Spotify hit some major milestones in the last year–feuding with Taylor Swift on money supposedly made or lost, hitting 10 million paid subscribers, and a complete revamp of the mobile app on all platforms. Mid-year the app’s revamping caused the removal of a preview feature, leaving users at a loss.
The ability to preview 30 seconds of a song in the discovery section helped set Spotify apart from other music streaming services. Following the clamoring from users, Spotify product manager Miles Lennon the crew was “…pretty obsessed with that problem.” After a year of hard labor they found the answer, Touch Preview.
Touch Preview is not a new section, complicated algorithm or clever gimmick, instead it is a simple and subtle change to the user interface. Not satisfied with being beautifully simplistic, it is also the first global preview solution the app has ever featured. Tap and hold title of a track, from anywhere, and relish in the perfectly balanced fading in and out (so not to sound jarring) of the track.
Spotify brings the perfect solution to the problem and goes one step further, allowing you to queue up the brief snippets in what can easily bring back memories of spinning the dial on an AM/FM radio. It is the quickest way to sample music the app has ever offered.
The year is early, but Spotify is quickly establishing that 2015 is the going to be a spot on!
