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Spotify Needs To Fix The Playlist Description Field

Spotify Needs To Fix The Playlist Description Field

Plan

Premium

Country

U.S.

Device

Google Pixel 3a XL

Operating System

Android Version 11

 

My Issue

The description of my playlists keeps messing up, after so long. It keeps replacing parts of it with nonsense. Below is an example.

 

Two new songs, "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" & "If You're Going Through **bleep** (Before The **bleep** Even Knows)", are now available to you, after just being added to Spotify&am

 

It didn't have the "**bleep**" parts, in the description. That's just "HeII" and "Dev!l".

 

Now, I can't remember what all I had in there, exactly. It's very annoying, especially when the technology is available, and this stuff shouldn't be doing this, in the first place.

It's not just on my phone. It's been going on for a while, happening on my Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro S & my Samsung Tab A, also.

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14 Replies

Hey @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thanks for reaching out to the Community.

 

Let us know if this issue persists once you've performed a clean reinstall on the affected devices. We recommend this step since it'll get you the latest app version with all necessary updates and remove any corrupted files from previous installations.

 

If that doesn't fix things, could you share a couple of screenshots and the Spotify URI/ links of some of these playlists? That way we can take a closer look.  On another note - does this happen when you edit the playlist description on a desktop device? If you have the option to test this out, that would help us get to the bottom of this quicker.

 

Keep us posted, we’ll keep an eye out for your reply.

Mihail Moderator
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Hey, Ivan

 

I did the clean reinstallation, on just my phone; I have so much stuff on my tablet that I don't want to risk it not being able to be reinstalled, and I'm not able to do it on my computer, because I can't even type on it.  I didn't think it would work, and so far it hasn't shown to do any good.

 

It has done this, when I edited playlist descriptions from my computer, when I was able to type on it.

 

I'm sharing some screenshots of other playlists, since I edited the description for the one that I posted, and because I don't remember what all was originally in it.

 

Screenshot_20210228-040628.png

 

Screenshot_20210228-040650.png

 

PXL_20210226_073432265.jpg

Actually, I forgot that I took this picture (above) of the playlist description that I had posted, originally. Not too long ago, I was still able to type on my computer, and I believe I had edited this description, after it looked like this. I guess this shows that it didn't take long to get messed up, again.

Screenshot_20210228-043144.pngIn this one, I can only see the effects of the errors, while in editing mode, because the description field doesn't let you scroll (at least not without a ridiculous amount of difficulty). When in editing mode, I can see that the errors used up many of the character spaces, causing the ending of the description to be cut off.

Screenshot_20210228-043207.png

 

Screenshot_20210301-021605.png

This had errors, only in editing mode.

Screenshot_20210301-021641.png

 

Screenshot_20210301-021952.png

Same

Screenshot_20210301-022008.png

Screenshot_20210302-193901.png

This shows errors before and after selecting to edit.

Screenshot_20210302-193954.png

 If it's happening to others, I'm not really sure, right now. Here's the links to these playlists.

 

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3HRTvOSZbmBVk7UAUoNuHK?si=kiwGu5M8QaW5or-cyrtZ-Q&utm_source=copy-l...

 

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Z37ZtIlilxOBuKCC7pKXZ?si=u1nWX7kxR2agSkvz1T9wXQ&utm_source=copy-l...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/28q9iN2GFNORSKxhYUvlnP?si=Mjuyk4N5TcaTD-9mosidBQ&utm_source=copy-l...

 

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2IeLjLYefANzxnKITC2r9O?si=XIEf6XaMSuaMMC4so4oLgg&utm_source=copy-l...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Ze8ACkveYQ3FqVw6i8r2q?si=PJuqftVXSnStV4lLrMydng&utm_source=copy-l...

 

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0UGQUpkcPpCh3NKjwXyFyd?si=cGUH4TmERli0KUqld6aqiw&utm_source=copy-l...

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Hey @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thanks for getting back to us.

 

We took a look at the playlist you've sent us and from our end the description seems to be displayed as intended. Can you confirm that that this is the case from your end as well? If this is due to some changes that you made, we'd appreciate it if you share them in a post, so other users facing similar issues can try them out. If the issue got resolved on it's own, it's possible that there was a temporary synching issues with our servers  that is now over.

 

Keep us posted, we'll be on the lookout for your reply. 

Mihail Moderator
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Hi, Mihail

 

All is not well; they playlists are still the same, except for the two versions of "The Rider's Soundtrack" that I just changed, last night. I changed them to something completely different. I sent the screenshots of them, in my first reply, so you can see how they previously looked, as well as how the other ones still are.

Like with the biker playlists, I had changed or fixed (in this case) the "Seinfeld" playlist, thinking that y'all had already seen the errors.

What description did you see, in the original version of "The Rider's Soundtrack"? Are there song titles in it? I had already fixed (not changed) the other one, before sending my first reply; that's why I'm only asking about the one.

 

My "Winter Chill Time" playlist still has the errors not changed. Can you see them?

I believe I had fixed the other ones, but the people that programs the description fields might be able to see the way that my descriptions look, in editing mode.

I also remembered another one that has errors that can only be seen in editing mode; it's the second one.

 

Screenshot_20210303-182521.png

Screenshot_20210303-182546.png

 

Screenshot_20210303-183656.png

For everything else, we can see if they get errors, again. Of course, I still want the issue to be looked into for them.

This is definitely not a temporary issue. It's been going on for long while. I've had to fix them, multiple times.

 

Thanks

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Hey @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thanks for getting back to us.

 

We can confirm that all descriptions of the playlists you linked us to are displayed correctly at our end, including "Winter Chill Time". Keep in mind that we're not able to access previous versions of the playlist descriptions.

