Google adds support for free Spotify accounts to Home

Google announced at I/O that it was adding support for more streaming services as well as opening its Spotify support not just to Premium subscribers but those with free accounts, too. The latter is rolling out as Google adds support for those free users of the streaming service. To add your account, just head to the Home app and go to the Music section. You’ll find Spotify there. Just enter your login information and then you’ll be able to play music via voice commands. Here’s a complete list of the voice commands you can use.

Source: Android Police

Spotify tries out ‘driving mode’ for its Android app

Tinkering with your phone while driving is a dangerous thing to do. And that extends to trying to do things like switch playlists on your Spotify app. And it seems the music streaming service is doing something about it—or at least they’re testing something out. Some Android users seem to have gained access to a new driving mode feature that’ll keep your eyes and hands on the wheel while you use the app. As seen in the screenshots shared by Reddit user Chris54721, it features larger buttons, verbal song announcements, and voice control support. There seems to be a new car icon, too, which is obviously meant to toggle the feature. Spotify won’t comment about the feature and said they “test new products all the time and have no news to share.”

Source: Engadget

Quick tip: You can see songs that have been pulled from Spotify

Here’s a quick tip you Spotify users might or might not know. By default the music streaming service hides the songs that have been pulled from its service. But if you want to check if a particular song is out of its roster, you can head to settings, which is located at the cog wheel on the upper right corner of Your Library section and just select Show unplayable songs/Show unavailable songs in playlists. If you’re on the desktop client, head to Edit > Preferences and then scroll down to Display Options. From there, you can see grayed out song titles. It won’t show any information if the song is coming back or why it left in the first place. But if you want to see which songs you might want to download so you can have them in your collection, this is a good thing to turn on.

Source: The Verge

Taylor Swift brings back her catalog to music streaming services

Eva Rinaldi/Flickr

After pulling out her back catalog from music streaming services, Taylor Swift is getting back together with the likes of Spotify, Google Play, and Amazon Music. Her management made the announcement on Twitter saying this was to celebrate the sale of over 10 million copies worldwide of her latest album, 1989. Swift pulled out of streaming services like Spotify because she said they didn’t compensate artists fairly. She had particular trouble with Spotify’s free tier. But now it seems all of that is behind her and her catalog should start showing up at your music streaming service of choice.

Source: The Verge