Close Button Closes Spotify [Windows]

[jeff]

Or at least minimize it to a tray Icon. But I would say close it. Maybe this is more of an opinion, but I've only used 2 programs that are this bad. Skype and Spotify. And Skype is a really bad program.  So I don't know why in Spotify, the Close and Minimize button do the same exact thing. I would like a quick way to close the program and stop the musik.  This is mainly a problem for me on Windows 7 and I believe linux is very similar.

[benjamintanner9]

Trying to guide how a user uses an application with tactics like this is inneffective and annoying. It is unprofessional programming and business conduct.

[user-removed]

New user of Spotify.

I hate being manipulated. This is MY computer, not your extended network. Yes I get that you need to do peer-to-peer, but to not offer your users an option in the preferences and f.uck with their Operating System GUI and personal workflow is abhorrent.

I was going to pay for premium. This single ""feature"" is preventing me from signing up.  Very disappointed. 

 You say.....

We want to do this but implementation is more complicated than simply coding the setting. We hope to have an update soon. 

That's BS.  It's easy. It's an existing windows construct.  You must have your own black hat reasons for keeping it in place.

At the very least - when a user pressed the red X - Stop the audio!!  That way it'll prevent the non-IT literate people in my household  bursting into tears at being unable to make it stop playing music, or worse, switching the PC off at the wall.    

I can imagein the response "Well if you don't like it don't use it".  You clearly don;t have teenage kids. They've gotta have it. But the younger ones hate it when pressing the red X does nothing.  Rant rant... etc....  🙂  Come on guys! Be reasonable.

[bexol]

Yeah i have the same problem,  the "normal" close button on the window doesn't work as expected. Seems like a bug to me, but being a developer I know some of the "features" the business users/ stakeholders request go agaist the laws of nature. How this made it past a QA team baffles me though. 

Are there any plans to fix the close button?

[flyjdix11]

My Computer. If I say close the program... the program should close... and I should not have it running in the background. At least give us an option in settings to enable that option.

[irefutitthus]

"Recently some upcoming changes to Spotify have meant that we will to stop work on this for now."

Is that the same as, "After 2.5 years of delay, we have decided that giving our users control over their computers might marginally risk our income stream, so please stop bothering us"? Were any users actually in favour of keeping the present "design"?

[Briester85]

I am a professional software developer. The Spotify dev up there is telling us as much as he can without losing his job.

Fact: all operating systems default to providing buttons that perform the correct function for you. Getting this program to stop doing the wrong thing is as simple as commenting out the code that overrides the default function. (The default function is already there - that's why you can click 'quit' from the file menu or right clicking.)

This tells us something very important. The developer knows the above, yet he can still honestly say that "Recently some upcoming changes to Spotify have meant that we will to stop work on this for now. We want to do this but implementation is more complicated than simply coding the setting."

1. Spotify is the name of the company, not just the application.

2. Coding the setting is literally four keystrokes and a recompile.

3. This guy isn't telling everything he knows.

SO! We can assume that Spotify is contractually obligated to keep the button in full-retard mode. They're also contractually obligated to be silent on the issue. I'm betting that the meeting in which this edict was dictated was a very silent, very embaressing moment. Can you *imagine* being told that you not only have to lie to your users, but that when they express dismay at being lied to, you have to shrug off their comments with misleading half-truths? I came to this forum pretty upset, and ready to cancel my subscription. But after reading the above... I just feel bad.

Spotify coders, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I forgive you. If I was feeding my family, and couldn't afford to lose a good job making an awesome program, I too would roll over and lie like you are. I will be canceling my subscription, not because of who you are, but because of the people who force you to sacrifice your integrity. If any of you ever quit and write your own music platform, I will be happy to pay you for your time. You're great at what you do. I believe in you.

[Briester85]

SOLVED

Follow-up to my previous post:

Since the only rational explination is that the developers aren't allowed to do the right thing, you CAN tell your operating system to do so.

Go to http://www.autohotkey.com/ and download their very small program. It runs scripts to make your windows experience run more easily. (For example, I have ctrl-alt-shift-P silence my PC, so I have a fast-reflexive way to shut down websites that auto-play obscene ads for mixed company.)

When you install it, open the program and it'll ask if you want to check out their tutorial. Press 'yes' and paste this script into the bottom of their default script. (The default script is just a good place to put the things you'll 100% always want available.)

---------------------------------

#IfWinActive ahk_class SpotifyMainWindow
LButton::Click Down
LButton Up::
WinGetActiveStats, Title, WindowWidth, WindowHeight, X, Y
MouseGetPos, MouseX, MouseY
if ((WindowWidth - MouseX) > 6 && (WindowWidth - MouseX) < 54 && MouseY
< 20) {
Run, taskkill /F /IM spotify.exe,, Hide
}
Click Up
return

-------------------------

Then all you have to do is let autohotkey load with windows and you're done!

(If you're curious, the script checks to be sure you have Spotify open. then it checks to see if your mouseclick was in that top right corner. If it was, it executes spotify's usual closing function as if you pressed File>>Exit manually.)

Another note to Spotify itself:

According to your terms of service, we're not to hack your stuff. This script runs the operating system in an isolated thread that is in no way connected with Spotify. This script is intended as a fast way to execute a function native to your program, that you fully endorse. (The closing function.) While this script is a good and wholesome thing that improves people's lives, and is an excellent contribution to this community, I understand that those folks who have an interest in maintaining the close-button lie may see this as an act of sidition. As such, first I urge you to close this window and walk away. Second, I urge you to keep track of how much people love this script, and take note that the goodwill generated by not lieing to people will enhance Spotify's image drastically, so that you have real empirical numbers to back up your resistence to the lie. (As I'm sure all of you with the power to do so have lobbied hard to stop lieing to people.) Third, this message is a direct and deliberate attempt to engage you in dialogue, so that if you do have a legitimate complaint about any given enhancement to the Windows user experience, we can talk it through instead of resorting to ban-hammer/head-in-sand. Thank you very much for all you do, and please keep up the good work.

[user-removed]

Slight correction to your good work Briester85, rather than SOLVED the title should be WORKAROUND. Needing to add another program is only treating the symptom, not the cause, with the downside that Spotify will wash their hands of the problem further still where someone posts solved.

I enjoyed reading your response above supporting the Spotify devs - but there is one easy solution. Any Spotify dev with a public-facing role has the option to escalate, and escalate again, which they have failed to do.

So come on Spotify - we're not stupid. There are plenty of people here who know exactly how app development works and what is possible and what is not.

The issue here clearly is POLICY, not TECHNICAL. So please will someone from Spotify management respond. We hate this.

It's causing harm. As I said earlier - kids pull the plug from the wall and kill the computer because the sound won't stop. 

Please change policy.  There are many ways, here are some suggestions:

1. Remove the red X altogether. It's misleading. Without one, people will seek the proper command from the menu. But presently it feels BROKEN. Or,
2. Leave the red X in place but make it minimise AND operate "stop" on the music stream. This is still subversive on your users but at least the GUI makes sense. Or,
3. Fix it properly.

I really feel like I should start tweeting on your advertiser's twitter feeds about how spotify makes me feel negative by manipulating me. #SPOTIFYBAD

[wallinbl]

It really doesn't take much programming time to implement this.  If you're really that hard up for programmers, I'm sure there are many of us users that would be happy to submit a patch to restore the basic functionality of a Windows app.

[randerson5726]

OK but P2P is now gone. Why can't hitting the close button quit the program? Like any other windows application in the world... It can't be that hard to implement if every other application can do it.