The Spotify shuffle function (and other services of the same type, this is not exclusive to the Swedish company) has staunch defenders, absolute detractors and, in between, a large number of users who consider that there are times when it makes sense to use it and others when no. Fortunately, and as in almost everything, these more intermediate positions are also the most common, although the extremes are much noisier.
In my case, for example, I prefer sequential playback when listening to records and lists, designed by me or by third parties, in which the order of the tracks has its reason for being. On the other hand, I have some lists of the “container” type, in which I add songs by genre, by mood or by associating them with some type of specific activity (driving, relaxing, working, etc.) with which I prefer the random mode, to “surprise” me every time a new song starts.
This does not mean, yes, that he always acts like this. Sometimes I feel like listening to one of the “container” lists sequentially, and other times I want to break the preset order of an ordered album or compilation. And I do not consider myself so special as to think that I have invented anything, in fact I put my hand in the fire that there are many other people who act in a similar wayalternating between both modes as they feel like at any time.
Until the end of last year, Spotify prioritized random to sequential playback mode on discs and lists. However, in a quick, effective and positive response to a claim by Adele, it modified its interface, so that now, on the discs, at the top, they only show the sequential playback button, and it is necessary to access the playback controls at the bottom to turn on shuffle.
In the lists, however, a single button is still displayed for both modes, in which most of its surface activates sequential playbackwhile a smaller one triggers random:
However, this is about to change, as we can read on the company’s official blog, soon each of the functions will have its own button. And it is that, of course, users who want to activate the random mode in a list, until now have had to refine their aim to make sure they choose the correct option.
These types of changes, the smallest, are usually the most appreciated by users, and in this case I think (in my perception as a user) that we are facing one of those successes. And I think that Spotify should stop with broken promises and, instead, real service improvements. And since some long-awaited like Spotif Hi-Fi seem postponed sine dieunless you continue to work on what is totally under your control.
