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Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

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Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#51

Post by ipaddr »

ethbr0 wrote: post #37
pie420 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they get paid by Labels to promote certain songs and artists, similar to how labels pay radio to play only certain songs. Everything, from Amazon, to Spotify, to the Google Play Store wants you to click on promoted bullshit, not search for what you actually want. Welcome to the internet in 2023.

The difference should be that users pay Spotify for a subscription. Raise the prices if they need to, but don't try and have a subscription + "whatever ad bucks we can make" model.

Vote with your wallet.

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#52

Post by unethical_ban »

encoderer wrote: post #23

Spotify, get your shit together. You’ve wasted a fortune in podcasting and now you’ve destroyed your app UX. Nobody wants this crap. Everybody just wants better music discovery and instant access to their favorites.

They took away the ability on Android to put playlists and album links directly on the home screen, which I used extensively. No discernable reason, and they have refused to reimplement. The "idea" on Spotify has a lot of Voi ed support but it's like being put in the kids corner. It's insulting.

I used to be loyal to Spotify because it was decent and they were in the music business specifically. Now I'm on YouTube Music and going to cancel Spotify paid.

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#53

Post by avgcorrection »

itsibitzi wrote: post #48
transcriptase wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their UX is infuriating compared to a few years ago. Why does it take multiple clicks to get to search? Why are my playlists etc not front and centre? Pop-ups about new albums from artists that they know I’ve never listened to and never would? Every time I use it now, my inner voice is saying “get the fuck out of my way” to the UX itself. What are they optimizing for?

You can jump straight to search using {Cmd,Ctrl}-L the same as a web browser, but for folks who're not used to key commands the decision to hide the search bar is absolutely deranged.

Nice, thanks!

Wonder why they seemed to have never prodded me about this? Rather that than (as already mentioned) prodding me about new releases from literally-who artists (to me). ;)

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#54

Post by brookst »

klysm wrote: post #5
brink wrote: post #2

What was their original plan when they purchased it? Was it just an acquihire all along?

I think investors get FOMO when they see other companies buying things and think "oh shit maybe I'm missing out on this great opportunity" and reactively buy something that fits the trend in their space.

This, though a sophisticated investor will call it “option value” rather than FOMO.

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#55

Post by Mathnerd314 »

javanissen wrote: post #12

They ruined it! Pre-acquisition Heardle played the song from the beginning immediately after you finished guessing. Post-acquisition, you had to open the song in Spotify which introduced a lag of several seconds. The immediate visceral reward of playing the game disappeared.

If they ruined it, then a new clone could probably do well. Probably a fun weekend project for someone to reimplement it.

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#56

Post by yieldcrv »

h4ch1 wrote: post #33

Just day before I saw Spotify had the same ADHD inducing reels/tiktok style music discovery thing on it. What is it with all these companies using the same UX patterns EVERYWHERE. As one commentor rightly said, Discover Weekly is the only thing keeping me on this platform, they even removed family mixes, my brothers and uncles are on my family plan, and even though we didn't keep in touch a lot that used to be a talk…

> What is it with all these companies using the same UX patterns EVERYWHERE.

any guesses?

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#57

Post by yieldcrv »

rvz wrote: post #18

Oh dear. Less than a year. This is what happens when businesses follow and chase short-term hype cycles and end up wasting time and money in the end. The return on investment of this acquired startup is exactly $0. Facebook on the other hand with the Instagram acquisition gave returns into the tens of billions of dollars.

> The return on investment of this acquired startup is exactly $0.

negative, far below zero.

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#58

Post by blfr »

sleigh-bells wrote: post #31
encoderer wrote: post #23

Spotify, get your shit together. You’ve wasted a fortune in podcasting and now you’ve destroyed your app UX. Nobody wants this crap. Everybody just wants better music discovery and instant access to their favorites.

Does Spotify still not have a way to pick up where you left off on a podcast after venturing into music for a while and coming back? I remember there being something extremely annoying about that very obvious usecase which made me just go back to Pocket Casts, even though that app can't even stream a podcast without some sort of skip or fast forward.

It goes back to the moment you last listened (minus a couple of seconds) by default. Spotify is a decent podcast player, not AntennaPod but OK.

Re: Spotify abandons Heardle less than a year after buying it

#60

Post by h4ch1 »

yieldcrv wrote: post #56
h4ch1 wrote: post #33

Just day before I saw Spotify had the same ADHD inducing reels/tiktok style music discovery thing on it. What is it with all these companies using the same UX patterns EVERYWHERE. As one commentor rightly said, Discover Weekly is the only thing keeping me on this platform, they even removed family mixes, my brothers and uncles are on my family plan, and even though we didn't keep in touch a lot that used to be a talk…

> What is it with all these companies using the same UX patterns EVERYWHERE. any guesses?

please illuminate me, my conspiracy theories will get me flagged to oblivion.
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