Comment by jfrunyon

5 years ago

I'd be willing to pay for a Spotify client that allows you to select your audio output device. And yet here we are, 10 years later...

Spotify is a marketing platform first and an audio player second.

14 comments

jfrunyon

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lwansbrough  5 years ago

If you’re on Windows, you can define audio input and output devices on a per app basis through Windows’ settings. Handy for any app that doesn’t support such configuration (though Spotify obviously should.)

konart  5 years ago

I'd rather use https://staticz.com/soundcontrol/ (which I do use actually) than rely on an app like Spotify to be honest.

  • vladvasiliu  5 years ago

    This. I absolutely hate it when apps try to be smart and use their own audio routing.

    I'm a Linux user and have multiple audio outputs. I've configured Spotify to always go to my amp / speakers. And it works great.

    But then there's Teams, which is absolute sh*tshow. It always says "custom configuration" but you never know where it goes, and partially ignores the configuration in PulseAudio / PipeWire.

    I understand why they do this, random users may find it more useful to have this choice directly in front of them, and I would agree... if it worked well! Zoom at least has the good taste to have an entry for "use system settings", which seems to mostly work.

    I think that aside from "specialty" applications (like DAWs, etc) regular apps have no business messing around with the system audio settings.

    • jfrunyon  5 years ago

      > I think that aside from "specialty" applications (like DAWs, etc)

      Or... like audio players, maybe?

      And it's not messing around with the system audio settings; it's selecting a audio device other than the system-wide default.

jazzyjackson  5 years ago

What platform do you mean? The iOS app lets me select output device. It’s a little icon next to play/pause, kind of half computer screen half bookshelf speaker (monitor/monitor :)

I think I remember seeing this on desktop too but at that point why not use the OS sound mixer?

  • jfrunyon  5 years ago

    No, the app lets you select what system you're going to listen to Spotify on, not what audio device to use on your system.

    Sometimes I just want music through my speakers while I have something else piping into my headset. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • sbuttgereit  5 years ago

    Android works pretty much the same way. I'm usually listening on my PC, but I don't try to control other devices from there so I can't remember if it's possible there.

    • poteznykrolik  5 years ago

      this doesn't speak to that point but while we're talking android, the Spotify lite client is so nice for me and my 6 year old phone

cik  5 years ago

Can't you just do that outside of Spotify? It would be nicer if you could in app, but with pavucontrol I have Spotify send music where it belongs.

throwaway1777  5 years ago

They make it easy to play to any Bluetooth device or headphones. Covers my use case, but I can see it being annoying if it doesn’t support your setup.

  • savolai  5 years ago

    On iphone I can’t seem to actually choose the bluetooth device to play to from the app itself. iOS limitation?

    • modernerd  5 years ago

      Click the Bluetooth or Devices icon, then choose “AirPlay or Bluetooth” under “Other Devices”.

      For me this presents a native popover showing all Bluetooth devices and Apple TV.