Spotify has announced that it is removing some of the restrictions and giving free users more control over what they are listening to by introducing three new features – Pick and Play, Search and Play and Share and Play. With the new update, Spotify free users can now search for songs, play them, share specific songs and even make personalised playlists with customizable covers.
The update is being rolled out globally and addresses one of the most annoying limitations of Spotify’s shuffle-only free experience. Earlier, instead of playing the specific song a free user had searched for or selected in an album or playlist, Spotify would previously launch tracks in a randomized order that forced users to skip songs until they reached the one they actually wanted to play. Skips also used to be limited to six hours.
However, now, non-paying users can “pick and play any song they want,” according to Spotify.
There are still some restrictions in place, with CNET reporting that free users can only listen to one song before the app starts shuffling.
The free experience will also still include ads, but this update gives free listeners fewer reasons to use rival streaming services like YouTube when they want to play a specific song without dancing around shuffle-skipping requirements.
This also helps Spotify’s desire to get users sharing music links online, given that non-paying users previously couldn’t immediately play songs that friends had shared on social media platforms.
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