Tired of tinkering with Sound Cloud and Apple Music because their layout is just not clicking for you? It’s always a maze just to get to your favorite song and before you know it the desire to listen to that song has expired. Maybe you wanted to listen to a certain album that Apple music and Sound Cloud happen to not have so you must adventure onto YouTube only to suffer through the ads.
Utilizing Spotify, you get millions of songs, zero ads, and the ability to listen to your music offline, what sounds more compelling than not having to chew up all your cellular data to listen to Taylor Swift? All for only $9.99 a month but if you are apart of the student population, the app offers a discount. If the student discount and the millions of songs didnt appeal to your attention then the layout of the app will! The layout is so simple even my grandma could understand it. One of Spotify’s strengths is its design, which is to focus on the organization of the app to make things easier for the customer. Life is already complicated, an easy and organized app in your life could balance that.
The language that the app offers is very simple. For example, you see playlists and albums and within those playlists and albums, you have all your songs. At the top of your playlist, there are two simple words “add songs” so you don’t have to explore other parts of the app. You have tabs with your playlist names that contain all your songs, you even have the option to sort the most recent, alphabetically, and you’re most favorite. Spotify also has a recommended list at the bottom of your playlist encouraging you to explore more music that maybe your taste. For example, you could be a country music nut and at the bottom of your playlist, there would be some suggestions like Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, and Florida Georgia Line’s greatest hits very bottom.
The coolest part about this app is that it caters to many cultures, it has several categories such as country, rap, hip hop, orchestra, gospel, R&B, and podcasts. What music app also offers podcasts ranging from sports to education? This is perfect for walks outside on a nice sunny day or just to pass some free time. I would always listen to Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition and Weightlifting House podcasts while on the stair mill or treadmill at the gym. Finding the podcasts section in the app is so easy, as soon as you open the app and visit your library at the bottom of the screen there are two big bold words “music and podcasts” at the top, they made these words big so nobody could miss it. Having access to all these cultural types of music and podcasts can help expand your taste and intellect. Another interesting characteristic of this app that sounds cloud, apple music, and all the other music apps lack is the ability to gather all your most listened to songs and put them in a playlist just for you automatically. On your home screen, it displays a “recently played” section which contains all your albums that you constantly have on repeat.
Spotify has a gift of the gab. In such a sense that one of its headlines for suggesting songs that may fit your interest is “pov: ur a young person on this app”. They use a younger generation quote and include the words “ur” rather than “you are” to reel younger people in using our type of language. From observation, Spotify’s targeted population is the youth. They also include “On our radar right now” as a headline title to keep us in the loop with what is new. Their titles and words are very fluent and eloquent. There is one catch to this app, unlike Apple Music, Google Music, and Amazon Prime Music, who all rely on paid humans, Spotify’s difference is its algorithm. This could just be based on personal preference but as a user, I don’t mind the algorithm. Having an algorithm can help you understand where your music interests are at. “The home screen of the Spotify app is a prime example of how algorithms govern a listening experience. Its goal is to quickly help users find something they are going to enjoy listening to, according to a presentation by Spotify Research director Mounia Lalmas-Roelleke at the Web Conference earlier this year” (Dave Gershgorn, October 4, 2019).
Spotify is easy to navigate because of its expressiveness. Using big bold letters to make out single words and having attention-seeking head titles to attract our interest. Spare yourself the extra work trying to click on the little ins and outs that these other music apps have. With Spotify, it’s just as easy as a click or two and you are already at your favorite song or album. The home screen has everything to offer with your albums right there in front of you as soon as you tap on the app.
