Spotify has watered down it’s Premium features in recent years, but for once the company is adding a little exclusive benefit back for its paying customers.
And when we say little, we mean little. The company is separating the play and shuffle buttons on playlist pages. Yep, that’s it. It’s a strange flex from Spotify in 2022 isn’t it? Especially when its long-promised Spotify Hi-Fi option is still nowhere to be seen.
Nevertheless, Spotify had been using a combined play and shuffle button, meaning the default experience had been to commence playlists on shuffle. Now a change is rolling out on iOS (I’ve had it for the last couple of weeks), while Android users will get it in the coming weeks.
“This new change will allow you to choose the mode you prefer at the top of playlists and albums and listen the way you want to,” Spotify says in a blog post. “Whether you love the joy of the unexpected with Shuffle mode, or prefer listening to tunes in order by simply pressing Play, Spotify has you covered.”
The change comes as Spotify moves away from the prominence of the shuffle mode, somewhat.
Last year it honoured a request from Adele to remove the shuffle button from her album page and it ended up being removed from all album pages. Of course you can still access it from the playback screen, but taking it off the album page discouraged its use somewhat, so listeners were guided towards listening in the manner the artist intended.
She wrote on Twitter: “This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
