Spotify Web Player: How to Access and Use It.
Spotify lets you stream music to both desktop and mobile devices. You can use the official Spotify app on these devices to enjoy your favorite music. A lesser known fact about Spotify is that this streaming service also offers a web player.
Spotify Web Player is the company’s media player, which can be accessed from a web browser on your desktop. With this player, you no longer need to install the Spotify app on your devices to access music. All you need is a web browser, a Spotify account, and you’re ready to listen to your favorite tracks.
This web player works in much the same way as a desktop application. You can use this player from any modern web browser on your computer, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. Safari is not supported at the time of this writing.
How to Access Spotify Web Player
Keep your Spotify account login details handy as you will need them to log into your web player. You can use both free and premium Spotify accounts with web player.
- Launch your preferred web browser on your computer and access Spotify Web Player.
- Select “Sign In” at the top right corner of the Spotify website.
- On the next screen, enter your login information and select “Login”.
- If you don’t have a Spotify account yet, select “Sign up for Spotify” to create a new account for yourself.
- After logging into your account, you will be able to see the main interface of Spotify Web Player.
Now you can start playing your favorite songs with Spotify Web Player in your web browser.
Spotify Web Player Features
Just like the desktop app, Spotify Web Player offers several features. These include the ability to search for music, play music, access your libraries, and even browse and create new music playlists.
Let’s take a look at each of the options you see in the Spotify Web Player interface.
Home
On the left sidebar, the first item you’ll see is Home. Selecting this option will take you to the Spotify Web Player home screen where you can search and play your music. This screen features music recommendations, playlists created for you, recently played songs, and more.
This is where you get started with this web player.
Search
To find your favorite music, select Search from the left sidebar. The standard Spotify search page will open where you can enter your searches. On this screen, check the box at the top and enter the name of the song.
After that, you will see the search results for your query. On the same screen, you will also find various genre options for finding songs within them.
Your library
The “Your Library” section on the left sidebar is where you see your personalized content. Choose this option and you will see the playlists, podcasts, artists, and albums you follow on this streaming service.
If these sections are empty, it’s because you haven’t subscribed to any items yet. To follow someone, select one of the tabs and then click the Find button.
Create playlist
If you would like to create a new playlist for your songs, select “Create Playlist” in the sidebar on the left. Then you can enter a name for your playlist and add songs to it.
This playlist syncs with your Spotify account, so you should see it on all of your devices where you are using the same account.
Liked songs
Favorite Songs is where all your “liked” songs are. When you touch the heart icon for a song on Spotify, the service adds that song to that list.
If you’re new to Spotify and don’t like the song yet, click the Find Songs button to search and add songs to this list.
Refresh
At the top of Spotify Web Player, you will see an Update button. Click this button if you want to update your Spotify account.
The button will open a new tab in your browser and take you to the standard Spotify site, where you can choose a new plan for your account.
Your name
Next to the Update button, you will see your account name. Select this option to display various options for your account.
This menu offers the following options:
- Account: Select this option to view and change your Spotify account settings.
- Profile: Select this option to view and edit your Spotify profile.
- Upgrade to Premium: With this option, you can upgrade your Spotify account.
- Log Out: This option allows you to log out of Spotify Web Player in your browser.
Music player
When you play a music track, you will see a mini player at the bottom of Spotify Web Player. It is a player that you can use to control your Spotify music playback.
In this mini player, you have a heart icon that you can select to add the current song to your favorite songs list. You can shuffle the music by selecting the shuffle icon. Then you have the standard Previous, Play / Pause, and Next buttons. There is also a button “Turn on repeat” to play the current music track in a loop.
On the right side of the mini-player, you can select the Lyrics option to view the lyrics of the current song. Click the Queue icon to view the songs in the queue. If you use Spotify on another device, you can control playback on all of your devices using the Connect to Device option in the Mini Player.
On the far right corner of the mini player, you have the option to adjust the volume levels. Drag this volume slider to the left to decrease the volume, or drag the slider to the right to increase the volume.
Limitations of Spotify Web Player
Spotify Web Player is a great way to access your favorite music without installing an app, but the player has certain limitations.
First, this web player plays music at a lower bit rate than the desktop app. You may not notice this if you only broadcast music occasionally, but if you are an avid music listener, you will immediately notice the change.
Second, unlike the desktop app, you cannot save songs for offline use. This web player only works as long as you have an active internet connection.
Stream Spotify Without an App
If you are using a shared computer or don’t want to install another app on your computer, Spotify Web Player is a great way to listen to your favorite songs. This player works in any major web browser and does not need to be installed on your computer.