Hey Mr. DJ: Spotify To Make Weekly Playlists Personalized For You

It’s not exactly a “me too” feature, though, as Apple’s and Spotify’s approaches each differ in how playlists are created. So if your time on Spotify is dominated by Odesza, the service should ostensibly provide a mixtape of similar tunes. I’ve been using Apple Music since it launched, but I’m not so sure I’m ready to ditch my Spotify subscription just yet.

Spotify is rolling out a new feature created to give users of the digital music service a more interactive, personalized listening experience. Apple also has a “For You” section that, like Spotify’s Discover Weekly, promises to deliver better recommendations the more the user listens. “While Discover Weekly playlists aren’t made by humans, they’re directly inspired by the way users listen to music”.

The music-streaming battle between Apple Music and Spotify isn’t just about which one has the Taylor Swift album: it’s about which one has the best playlists, and the ability to recommend them to the listeners who’ll love them.

Because the Discover Weekly playlist lives in your own playlist folder, and is tailored uniquely to you, it gets refreshed every Monday morning and that means wiping the slate clean and starting again.

Look for Discover Weekly to roll out over the course of today.

In fact, if Apple Music had only these two features, I’d feel satisfied.

Apple’s new music service is a valiant effort to catch up in the emerging business of offering unlimited music on demand for a monthly price. The idea is to provide users with a two-hour long playlist of new artists and songs that constantly stays fresh. “That’s the aspect of Discover Weekly I’m most excited about – the approach to personalisation is totally new, but there’s no new mental model or UI to learn”.

“We’re starting to do some other clever things under the hood that I can’t quite talk about yet”, said Ogle. “We’re just getting started when it comes to deep personalization, lots more to come”, he said.