Spotify has reportedly decided that its Autoplay feature should be active every time someone plays music on something other than their device’s built-in speakers.
Autoplay effectively creates a never-ending playlist based on the song, album, or playlist that’s playing. This can be useful—especially for people who entrust their exposure to new music to Spotify’s algorithms—but it’s not the kind of feature everyone wants to use all the time.
That doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Spotify tells The Verge that “whenever you play music from Spotify on a device other than your phone or computer, Autoplay will be enabled, and tracks will be added to continue your listening experience.” And there’s nothing users can do about it.
Spotify users have taken to the company’s online forums to complain about this change. A moderator says, “As of now there’s no way to choose if you want to have Autoplay enabled on a connected device. We assume most of you posting here would like an option for this. As such, it will be really helpful if you go and cast your vote for this ideathis idea.” (Emphasis theirs.)
It’s clear that Spotify users feel strongly about this change and aren’t afraid to say so. “We understand that this change might cause frustration depending on your music listening habits,” the moderator says. “It is our humble ask that we keep the conversation civil and friendly.”
Spotify didn’t immediately respond to our request for more information about why it decided to enable Autoplay by default on connected devices rather than maintaining the status quo, which afforded its customers more control over their listening experience.