 

When you first set them up, did you write directly in the description field or did you copy& paste them from somewhere else. If it's the latter it's possible that the error occurred because of differences in the formatting.  This might also happen with symbols or special characters.

 

Hope this shines a bit of light on the matter. We'll be here if you have any other questions.

Mihail Moderator
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Hi, Mihail

 

I wasn't implying that you should be able to access previous versions of the playlist descriptions. I just included the screenshots, so you could see what they looked like.

 

If it is the case that errors can occur, because of special characters, then that may have been and still be the case with some of my descriptions, but that would also mean that it's something that Spotify needs to fix, because we need to be able to use special characters. We need to be able to note that some words and names are in the names of songs. We also need to be able to use things like the ampersand instead of "and", because of the character limit.

I don't know if it affects anything, but I didn't copy and paste any of the descriptions, before. I did, though, do that on both versions of "The Rider's Soundtrack", when I just recently changed them, so I guess I'll see how it works out.

 

I just asked TreyAnastasio to check my "Winter Chill Time" playlist description. He sent and picture of it, and he also asked me if "&" should be in the playlist description. I told him that only the ampersand should be there. Here's what he sent to me.

download_20210304_163519.png

 

I want this to actually be fixed.

 

Also, I noticed, when I was changing my description for of the versions of "The Rider's Soundtrack", what I pasted didn't stay; the old description stayed. Then I deleted everything except the first line, and it stayed.

I went back to add everything in, again, and I thought to add more, because the character count hadn't shown up, yet. After I added more, everything stayed. It doesn't make sense. Both amount of lines should have stayed, since they were both before the character count.

This needs to be passed on to the people that program these fields, for them to fix these issues.

 

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Hey there @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

We checked out the playlists that you provided and they looks good to us from our end.

 

In this case it would be great you if you can log in with another account - such as a friend's or a family member's to see if the issue persist and make sure it's not account related.

 

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

 

Take care!

JeremyModerator
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Hi, Jeremy

 

I've already explained that I changed most of them. I didn't change my "Winter Chill Time" playlist, though.

 

I can't log in, with another account, but I did show y'all that the playlist mentioned above is still showing an error. The confirmation even came from a Rockstar, TreyAnastasio. Y'all are seeming to dismiss the issue. If he can see it, y'all should see it. I just want the issue fixed. Y'all need to look again and closer; I haven't changed it.

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Hey @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

Apologies for the confusion. We had another look at the Winter chill time playlist and could see what you mean.

 

When you change a description in a playlist, what the app does in the background, so that this is reflected for others and not just stored locally is that it converts it to HTML code that the apps on other folks' devices then decode into the description they see.

 

Some special characters used in HTML, including an ampersand or the percentage sign can break this, as they have specific functions in code.

 

That being said, we support emojis in descriptions and the ampersand should work in most situations, but we can't guarantee it, as it depends on the description itself and the underlying code that needs to be generated.

 

If you're creating the descriptions on your phone it might also be worth to try it out on the desktop app or vice versa, as the two apps handle this differently.

 

Let us know how everything goes 🙂

Take care!

JeremyModerator
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Thanks for the explanation, but that's what also needs to be fixed, because we should be able to use those characters for things, like  correctly putting titles in our descriptions, or using ampersands (instead of "and") so we can fit everything in.

My computer isn't working, but even if it is, I should be able edit things, on the spot, without issue.

 

I just checked one if my descriptions, because I was going to add something, and I saw that it's messed up, again. It's where the ampersand is, as well as where the apostrophe goes. I know a lot of people, now days don't know how to use grammar correctly, but I do...https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/7cdc8a57-cd87-4196-9018-2d2dd0fadb19.

 

Screenshot_20210326-212927.png

Screenshot_20210326-212909.png

 

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Hey again @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thank you for your reply and screenshot.

 

We understand the desire to use those special characters, but don't plan on changing the way descriptions are currently handled.

 

The ampersand specifically is supported as previously mentioned. We checked the playlist on the desktop app, on our mobile player and on an Android device and it all displayed without issues.

 

When editing, the HTML code can be displayed on some devices, but this is device dependent and overall the display should look fine when people search for it.

 

You can see our screenshots here:

 

  

 

Cheers!

JeremyModerator
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That's not the right answer. If there's a problem, Spotify should be fixing it, because it's still able to cause a problem, where it's visible, not just in editing mode, like with other playlists of mine. The answer should be, "We'll try to fix this.", because Spotify is getting paid by customers that have subscriptions, or by the advertisers that pay Spotify for advertising to other customers.

You know that this is an issue that has affected my other playlists, not just in editing mode. You just need to tell the people in the department that codes this area that something needs to be fixed, so that these special characters, especially the apostrophe, but also the others are able to be used.

 

I have already shown the problem to y'all, multiple times. It shouldn't be this difficult to get some cooperation from Spotify. It's funny how some ideas get implemented, but an actual problem that needs to be fixed gets a response, similar to the other ideas.

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Hey @MadmanOnWheels,

 

Thanks for keeping in touch.

 

We understand where you're coming from and we appreciate the time you've taken to report this to us - we'll make sure to pass the info on to the right folks. Just keep in mind that, as previously mentioned, there aren't plans to change how playlists' descriptions are currently handled.

 

Once again, thanks for your feedback on this matter.

 

We'll be right here if you need a hand with anything else.

 

Take care.

CarlosEModerator
 
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As I stated, before, there may not be plans to change how playlists' descriptions are currently handled, but it needs to be fixed. That and the problems that it causes is why I keep bringing it up. Deliberately not fixing it is the opposite of customer service.

 

I appreciate that you're going to bring it up to the right people.

 

Thanks

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