Spotify

by Spotify for Windows 8

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An amazing music app for Windows

Spotify is one of the most popular multimedia music apps in the world. The program offers a vast selection of music, artists, podcasts, and songs. It also focuses on delivering personalized content. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use, free, and versatile music application, Spotify is a great choice.

Personalized content, podcasts, playlists, and more

Spotify has become a leading music streaming app in the last few years. The platform currently supports over 200 million users and 50 million songs. It’s available on multiple platforms, including Windows 10, Android, Mac, iOS, Xbox, Playstation, and Android TV. It is also a web app.

While you can use the free app version, it doesn’t let you download music. If you want to listen to music offline, purchasing a premium subscription is better. Regardless, Spotify offers a variety of curated music displayed in playlists designed per your interests and preferences.

How to use Spotify?

Spotify has a more straightforward and cleaner interface than other music streaming apps. You can download the .exe file or visit the Microsoft Store to install the PC version on Windows. Like most music apps, Spotify has a pretty straightforward installation process. When you run the app for the first time, you need to sign up with a Facebook account or enter basic details.

The main screen is divided into three categories, i.e., Home, Browse, and Radio. Everything is displayed, and you can conveniently search for artists, songs, podcasts, and radio stations. When you listen to music on the app, it considers your listening patterns and recommends songs based on your interests.

How’s the interface?

You will find a range of songs and playlists in the Home section. This section offers recently-played songs, recommendations from Spotify, and curated playlists. The Browse section lets you filter music according to genres, concerts, new releases, podcasts, artists, and other categories. It’s an excellent way to explore Spotify’s massive selection of songs, albums, and other content.

The last tab, Radio, lets you explore various international radio stations. These are categorized by mood, famous artists, themes, and other factors. While Spotify has limited content in this category, it’s still at par with popular radio streaming apps.

There’s a lot more to navigation on Spotify, in any case. Under the primary tabs, you’ll notice the Playlists and Your Library. Additionally, you can create a new playlist to listen to your favorite music. Once you play a track, it gets displayed as a thumbnail in the main area of the screen. You also get basic control options, including play, skip, pause, etc.

At the bottom of the screen, Spotify allows you to cast music on another device. You can right-click anywhere in the main window and play around with settings, preferences, etc. The Spotify download has many other features, including queuing songs, accessing quick shortcuts, and sharing songs. It even lets you read and sing along to the lyrics of a song as it plays, thanks to the Lyrics feature in partnership with Musixmatch.

How to personalize content?

Spotify boasts personalized content, making it a one-stop shop for music streaming. You can customize the app’s usage from the top bar under your name. Apart from the content, you can also change the app’s theme, settings, layout, and other options. There’s a Show Advanced Settings button, which lets you tweak the music playback.

Is Spotify for Windows free?

Spotify is a freemium application. While the basic version of the app is free, it comes with limited features. Moreover, it displays ads, which can disrupt your listening experience. On the free version of this music app, you can only listen to content in shuffle mode.

Fortunately, Spotify has different subscription options. You can choose a plan based on your preferences. For instance, the app lets you choose if you’re a student looking for a discount. Similarly, you can pay for a family plan, which enables you to use multiple accounts with the same subscription. Spotify also gives you a free trial period, a good enough time frame to test the app’s features and interface.

What are the alternatives?

While Spotify is an excellent choice for Windows PCs, you also have the option to consider a few good alternatives. Each application comes with its set of benefits.

For instance, iTunes is ideal for Apple users. It conveniently syncs all the iPhone or iPad data with your computer, so you can easily explore the library. However, the cluttered interface might bother people unfamiliar with the program’s navigation.

Amazon Music, one of the most prominent competitors of Spotify, is another good choice. It integrates well with Fire TV and other Amazon products, making it the perfect choice for existing Amazon Prime users.

On the other hand, if you’re interested in exploring radio stations, you can check out TuneIn Radio or iHeartRadio. Both applications have a wide range of stations, categorized adequately by theme, mood, artists, etc. Last, you can try Winamp to download music on your PC and want a simple music player.

Once you’ve considered the alternatives, you’ll realize that Spotify delivers next-gen music streaming. With the premium version, you can save music offline and listen to your favorite content without an internet connection.

A feed similar to the video app TikTok

To improve the chances of users finding new content, Spotify is redesigning its core home screen. The design is inspired by short-form video feeds, which have become increasingly popular recently through platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The new features include several improvements that will make it easier for users and subscribers to gain access to content. Its unique features include discovery feeds that scroll vertically, a mode that makes playlist recommendations based on a smart shuffle algorithm, its ability to play podcasts automatically, and more.

Some features will not be available to everyone. For example, Smart Shuffle is only for subscribers, while other features, like the TikTok-inspired feeds, will be available to everyone. You can also listen to music while you scroll through the recommendation feed, and the app will automatically mute it for you. The new podcast feed features a vertical scrolling interface similar to the music feeds. Unless it’s a video podcast, you won’t be able to preview a looping video. Instead, they are given short audio segments from podcast episodes and real-time transcripts. Further, you can scroll through the podcast recommendations vertically with or without audio.

An excellent choice

If you’re looking for more control and flexibility over music, Spotify will be an excellent choice. With a lot of customization options, this app is perfect for exploring new artists, songs, podcasts, and other content. The program targets every casual music lover interested in streaming songs on an easy-to-use application.