Spotify App for iPad

HERC's previous Spotify-themed posts have been so well received that he's back on your screen with another one.  This is a hands-on exploration of the Spotify app for Apple's iPad.

First, for those of you still having problems finding it, the Spotify app is a free universal app in the App Store - there is no need to search "Spotify iPad" or "Spotify HD".  Second, if any of you readers gave the app a less than glowing review due to Facebook requirement, please look at the screen grab below of the first screen you'll see when you open the Spotify app on an iPad:

(The screen grab does not do the app justice as it is a dynamic screen - the cover art continuously scrolls right.)

You'll notice that while it does give you the option to "Login with Facebook" there is another option to "Login with Spotify details".  Make no mistake about it, HERC does not Facebook.  He logs in with his Spotify details, which he obtained almost three years ago - two years before Spotify crossed the Atlantic and landed on American shores. 

Full Disclosure: HERC's Hideaway originates from American soil.  Now you know.

The fact that you do not possess said Spotify details merits an appropriate review rather than your knee-jerk abusive dismissal.  You wouldn't say "worst lock ever!" simply because you didn't have the key, would you?

Even if you had credentials to login to the Spotify app, you might be disappointed because, as HERC has pointed out before, you must be a paying Premium Spotify subscriber to do anything with the app on any mobile platform.

If you are even remotely thinking about plunking down your ill-gotten hard-earned plastic cash to fully enjoy all of Spotify's benefits or are just curious or have to finish reading something once you start, please read on.  The rest of you are dismissed.  Have a nice day and thanks for visiting HERC's Hideaway.  Please come again.

Once you have successfully logged into the Spotify app on the iPad, you'll be greeted with the What's New screen as seen below.

This screen is slightly different from it's PC counterpart yet contains much of the same offerings: Recommended releases at the top of the screen, continuously updated Top 5 Trending Playlists and Top Tracks "near you" mid screen and 20 New Releases on the bottom portion of the screen - although only 8 appear on the screen grab, you can scroll up on the iPad to view all 20.

On the left hand side of the screen, in addition to the default "What's New" view, you also have Search, Inbox, Playlists and People viewing options.  The grab below shows the Playlists view with a playlist folder selected showing the playlists within in a sliding window.  Navigating the app is all about touch gestures: taps, swipes and lingering touches.  Sliding windows are can be swept off screen by swiping right and brought back by swiping left.

Readers with an eye for detail should take note that HERC is giving you a glimpse of upcoming Spotify playlists that will featured here on HERC's Hideaway - can you spot the three playlists meant to whet your appetite for more, more, more?

Note that at the top of each playlist screen there are two buttons: New Playlist and Edit.  Touching New Playlist lets you create and name a new playlist and then opens another sliding window that instructs you on how to add songs to the new playlist: "While playing a track, tap add (+) to add that track to a playlist."

The above screen shows an open playlist with a track paused while playing - see player on bottom of screen?  A lingering tap on the track in the playlist window (in this case, beneath the large artwork picture) opens a drop down menu as pictured in the above screen grab.  Your options at this point are to Star a track which adds it to an always present Starred playlist; add (+) a track which opens a pop-up window featuring all of your existing playlists - select one and track will be added to it with a little bit of animated embellishment; Share Track whose pop-up window includes sharing options such as Spotify People, Facebook, Twitter and Email as well as the ability to Copy Track Link for pasting elsewhere; Add to Queue is next to Share but there is no way to see what your queue is.

 

Touching the "three heads" icon opens up the artist sliding window (seen above) where you can read the biography if available, view Related Artists, Top Hits, Albums, Singles and other releases the artist Appears On.  Swiping screen to the right returns you to previous sliding window.  Got it?  Touching artwork in lower left hand of player brings up same options.  Tapping the two arrows next to artwork enlarges artwork to full screen with the same options on the bottom of that screen.  To change tracks in full screen mode, swipe artwork left or right in vertical view or swipe up and down in horizontal view.

No, you're eyes are not playing tricks on you, this is not the same playlist as seen in all of the other grabs.  It is currently HERC's most subscribed-to playlist - it's called "Al Kooper's New Music For Old People" and it goes a little something like this... 

A note about Spotify playlists - sometimes songs added to a playlist become unavailable at a later date.  As a policy, HERC leaves those songs in playlists in the hopes that they will return as it has happened before.  Several of the songs in the "New Music For Old People" playlist are unavailable as of the date of this posting.

Al Kooper is a music industry legend who creates a weekly 10 song playlist with song by song commentary here, using a music service HERC does not use.  HERC's playlist is merely those songs available on Spotify, all in one continuously updated playlist.  Despite the title, which Al explains on his column's header, the music he recommends is really good stuff you've probably never heard before, spanning the last 60+ years of recorded music and all genres.  Mr. Kooper's own website also contains a list of what he considers the 100 BEST RECORDINGS OF ALL TIME.

The Edit button located directly under large artwork allows you to delete songs from playlists or rearrange the playing order by touching the three horizontal bars located to the right of the song title.

Touching Settings button, as in above screen grab, brings up the option to switch to Offline Mode, which gives you the option to listen ONLY to playlists you've made available to listen to in offline mode.  Remember, Spotify requires an Internet or cellular carrier connection unless you specifically switch to Offline Mode or lose your connection while using Spotify.  To make a playlist available offline, touch the downward arrow in a circle located between the Share Playlist and Edit buttons as seen in above three grabs.

Two new features to the Spotify app are the ability to listen with an adjustable Crossfade between songs of up to 12 seconds or enjoy Gapless Playback on continuously mixed or live albums such as Girl Talk's Feed The Animals or Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive!.  The two features are mutually exclusive - only one can be used at a time.

Other Settings include Private Session which keeps your listening a secret from Facebook if you're logged in via Facebook so you can listen to all those boy bands from your youth without anyone being the wiser.  You can also Scrobble your listening to Last.fm or connect to Facebook so the songs you listen to will be posted.  

The final two options in Settings are Stream and Sync settings.  Based on your connection speed and/or data plan usage, you can Stream or Sync at three levels: Normal is default for streaming and is equivalent to a 94 kbit/s bitrate; High is default for Syncing and equivalent to 160 kbit/s while Extreme is a bandwidth devouring 320 kbit/s.  As with everything else in his life, HERC has both of these settings at Extreme.

In addition to the lack of a viewable play queue there are no Radio options in the Spotify app, unlike the abundance of Radio options when enjoying Spotify on your PC.  There are several other functions missing from the Spotify app but that only makes it apparent that it is built - at least for now - simply to easily enjoy listening to music.  Best music player app HERC has yet used on iPad.

Keep those comments and questions coming in - we've almost got enough to do another post.

HERC out.