While my dad has a thriving collection of vinyl, he listens to music on his Android smartphone a lot more. Sure holidays seem like a perfect time to dust off that gramophone but hey, combine Spotify Premium with good speakers and you will have an amazing experience. The ease of use and the way Spotify Premium delivers music in the form of dynamic playlists is the perfect blend of discovery and routine. This review of Spotify Premium app for Android will only talk about the paid subscription app. We will be routinely comparing this app with the free version and, of course, the recently released music solution by Apple. So without further ado, let’s start exploring what Spotify Premium has to offer.
Installation
Conclusion
Spotify Premium is not a cheap app to own and quite frankly you don’t even own anything on the app. You are paying for a service that allows you to stream music to a wide variety of devices not just Android.
Interface
Spotify Premium has one of the best interfaces I’ve tested. The app has a classical black background option and it complements the nature of the app well. In a way, Spotify Premium reminds me a lot of Poweramp Music player for Android, this is a good thing because that app nailed the interface perfectly. The music is sorted in the form of playlists and in a very unique way. I was expecting it to be alphabetically arranged by artists’ names, but that was not the case here. The songs are all housed into great playlists that are constantly being updated. The interface allows you to scroll through the playlists with ease. Something fairly new is the automatic Running playlist. It will select the songs it plays based on your running tempo. It’s actually pretty cool the way it works. If you are in an all out sprint versus a light jog, Spotify Premium for Android will play different songs based on how quickly you are taking your steps. If you are not looking for a specific artist but are more interested in music to fit your mood, there are premade playlists for that too. I found myself listening to playlists labeled like “Weekend” and “Acoustic Cover”. Whether you are looking for an artist, genre, or something to fit your mood, the search function is what you will be using the most on the app and it works flawlessly.
Content
The charm and main draw of Spotify Premium are in the music content. And I have to say, the collection is vast and impressive. I’m into country music, and almost any song I wanted was available on this app. Jazz, alternative rock and soul and just about any other genre and artist I searched for was there. However, I would like to point out that Taylor Swift is not available on Spotify Premium. If you like listening to her songs, this may be a deal breaker for you. As I have absolutely zero interest in modern music (except Adele), it was not a big deal for me. I would also like to point out that Ms. Swift is on Apple Music. Maybe it was some sort of an exclusivity deal, but I sure hope more artists don’t pull this.
Usage
Using the app daily, I follow a ridiculous amount of playlists on Spotify Premium. I have grown to like what the app has to offer. Back when I first started playing around with the app, I never thought that it would introduce me to more artists. However, Spotify Premium has helped me discover audibly amazing music tracks at a consistent pace and has made my workflow a lot more fun. One of the best things about the Spotify Premium controls is when you long press a track, the app previews it for you. This allows you to taste a track before even launching the play window. The app also allows you to queue tracks simply by pushing them towards the right. The only reason why I docked one point off this category is because after you have queued a couple of tracks, there is no way to rearrange them in a certain order.
Premium Features
The Spotify Premium offers no ads whatsoever. This mean you will have absolutely no interruptions in your music. There is nothing more I hate than pesky ads, well perhaps an annoying DJ speaking over the track is more loathsome, but you get my point. The premium app also allows you to skip tracks whenever you want. This means you don’t have to suffer through a track simply because you don’t have the ability to skip it. That is practically torture, thankfully Spotify Premium addresses the issue well. You will also be able to save tracks on your device for offline usage. I don’t want to say “download” because the tracks will still be in the app and not usable by any other mean. But the benefit of saving a track is that you will be able to listen to it even if you go offline. I usually download a ton of tracks before going on a road trip. Is the asking price justified? That depends on how much music you hear and personal preferences. Spotify Premium is a great app which delivers what it promises. The developers are a little easy on the updates but that’s about the only biggest problem the app has. Featured Image Credits
