Spotify Tips for People Who Like to Listen to Whole Albums
Is Spotify Ruining the Album Listening Experience?
For those who prefer listening to full albums, Spotify's user experience might seem lacking. The platform tends to automatically play similar tracks after an album ends, which can disrupt the album-listening experience. However, users can disable the autoplay feature in the settings to stop this. Additionally, while Spotify does not have a direct way to queue albums by the same artist, users can manually play all albums from an artist's discography in reverse chronological order.
Spotify's playlist feature often relies on algorithms that tailor content based on individual listening habits, which might not suit album listeners. To avoid algorithmically generated playlists, users can search for public playlists curated by other users that are not marked as "Made for." For quicker album searches, keyboard shortcuts like Control+K (PC) or Command+K (Mac) can be used to bring up the search bar, allowing for fast navigation and playback of albums.
How does the autoplay feature on Spotify affect the listening experience of someone who prefers to listen to albums?
The autoplay feature on Spotify can affect the listening experience of someone who prefers to listen to albums in a few ways. Firstly, when an album ends, instead of leaving a moment of silence for the listener to decide what to play next, Spotify fills the silence with a stream of algorithmically selected "related" music. This can be jarring for those who prefer to listen to complete albums, as the autoplay selection may not align with their listening preferences.
Secondly, the autoplay feature tends to insert random tracks from the middle of an album, not necessarily the listener's favorite tracks, into the playlist or autoplay queue. This can be frustrating for album listeners who want to experience the collection of songs in the order chosen by the artist1.
Lastly, Spotify's recent update has made the autoplay feature enabled by default on connected devices, and there is no option to turn it off. This means that after an album, playlist, or song selection is done playing on any device other than a phone or computer, Spotify will continue playing recommended tracks indefinitely. This can disrupt the listening experience for those who prefer to listen to albums in their entirety and then decide what to play next.
What steps can be taken to disable the autoplay feature on Spotify and what happens once it is turned off?
To disable the autoplay feature on Spotify, you need to access the settings menu. First, click on your profile icon, which is located in the top-right corner of the screen6. From there, select the "Settings" option. Within the settings menu, look for the "Autoplay" section near the top of the list. You will find a toggle switch here; turn it off to disable the autoplay feature.
Once the autoplay feature is disabled, Spotify will no longer continue to play similar tracks automatically after you've finished listening to an album or a playlist45. This means that when an album ends, there will be silence until you manually choose to play another song or album. This setting allows users who prefer to listen to albums as cohesive units, without interruption or insertion of algorithmically selected tracks, to have more control over their listening experience.