10 Spotify hacks that you’ll wish you knew about earlier

Scene kids usually know how to master technology. From coding Myspace profiles to pulling music off LimeWire (while inevitably giving our computers viruses), we had it all down. So why should Spotify be any different?

All right, we’re not going to rank the streaming service up there with its predecessors in terms of complexity. All things considered, it’s pretty easy to use. However, there are some aspects to navigating the expansive catalog that are less than intuitive.

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Read on for 10 of our favorite tips and tricks that you can use to master Spotify.

Make finding the perfect tune a breeze by using search modifiers

Ever wish you could refine your search parameters to something more specific? Well, as it turns out, you can—on both mobile and desktop apps. Spotify’s search syntax lets you specify years, genres and/or labels. Just use the syntax “Modifier:Parameter.” For example, you might search for emo songs put out by Fearless Records in 2005 by typing, “genre:emo label:fearless year:2005.”

You can also exclude parameters by adding “NOT” or “-” to your query. So if you wanted to find emo songs from the 2000s but not inclusive of 2005, you’d type, “year:2000-2009 NOT year:2005.”

Link to your favorite part of the song with time markers

Want to link your friends to your favorite part of a song or even bookmark it for later? You can do this by expanding the URL that you retrieve from Spotify’s “Share” function. Simply click the three dots next to the song title, select “Share” and “Copy Spotify URL” (Note: not “Copy Song Link”). Then, add your time selection to the end of the URL with the format “#0:00.” For example, to link to the song in the image above, we’d add “#2:57” to the URL.

Integrate Spotify and Shazam for playlist additions on the fly

If you’ve ever wanted to find the title of a song you hear and simultaneously add it to your Spotify library, here’s your solution. Download the Shazam app (if you haven’t already) and go to the “Settings” menu to connect to Spotify. Now when you identify a song using Shazam, you’ll be given the option to open it on Spotify or add it to a playlist.

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Utilize Discover Quickly to find new music on target for you

If you ever wanted to expand Spotify’s “Discovery” function, this third-party platform is the way to go. Discover Quickly lets you easily navigate playlists, genres, new releases, followed artists and more. You can even sort them by genre you like or by using parameters such as “number of tracks.” But if you’re feeling spicy, go ahead and give the “Random Artist” button a spin.

Access your listening history

Ever heard a song you liked and then completely forgot what it was called? No worries, just head into your Play Queue and click on the “History” tab to see your 50 most recently streamed tracks. You can access the queue page from the Spotify playback bar (it’s the icon that looks like a sideways triangle followed by three horizontal lines). Unfortunately, the history function is only available on the desktop app.

Set up Rediscover to automatically save your weekly Discovery playlists

This is a nifty trick for those who love the Discover Weekly playlist but seldom remember to check it. Rediscover is a third-party app that automatically saves the songs that Discover Weekly populates before they’re gone from your library for good. All you have to do is link your Spotify account to the platform and it’ll set up the archival playlists for you every Monday.

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Find alternate (or clean/explicit) versions of your favorite songs

Did you know that you can toggle different versions of albums and singles? To be clear, this functionality is limited to the desktop app, but still… Just click on the album/single title and scroll down to the bottom of the tracklist. If an alternate version is available, a “More Releases” menu will appear on the right side of the screen.

Use proper tempos to amp up your workouts

Unfortunately, Spotify retired their built-in running tempo feature, but that doesn’t mean you have to shuffle your library and hope for the best. Third-party app RunBeat will do the job for you, either with preselected or auto-detected tempos. You can even specify which playlists you want it to pull from. RunBeat is available on both Android and iOS.

Add unplayable tracks to your library

Did you know that Spotify imposes country restrictions? Probably not because you can’t see them. Of course, the first step in accessing them is finding out where they’re at. To do this, go into your Spotify “Settings” menu, scroll down to “Display Options” and turn on the “Show Unavailable Songs in Playlists” option. Now you’ll be able to see the grayed-out restricted songs. To incorporate these tracks into your library, search the internet for MP3 downloads and save these to your phone or computer library. From there, go back to your “Settings” menu, navigating to the “Local Files” heading and turn on “Show Local Files.” Those tracks that you saved to your phone will now be available for you to play through the app.

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Accidentally deleted a playlist? Big yikes—but not really

No need to mourn lost playlists because Spotify’s got you covered. If you accidentally trash one of your favorites—or just change your mind on an impulsive decision—you can reverse course. Just navigate to the Spotify website, log in to your profile and select the “Account” page. Select the one that says “Recover Playlists” to access your backups. Note: This may not work on mobile unless you have the desktop version of the site enabled.

What are your favorite tricks for using Spotify? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: altpress.com