Spotify Review 2024: The good, the bad, and the ugly

I’ve used Spotify Premium for many years on both my desktop PC and smartphone. It's one of the apps I always have in my startup list because it's usually the first one I open every morning and the last one I close every night. From music to podcasts, audiobooks, and now videos, it’s an all-in-one music streaming platform and the most popular of all. But is it still worth it in 2024?

All the good with using Spotify in 2024

Let's start with the basics: If you're worried that the streaming platform might not have your favorite songs and artists, rest assured its vast library won't disappoint you. Spotify was a pleasant surprise for me, and when they started adding podcasts and audiobooks, I was thrilled to have one app for all types of recorded content.

Besides songs, podcasts, and audiobooks, you can now watch videos. What's even better is the option to disable videos, saving internet data and battery life, offering a cleaner experience.

In addition to having almost anything you might search for, Spotify offers numerous exclusives and remastered old songs (originals included). With over 100 million songs, 5 million podcasts, and 350 thousand audiobooks, you can enjoy content anytime on any device.

You can organize everything into different lists, which can be set to public for others to follow or kept private. You can also create collaborative playlists with friends and family, allowing everyone to add their favorite songs. This collaboration adds a fun element and keeps you engaged with the app.

One of my favorite features in Spotify’s desktop application is seeing what your followers are currently listening to or their last played song. This feature helps you discover new music, share laughs over friends’ tastes, and explore their playlists for more music.

If you don't see your friends list on the desktop app, click the icon with three people in the top right corner ("Friend Activity") next to your profile picture. You can then click the "+" icon to connect with Facebook and follow your friends.

Spotify's curated playlists are among the best in the music streaming industry. Some are updated by Spotify’s curation team, while others automatically update with new songs based on your interests as you use the platform.

For example, playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and daily mixes are tailored to each user's interests. The “Stay up to date” section highlights top hits based on your country and trending songs, alongside public playlists created by other users.

In terms of customization, you can choose between Compact, List, and Grid views for playlists, collapse your library to save space, and hide the right sidebar. You can sort playlists by recent, recently added, alphabetical, or by creator. The search function helps you easily find songs, artists, or specific remixes. For discovering new music, use the options in the search menu based on mood, category, and more.

All the bad with using Spotify in 2024

For a brief period, Spotify introduced the "Smart Shuffle" feature, which automatically filled your playlist with new songs based on your current ones. It was a great way to discover new music, but Spotify removed the feature, making finding new songs less efficient. Now, users have to manually search through numerous playlists, and the recommendations below playlists are often outdated and repetitive, even after refreshing them.

Spotify doesn’t provide a changelog for every update, which frustrates users who want to know what changes are made before updating. Despite over 2,000 votes requesting changelogs, Spotify has kept this suggestion in their “Not Right Now” section for over six years. Additionally, users cannot change their usernames once set. This can be problematic for those who initially chose a less desirable username, as they can't transfer their saved and organized music to a new account.

All the ugly with using Spotify in 2024

One frustrating aspect is Spotify not remembering certain preferences, like the “Friend Activity” view, which has to be manually re-selected each time over the default “Now Playing” view. The “Friend Activity” feature, available only on desktop, is superior to “Now Playing” but isn’t offered on mobile.

The desktop version works well, but the mobile version’s homepage is lacking. It's difficult to find personal content without searching by name, and discovering new podcasts is challenging without a dedicated discovery page. Spotify’s homepage needs a redesign for better navigation, podcast discovery, and user collaboration. A light theme option would also improve usability, especially in bright conditions.

Additionally, Spotify lacks notification features for collaborative playlists, requiring manual checks for updates. Notifications for basic interactions would enhance user experience.