Streaming has, and its dominance begins and ends with Spotify. The desktop and mobile apps have evolved quite a bit over the past few years, growing more predictive and personalized while pulling in an ever-expanding array of audio and even video content. The more you customize your experience, the better it will be. From the to curated discovery and playlists, Spotify's design philosophy is to give users more and more ways to tailor your music app to your unique preferences. Read on for a rundown of all the hidden and not-so-hidden tools to take your music streaming to the next level.
Need new tunes? The Browse and Radio functions on the top left are a good place to start. Every Monday, Spotify will also add a new crop of 30 songs to your 'Discover Weekly' playlist. Songs are selected by Spotify robots based on your listening habits.
Find it under Browse or Playlists. If you find something, be sure to save it, as Discover Weekly is replaced with a new playlist each week. Right-click and scroll down to 'Add to Playlist.' On song or artist pages, you can also click on the ' button to add to a playlist. Maybe no feature is more indicative of Spotify's push into personalization than Daily Mixes, which serves up always-changing playlists based on previous listening, as well as songs you've favorited or added to playlists. You'll see them front and center on desktop and mobile, usually grouped by genre.
It's a good mix of music you already know you like and a built-in discovery mechanism to stumble across new jams. If you're a Spotify Free user, Daily Mix playlists have unlimited skips on mobile. Spotify is quick to point out that it never censors music and will 'make music available in whatever form it's given to us.'
Use System Information to learn whether your Mac has the Apple T2 chip. 1) In the Finder, click the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. 2) Click the General tab, then click the button labeled System Report.
So, if you ever come across an album that isn't quite as real as it should be, scroll down and look for a pull-down menu on the bottom right-hand side, which will say '1 More Release' or something similar. It's usually not clearly spelled out, but this is typically where you will find the 'clean' and 'explicit' versions of any particular album. Unfortunately, this function isn't as all-encompassing as it should be.
It would be great if it provided quick access to all the re-releases and special editions of a classic album available on Spotify. But regrettably, that's usually not the case. Music and maps are the two apps people use most in the car, so it should be a no-brainer that they play nice together. And Spotify now works with two of the most well-known mapping apps: Waze and Google Maps. On Waze, make sure the Spotify and Waze apps are on your phone. In Waze, click the search bar on the bottom, tap the settings icon ( ), tap Spotify and toggle 'Connect Spotify' to on.
Once you set up the integration, you'll see a green Spotify logo floating in the top-right corner of the Waze app. Tap that to open a Spotify menu inside Waze (when your car is at a complete stop, please).
On Google Maps, navigate to Settings Navigation and select either Music playback controls (iOS) or Show media playback controls (Android). Select Spotify and accept the terms to connect your account. Then, when you activate turn-by-turn directions, there will be an option to play music from Spotify at the bottom of the screen. If someone else is driving you around, the Uber Connect feature allows Premium users to control the soundtrack in their ride with a mobile device, transforming a mobile device into an audio remote control. To try it out: 1) Connect Spotify and Uber via the Uber Profile Screen.
2) Request a ride in the Uber app. If you get matched with a music-enabled Uber (not all cars have this feature), the music bar will appear at the bottom of the Uber app. 3) Tap the music bar and then you can program the soundtrack for the duration of the ride. Data Saver Mode is an important new mobile app feature for data-conscious streamers. From the top settings gear icon in the app, you'll see Data Saver in the settings menu and can toggle the feature on or off.
Data Saver caches data from recently played songs on your smartphone to help your phone consume less data when streaming music. It's an opt-in feature, so you need to go in and enable it. Spotify said it can reduce data usage by as much as 75 percent, but if you've got an unlimited data plan, you can leave this switched off and save that on-device storage space.
The most important mobile app feature for Spotify Free users is to know when a playlist has unlimited skips. As you scroll through the Spotify app home screen, the 15 playlists on this page are all part of the biggest new capabilities for Free tier users: complete song control and unlimited skips.
The home screen includes your Daily Mixes, personalized playlist mainstays like Discover Weekly and Release Radar, and then a section of on-demand playlists curated by Spotify based on your data and preferences. Spotify execs said this could include popular playlists like RapCaviar, Viva Latino, Ultimate Indie, Alternative R&B, or any 'editorial' playlists that match your preferences. Within these 15 playlists, you can choose individual songs and skip as much as you want. In normal browsing and custom playlists, Free users are still limited to shuffle play and six skips an hour. If you see the small blue shuffle icon next to a playlist, that means you're still limited to the traditional six skips per hour for free users.
Despite the fact that the Mac operating system is quite stable and responsive, over time Mac users will find the computer running slow. There may be various reasons for this. So we have decided to give some of the reasons for your Mac’s slowing down, and show you how to improve its performance.
Why is my Mac so slow?. The hard drive is full Often MacBook or iMac is running slow because there is almost no free space on the drive.
If there is a shortage, the system simply has nowhere to store the temporary files created when the applications are launched. For a stable Mac performance, at least 10% of free space is required. This means that you should clean up your Mac and free up more disk space. First, check how much free disk space you have. Go to the Menu → click the Apple icon → About this Mac → Storage. If your disk is full, delete the files you no longer need.
First, go to the Downloads folder and delete all unnecessary items. We recommend that you download the app, which shows disk space usage and the biggest files and folders on your disk.
Also, review the apps which you don’t use, and uninstall them. Not enough RAM This problem is much more serious than any other. To check the status of RAM memory, open the Activity Monitor app, select the “Memory” tab and on look at the graph at the bottom. In my case, there is enough free memory. If you have come to the critical point, then look at the running applications that are not being used and close them.
Another effective way to clear inactive RAM and speed up Mac is to use a free utility. This app monitors your memory usage and can clean up your Mac automatically when the memory is full or after the apps are closed. Cluttered desktop Explore your desktop thoroughly for unnecessary files or icons. Note, the Mac operating system draws each item onto the desktop, and it takes time to complete this task after every new command. So, we recommend that you remove all unnecessary items, or move them to another folder. Too many programs launching automatically Another of the reasons why your Mac is slow is having too many programs running automatically at login.
Yes, it is more convenient when the frequently used apps (Skype, Mail, Spotify, etc.) launch automatically and you do not need to press anything. However, sometimes you hardly ever use them. Disable all login items or leave at least really necessary programs.
For this go to System Preferences → User & Groups → Login Items. Or unmark this option right from the context menu in the Dock panel. Some applications store the settings in their own preferences, so you can change the option there. Another quick way to operate login items and even all installed widgets is to use a free tool. Just launch the app, switch to the Extensions tab and preview all startup programs on your Mac, especially the Launch agents and Login items sections. Disable unneeded applications to prevent them running automatically when you login.
Delete games and applications that have not been used for a long time. Perhaps they affect the overall performance of the device. Timely update of apps and Mac operating system. Always install all required updates from Apple, downloaded from the App Store apps. To check for updates, go to the App Store → switch to the Updates tab and click the Update for all required apps and for the operating system. Our tips should help you to understand the main reasons your Mac is running slow and how to. Hope this has been of help.
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