There is now only shuffle option for free users & I can only change songs 6 times an hour!!!! WTF!

[HaydenPH]

The title said it all. I'm a long time spotify user. I have gotten many people into spotify. Now I pay for it, most of the time but coming up to Christmas it's not as easy. But I still manage to use it, which is why I like did spotify so much. But now, all free users can only choose the shuffle option, cannot choose certain songs & can only change songs 6 times in an hour?! I understand this is a great market ploy. But I am not a happy customer! This needs to be fixed! Now! Not a good way to encourage new people to join. I've synced all my songs everything perfectly in the order I want, but that doesn't matter now because its free user. Even the music I've downloaded & put to spotify my own music I can't even click to play. The new layout is pre crappy to. Seriously. Change it back. I will not be the only one complaining. You will lose a long time customer. Might just have to go back using music on my iPod.

[Taylor]

Hi, and welcome to the community!

This is only the case on mobile. You still get on demand listening on desktop with unlimited skips but with ads.

Free users never used to get access on mobile, so be greatful!

Anthony 🙂

[HaydenPH]

I'm new to posting on here, so I apologise if I'm posting in the wrong area.
What do you mean? I have been mobile spotify since i started using it. I synced all my playlists so I could listen to them in order if something like this happen. Like I missed a payment one month. But now I can't do that.
I'm thankful for everything spotify has done & Is doing but the limiting they are putting on free users is to much. Like I said before new users won't like it.

[Peter__]

Free users have never been able to listen to content (apart from radio in the US) on mobile devices until the changes last week. If your premium expires for any reason, you will loose access to your offline content as you no longer have license to have it. Once you upgrade to premium again, you will need to resync that content. 

Spotify free users can only use shuffle mode and radio on mobile devices.

[Taylor]

That ^^ 

😛

[cfclos]

Just wanted to put in my two cents, whether you guys care or not. I was looking to cancel my Google Play Music OnDemand (darn that's a mouthful) subscription and switch over to using Spotify free, I wouldn't mind saving $10 to listen to some commercials but this is honestly not much different than Pandora or iTunes Radio when you get on a smartphone.

So you guys win the desktop and tablet, but fail (well really on par) when it comes to actual mobile devices though. If I'm going to pay $10 a month just so I can listen to whatever I want in my car, through my phone, then I might as well just stick with Google since I'm an Android user and already have a Google Wallet account, just saying. Also, at least Google Music lets you play whatever songs you upload whenever and on whatever device you want for free.

[owenwithalice]

Have to agree with the OP. I've been a spotify premium user for ages, recently I lost my job so I've had to cut back. Things like spotify , Netflix etc have had to go. The intention had always been to go back to premium when I'm back working again. I didn't think it would be a big issue as I knew I could listen with ads etc till then. Clearly not the case anymore. Someone said you've never been able to use mobile device when a free user. That's fair enough but coming from a premium for such a long time to a free user this is frustrating, why not do something similar to next flix . Let you have mobile steaming with ads etc for 6months to year and if you don't re subscribe to premium within that time then it should go to this stupid shuffle nonsense thingy,

[Peter__]

Its down to licensing normally, actually I have listened to Shuffle mode on free quite a bit doing testing and I actually don't mind it! Gets music to my ears. 

If you want to suggest a change, head over to the Ideas Exchange:

http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-Ideas/idb-p/ideaexchange

[p64]

It sucks.

I was having premium one before i noticed that the app isn't really at level a commercial app should be.

I mean... You can't change between storage devices for real? ... And the app doesn't even give any proper warning or notify on when it fails to utilize the storage space...

Why not just add adds to the free version btw? If i want to listen to 1 track now it's impossible.

[Peter__]

There are adds in the free version on top of the restrictions mentioned above on mobile devices.

[Heckler511]

It took me about 5 mins to discover this horrible shuffle lock.  It's too bad.  I finally tried spotify and now I'm pretty sure I'll never use it.

I think shuffle lock was a stupid idea Spotify.

[Peter__]

It only applies on mobile phones, so all of your other devices will be shuffle free. Can't give all of the cookies out for free, who would then buy premium?

