by the algorithm playing the same 8 songs I didn't like (in playlists of hundreds).
FWIW, Tidal isn't all it's hyped up to be either; they also do some dumb stuff. But it's a solid competitor that at least isn't Spotify.
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#45It's one of the most popular services in the world, but has one of the worst user experiences of all the apps I use.
This is really common. It's a sign that the value isn't derived from the software itself, but what the software enables you to do. It doesn't need to be good. People pay to access Spotify's library of music and podcasts, despite the UI.
When you run a startup having people hungry to use your MVP despite it's flaws is a classic signal that you're on to something valuable. I could list hundreds of shockingly bad apps that have awful user experiences that I've happily used over the last 40 years because they all did something I really wanted or needed to do. Almost every 'enterprise' app is a total mess from a UI perspective - but they make a fortune because the value that users get from them make it worth putting up with.
People think a beautiful UI is something that every app needs, but really every app just needs to do something useful. None of them need a good UI until there's a competitor with an equivalent service that has a better UI. Only then does the UI actually matter, because it becomes something users will use to choose which service they buy.
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#46you/we are not the target audience. most people love the auto play features and just want a selection of playlists or radios to put on. this is the majority audience that Spotify makes the most of its money from.
That is probably the answer, even though I do not see why it cannot support both. For example why is there no "stop after song" feature, sometimes I do not want to be "engaged" but really just listen to one song/podcast and then no more, without having to stop some random shit afterwards.
I can turn off autoplay in the settings, it's named something like "automatic play of similar content", it doesn't work for you?
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#47* Download music you want to listen to
* $ sudo apt install vlc fzf
* $ rvlc "$(ls | fzf)"
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#48Offline playback: my biggest issue with Spotify. I have my library downloaded, why is the UI "loading" and blocking? It should be instant.
It's could still doing the authentication loop to check that you have the 'right' to access the things you downloaded, depending on how often the app refreshes the token they use to check.
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#49For those unaware, it's possible to use alternative clients for Spotify using a 3rd party daemon. https://github.com/Spotifyd/spotifyd
For those unaware, spotify is not a podcast player. Most podcasters get no money from spotify. Podcasts are a wild ecosystem, spotify is a business that feeds of that. Some audio productions are labeled spotify exclusive podcasts. Well, they are not podcasts. They are, like audible, audio productions on a single platform. Fun fact, AFAICT the fastest growing major podcast platform is re-uploads of podcasts to youtube…
> Which makes no sense on most mobile platforms
Why? I watch a lot of podcasts on youtube, it's interesting to see the interaction, so the visual component is not a negative.
In fact, the vast majority of podcasts I've heard aren't audio-only. The only one audio-only ones I've listened to are the old Opie and Anthony show uploads.
Re: Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is probably the answer, even though I do not see why it cannot support both. For example why is there no "stop after song" feature, sometimes I do not want to be "engaged" but really just listen to one song/podcast and then no more, without having to stop some random shit afterwards.
I can turn off autoplay in the settings, it's named something like "automatic play of similar content", it doesn't work for you?
I remember I tried something and it did not work, but now I found 2 different toggles with autoplay. Maybe something changed again? Who knows, now it seems to work, thx for the hint ..
Edit: nope, it does not work and just plays on