Ask HN: Why is the Spotify UX so horrible?

A few questions for anyone at Spotify:

- Why isn't there a list of new episodes from podcasts you follow? (This should be MVP- absolutely every other podcast service i know of has this!) - How exactly am I supposed to use the "your episodes" playlist? - Why don't podcasts always sort correctly when you go to a podcast list? - Why can't I search within an artist's page? even if it's limited to their discography? - Why can't there be a separate list item in the sidebar for podcasts, artists and albums? - Why can't I get to the "find podcasts" area from the library (or the your episodes area)? this used to exist! - in the podcasts section in your library, why can't I sort by most recently updated?

I get why Spotify is pushing podcasts so hard, but why not implement some absolutely basic features?

Phone issues: - Why does it take so long (if it even shows up) for downloaded podcasts to show up when you're offline? - what's the point of downloading them if they won't show up?!?!?!?!?!

I've been using spotify exclusively for a while but I realized at some point that though spotify had helped me discover a mountain of artists, it's really difficult for me to remember them, and especially difficult for me to find something to listen to, because unlike the old napster/morpheus/kazaa days, I can't organize my music into a nested structure by genre/subgenre/artist. And in fact if you're not listening to the default common genres that spotify provides, you can't realistically search by genre unless you personally make a playlist.

I get the feeling this is all about pushing content in your face, Spotify doesn't really care as much about allowing the user a convenient way to navigate personal favorites; I think they only recently even added an alphabetical sort for the library page...but when I'm idly trying to find something to listen to, having to scroll through all of my interests in one giant list is always a chore.

mb7733 · 4 years ago

I have this exact same issue with Spotify. It's to the point where I'm going to cancel it.

You can't even organize your library aka "liked songs" by artist any more. Instead they introduced a separate (initially empty) Artists section, which isn't synchronized with your library of liked songs, or the albums page. It's insane.

I miss the UX of Napster/iTunes/winamp/rythmbox etc so much.

dzhiurgis · 4 years ago

> I miss the UX of Napster

Soulseek is alive and kicking

soheilpro · 4 years ago

Shameless plug: You can use https://volt.fm to search Spotify music by genre.

Just use the search bar or browse artists/tracks/users to discover new genres.

twofornone · 4 years ago

Craven · 4 years ago

When I was younger I expected Spotify would eventually "fix" their god awful search for local/downloaded content. I've long given up hope though. The only answer is they don't care about you when you don't actively have bandwidth to download ads. The desktop client semi-recently removed the global search bar - just another example of prioritizing aesthetics over usability.

King-Aaron · 4 years ago

I'm still pissed off that they're pushing adverts into content even though I'm paying for premium

atraac · 4 years ago

I'm paying for premium for years now and I've never seen or heard a single advert. What exactly are you talking about?

It only seems to apply to high-traffic podcasts. The one I notice it regularly in is a podcast called 'Lorehammer', where at the start and end of the episodes Spotify has inserted a location-specific advert (lately Australian Police recruitment ads for some reason). These seem to be baked into the audio file as they can be skipped through with the fast forward button.

I understand people who listen to Joe Rogan hear these a lot too

rStar · 4 years ago

i’m sure we’ll have the joe rogan plan…$30/month for a family plan with no adverts, even on podcasts.

thatgerhard · 4 years ago

I've unsubscribed from all podcasts on Spotify almost 6 months ago now, and switched back to apple podcasts for some of the reasons above. I only use spotify for music. On the "Home" page of the app about 50% of my recommended content is still podcasts. I'm now considering going back to apple music too..

eduardosasso · 4 years ago

That was exactly the main reason I’ve moved away from Spotify. I didn’t care about podcasts and there was no way to turn it off. Eventually my Home Screen was mostly podcasts recommendations like you said. I’m happy with Apple Music.

daneyh · 4 years ago

any tips for getting playlists and likes out of spotify?

dankwizard · 4 years ago

I'd recommend trialling Deezer out. In Australia, it is slightly cheaper than Spotify, pushes higher quality songs, boasts a library of around ~75,000,000 songs, separation of songs/podcasts.

e: Nearly forgot - Easy to upload custom songs/albums. They aren't organised the best (On phone, they are all stored in 1 playlist called My MP3s) but they're there!

andrei_says_ · 4 years ago

Can it import all my Spotify playlists?

IWantToRelocate · 4 years ago

Not sure about "all", but you have some ~free~ services on the web to convert playlists between deezer and spotify and vice-versa.

binarynate · 4 years ago

Why not just switch to a better podcatcher? There's a lot of good ones to choose from, like Pocketcasts and Overcast.

aufhebung · 4 years ago

Because Spotify is basically looking to monopolise the podcast industry. If you want to listen to Joe Rogan, probably the most popular podcaster in the world right now, you have to go to Spotify.

iab · 4 years ago

The Spotify interface is absolutely horrid. And the Apple Watch integration makes me want to cancel my subscription every time I use it.

sergiomattei · 4 years ago

As a contrasting note, I’ve used Spotify for many years and consider their UI perfectly adequate, if not pleasant.

iamhamm · 4 years ago

Same here. I’ve heard this complaint a lot, but I’m very happy using it and don’t find anything horrid.