Spotify is the most popular music streaming service in the world. Users can make their own playlists in the app and can also access recommended playlists based on their listening preferences. However, it seems that Spotify wants to see if users will be interested in a streaming app which lets them listen to playlists only. It’s testing a new app called Stations which is just for listening to playlists.
The Spotify Stations app is available for download from the Google Play Store but the listing page mentions that it’s not compatible with handsets in the United States and many other markets. It only appears to be available in Australia.
Spotify says that the app is “the easiest way to listen to the music you love. Totally free,” but it’s also quick to point out that this isn’t a new product, at least not now. The company describes Stations as an “experiment,” so it depends on this test whether or not the app will be released for everyone.
Stations starts playing music as soon as the app is launched which reduces the steps that users have to take to get to their music. All playlists are displayed in a large font and users can switch between them easily just by scrolling. No typing or searching necessary. The service is ad-supported and no one gets the ability to skip tracks, not even Premium members.
It even includes Spotify’s popular personalized playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar. Users can’t create new playlists within Stations but they can customize which ones appear in the main menu.
The app is only available for Android devices right now and it’s unclear if Spotify will expand the experiment to iOS devices as well.