[Heckler511]

It was my very first time using Spotify.  I found a playlist that was worth signing up for.  I started to play it on my laptop, but wanted to use my phone so I could plug it into my docking station with speakers.  So I downloaded the app.  The playlist was all the sampled songs from Paul's Boutique, so it very much needs to be played in the correct order, in order to be appreciated.

I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do, and my very first experience was one of frustration.  The app proved useless to me in 5 mins.  I'm now pretty much over it.  I guess I'm just someone who takes the time to comment, but I suspect similar things have happened to other people, which is why I think shuffle lock is a bad move.  Perhaps it's worth it, as it encourages people to sign up (what's the price anyway?).  I don't know, the admins should have the data.

I was just sad, becuase after everything I've heard about this service, it only took me 5 mins to figure out it wasn't for me.

[euniqe]

My brother told me about what Spotify is and how I could have unlimited acess to all songs in the world without having to pay - however there are ads. Fair enough, at least I get free music - that's really cool. 

To my horror, the app only allows shuffling. Now, not only does no one in the world listen to entire albums these days, but LITERALLY no one listens to an album on shuffle. The only reason I intended to use spotify was to access songs while at a mate's house or at a party - I can could easily put on a request etc. 

However with this shuffle crap the app is 100% pointless without paying. I'm sorry, but there's no justification for restricing a feature on mobile that desktop users have. None. 

Shame, I was even considering Premium if the streaming quality and availability was good enough. But now, meh. And wow - 6 times an hour? SO YOU CAN"T EVEN LISTEN TO A FULL ALBUM!?!??!? 

.....seriously??

[iamme14]

true, could not have said it better.

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@HaydenPH wrote:
The title said it all. I'm a long time spotify user. I have gotten many people into spotify. Now I pay for it, most of the time but coming up to Christmas it's not as easy. But I still manage to use it, which is why I like did spotify so much. But now, all free users can only choose the shuffle option, cannot choose certain songs & can only change songs 6 times in an hour?! I understand this is a great market ploy. But I am not a happy customer! This needs to be fixed! Now! Not a good way to encourage new people to join. I've synced all my songs everything perfectly in the order I want, but that doesn't matter now because its free user. Even the music I've downloaded & put to spotify my own music I can't even click to play. The new layout is pre crappy to. Seriously. Change it back. I will not be the only one complaining. You will lose a long time customer. Might just have to go back using music on my iPod.

---

[iamme14]

Still not really fair though, I mean, I hardly tolerate the ads as is. I'm about done if I can't use my phone. I don't have a desktop. I'm borrowing a school laptop and doing homework. When I do it on my phone and want to listen to music I LIKE, not "recommended" music I am not wanting to listen to when studying.
Also, the way you worded your opinion makes me think you are a premium member, as in you have money, you can pay. I don't so I can't. I honestly think you don't really understand.
Also, Music is my life. It has stopped me from killing myself on multiple occasions. This is restricting me from something that keeps me grounded.

[iamme14]

It's not really fair though, I mean, I hardly tolerate the ads as is. I'm about done if I can't use my phone. I don't have a desktop. I'm borrowing a school laptop and doing homework. When I do it on my phone and want to listen to music I LIKE, not "recommended" music I am not wanting to listen to when studying.
Also, the way you worded your opinion makes me think you are a premium member, as in you have money, you can pay. I don't so I can't. I honestly think you don't really understand.
Also, Music is my life. It has stopped me from killing myself on multiple occasions. This is restricting me from something that keeps me grounded.

[k-builder]

All we're asking for is to choose which song we want to play... isn't that supposed to be the point of the app?

[k-builder]

Its stopped you from suicide. ..? O.o

[emiliana]

I was a free user for close to a year, and used it on my laptop for background while writing. The curious thing that I am hearing is that free users were unable to listen to music on mobile in the past. However, I have an iPhone 4, downloaded the Spotify App and was able to listen to any music I wanted without being restricted to the shuffle option, for nearly four months. After this, I used the free 3 month Premium option because I got so sick of the ads. 

However, once this trial ended, I was restricted to the shuffle option with extreme restrictions on the amount of skips. I agree that these are absurd restrictions, and are not convincing anyone to buy into Premium. It is extremely annoying and has caused six of my friends to abandon Spotify and switch over to Pandora (which is looking really good right now!).