Earlier this year, Spotify unveiled an interesting streamlined app for music listeners in Australia.
Dubbed Stations, the app allows users to quickly stream curated stations.
The app description on Google Play explains how users wouldn’t have to laboriously search for music.
“With the world’s music at your fingertips, finding the right thing to play can feel like a challenge. Stations gets you to music instantly—no searching or typing needed. As Stations learns more about what you like, it creates stations packed with the music you love, made just for you.”
Stations first started as a small-scale experiment by Spotify. The 8.1 MB music player only recently crossed 10,000 installs on the Play Store. Most users continue to complain about the app’s bugs and lack of full-scale features, showing people may not fully understand Stations’ purpose.
“Cool app, but it’s very buggy. I added one more artist to an existing playlist and it ended up deleting all the existing artists. When listening to music, the Spotify app also shows so I have two notifications. The ‘Play To’ feature doesn’t show all devices, so I’m unable to stream to my Google Home.”
“Lacking some basic features, but very fast. Spotify proper locks up on my 3-year-old phone, but Stations at least lets me get music into my ears.”
“Okay app, but would be great if we could mix multiple genres into one station, e.g. rock + metal ballads + hits, etc.”
Last month, the music streaming giant unveiled the app on iOS devices, but with a major caveat – only users with iPhones and iPads in Australia could install and use Stations.
Now, the company has officially launched Stations in the U.S.
Both Android and iOS users can download the experimental lean-back listening Stations app on the Play Store and App Store, respectively.
As hinted at earlier, Stations personalizes playlists – aptly dubbed ‘stations’ – for each user based on their listening history. So, the more you listen, the more Spotify customizes your music streaming experience.
Stations isn’t meant to overtake the main app. Instead, it serves only as a “complementary experience.” This app also includes Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and user favorites.
Current subscribers will have access to an ad-free experience. Non-paying users will listen to ads intermittently, just as in the main Spotify app.
Featured image by Spotify.