Fast forward to January, my wife learned there are some good nursery rhymes on Spotify, and she installed the app on a spare phone. Few days ago, she was busy and asked me to play the Spotify playlist she usually plays to our kid. I couldn't do it. The current UI is completely inscrutable to me. All I could do is find a few album covers that, upon tapping, led to something that perhaps was a playlist, perhaps a "radio", perhaps something else. In 5 minutes of focused attempt, I couldn't find a way to list what songs are a part of the playlist I selected.
So I ultimately played something that looked like the right playlist, it played a song I recognized, then it played an ad, then it turned out to be a "radio".
It's rare that bad UX triggers a strong emotional reaction in me these days, but that did it. What the fuck, Spotify?
The other trend I've seen a bit is digital and streaming releases, with a vinyl physical release, but no CD version. I mean, fine, whatever, if that's what the market wants I suppose.
I don't tend to mind too much if FLAC is an option (usually the case if available on Bandcamp), but it's pretty annoying when the only options are MP3s or streaming, which tends to be the case with albums only available through more mainstream distribution channels such as Amazon (I'm looking at you Dark Country album series).
I did the whole binders of cds and the giant cd towers to hold my music, that was a giant pain. I jumped on mp3s as soon as I could, and then once Spotify launched in the US I joined and never looked back.
This goes for navigation too. You should review your route before you leave, and at the very least have it plugged into your nav unit before you drive off.
There's no excuse for fucking with all this stuff while you drive. If you really need to change something, just pull off for for a minute.
I do think that it's ridiculous that Spotify hasn't improved their app in the 5 years I've been using it and is still missing really basic playback features, but when the competition is Apple Music, they're still by far the best music service that exists.
But I don't see the complaint that it's not got to be used while driving. Phones aren't supposed to be used while driving altogether.
Instead, it wants you to do as much as possible by voice. It almost works, but is frustrating enough I learned to just get the songs and albums i want lined up in advance and can get to in 2-3 touches. Not quite the same as tactile controls, but pretty close.
Wrong.
In the UK it is legal to use a phone in your car handsfree as long as the phone is in a cradle/bracket. Since, I think, last year the gov closed a loophole so you can't have the phone in your hand for any reason whilst driving.
Might vary in other countries/jurisdictions of course.
Not everywhere... only in some jurisdictions.
Way back when, I had a Zen Stone to play music in the car. It was everything I wanted; it stored music and was operated purely by touch, not even having a display. It was tiny and easy to carry (though mostly I just left it in the car).
Since that worked so well, I now have a SanDisk Clip Sport which appears to channel the same ideas. Sadly, I've never really had occasion to use it -- I don't do much driving anymore, and I've never had a car with an audio in port. (I plugged the Zen Stone into a cassette tape adapter...)
But if you really think CDs would be better than your phone except for the bulkiness (and I would agree), that's probably the way to go.
> This simplified Spotify dashboard appears automatically when your phone is connected using Bluetooth.
Oh. Nice. Looks better than the "main" UI. I guess I'll have to dig up a BLE module and try to make it pretend it's a car.
I hate driving and fill the navigator/DJ role in the car. Assuming I’m driving in a 7 passenger car is dumb.
I drive an older car with an old fashioned CD player rather than an infotainment system so what do I do? That's right. I put my phone in a cradle next to the steering wheel and use Spotify.
Apart from the serious issues caused by the lack of tactile feedback and the fact you have to look at the interface to use it, it's like the Spotify product development teams have gone out of their way to make the app clumsy and dangerous to use whilst driving. It is crappy and unresponsive, with way too much clutter.
I swear, Spotify have a giant engineering team and I have literally no idea what they spend their time doing: it's certainly nothing that I find useful or that improves my experience.
So in order to avoid dying or killing anybody else I plug the phone in to the aux socket on the car stereo (no Bluetooth in my car), select a playlist before I set off, and then let it do its thing. I'd switch back to CDs but they're a pain in the ass to carry in bulk. Or I listen to an audiobook.
I hate touch interfaces in cars.