How to use Spotify web player?
Today, it’s simply impossible to talk about streaming music and podcast platforms without mentioning Spotify. Its platform can be accessed through any phone, tablet or computer.
It is also accessible through web browsers. The popularity of Spotify’s web player is partly due to the fact that it works similarly to its desktop apps for Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Playing background music is the only thing it can’t replicate.
Spotify web player: what is it?
Spotify is a digital music streaming platform that provides access to millions of songs, podcasts and videos from artists around the world. You can get free access to its content by registering with your email address or logging in from Facebook.
If you don’t want to cancel your monthly Spotify Premium subscription or want to test the platform first, you can start with free access without having to subscribe to premium later.
Spotify funds the free version through advertising. This version is available on PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone.
Spotify isn’t just famous for its name or the amount of songs it offers. Part of this popularity is due to the experience it provides to users. With this in mind, it was able to simplify the user procedure so that it takes less than 2 minutes to register and start enjoying its content.
If you’re on a smartphone, you have a choice between the Spotify app and the web player. For convenience, you can prefer the app over the web player. But there are times when using the web player is better for you than the app. In any case, the first step to enjoy Spotify on a smartphone, just like on a computer, is to launch the Spotify web player.
Getting started with Spotify’s web player is easy. If you’ve never used the platform before, you’ll need to register to get started. For this, you need to go to the Spotify website and proceed with the registration. You must provide your email address and date of birth. You must also indicate your gender and create a password that you will use for your next connections to the platform.
If you find the process lengthy, you can choose to register using your Facebook account, if available. The process is simplified and it will be easy for you to find your friends, see what they like to listen to and share tracks with them.
Next, you will need to select a subscription level. Note that you have a choice between the free version and the Premium version. The latter has more features, offers more flexibility and connects to more devices.
Now you can access your account through different browsers, regardless of the device you use. Spotify is integrated into a number of browsers: Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera.
Spotify has a pretty simple basic setup. But the more you use it to listen to music, the smarter it becomes.
If you visit the Spotify web player, you will see that it is an intuitive platform. Your available options are listed in the left pane. The first four options are probably the ones you will use the most. These are the following options:
- Research;
- Welcome;
- Your library;
- I read it recently.
On the main page you will get an overview of all the main options:
- Top music playlists;
- Recommended podcasts;
- Thematic suggestions based on the day of the week or events;
- Music you’ve recently added;
- Music suggestions tailored to your music preferences;
- Quick links to Charts, Favorites, Genres, New Releases and Discover.
If you are looking for a specific song, you can select the “Search” option. A text box appears at the top of the screen. Enter a keyword in this box to find the music you want. This can be an artist name, a song or album title, a music genre, or even a playlist. As soon as you start typing, a list of results is displayed. You can select a result from this list.
The “Your Library” section gives you an overview of the music you listen to or record. These are divided into playlists, songs, albums, artists and podcasts. You can customize your own playlist by selecting “New Playlist” in the upper right corner of the screen.
Spotify also lets you discover new songs. The platform offers you titles that you may like. Its recommendations include music genre, artist name, and more. based on factors such as It also offers you popular tracks that match the genres of music you usually listen to.
If you can’t access Spotify apps because they’re blocked or unavailable from your country, you can try another less convenient option: accessing the Spotify web player via a VPN.
A VPN allows you to connect to a server located in a different location, but access to the Spotify service is not blocked. Thus, the location of the server is replaced by your location for the duration of your Internet connection.
Advantages of Spotify web player
Most users of the Spotify platform believe that the app is the best way to enjoy the content available. However, using the web version offers advantages that your app doesn’t necessarily have.
Less software on your computer
By using the Spotify web player, you save space on your computer. No need to create playlists with the library available on Spotify. The platform takes care of saving your preferences, history and everything else.
Carrying capacity
No need to drag your computer or smartphone to listen to music. If you go to a friend’s house, you can leave everything at home and go freely. If you want to listen to music, take their phone, tablet or computer and go to Spotify’s website. Just enter your username and password to access your Spotify account.
Ability to use keyboard shortcuts
With the Spotify web version, you can use shortcut keys to browse your music collection. Simply install the Spotify Shortcuts Chrome extension or the Spotify Firefox add-on to start browsing your Spotify account with keyboard shortcuts.
Here are some of the main keyboard shortcuts for both extensions:
Chrome:
- Play/Pause: Alt+Shift+P;
- Next track: Alt + Shift + Full stop;
- Previous track: Alt + Shift + Comma.
Firefox:
- Play/Pause: Ctrl+Alt+P;
- Next track: Ctrl + Alt + Full Stop;
- Previous track: Ctrl + Alt + Comma.
Adding music through widgets and tools
Spotify users often create widgets of their favorite playlists that people can listen to on their site. There are also dozens of sites for creating playlists that connect to Spotify. Clicking on any of these widgets or online playlists will give you a great experience in Spotify’s web player.
Ability to sing along with lyrics
Lyrics are now available in Spotify’s web player. To do this, start singing, then click the microphone icon in the lower right corner. The player switches to full screen mode, with the lyrics scrolling past the artist’s artwork.
Disadvantages of Spotify Web Player
Perfection doesn’t exist anywhere, not even on Spotify. Its web player certainly has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages.
The bitrate at which the audio files are streamed by the web player is lower than that offered by the desktop application. For free subscribers, the web player offers 128 kbps compared to 160 kbps for the desktop app. Premium subscribers get 256 kbps bandwidth in the web player and 320 kbps bandwidth in the desktop application.
Spotify Premium subscribers cannot download tracks for offline listening. They also cannot access the app without a Wi-Fi connection.
It is no longer possible to connect to Spotify from the Safari browser on MAC. If they decide not to download the app, they can still use other browsers to access Spotify content on their MAC. They can access Spotify with browsers such as Chrome (from version 45), Firefox (from version 47), Edge (from version 14) and Opera (from version 32).
How to download Spotify music?