Spotify's desktop and web apps have always been smooth and full of useful features (and more are being added all the time), but they haven't been compact enough: To see what's playing and control playback, you have to open the programs' Full interface, third-party apps fill the need for something more streamlined.
Now, things have changed. Spotify has finally started rolling out a mini player for its Windows and macOS desktop apps, and the announcement post was so enthusiastic about how great the mini player is that I wonder why it took the Spotify team so long to launch one. It's "designed to give us maximum control over our music and podcasts with minimal disruption, ensuring uninterrupted workflow" - which is a well-worded summary of the benefits of this smaller interface.
Like the mini player available with Apple Music, the Spotify mini player gives you an at-a-glance view of what's playing, as well as playback controls for starting and stopping audio and jumping within playlists. It sits on top of the other windows you're using and comes in a variety of sizes, although it's (at least for now) exclusive to Spotify Premium subscribers.
How to use Spotify Mini Player
Assuming you're running the latest version of Spotify for Windows or macOS, and you're a full-paying member of the Spotify Premium club, you should find a mini player built into the software. Look for the new icon in the lower right corner, to the right of the volume slider - it will look like two rectangles of different sizes.
You can click this button whether audio is currently playing or not and you will see a small window. There are now two instances of Spotify running on Windows or macOS (as you can see from the two windows on the taskbar or dock): the main Spotify app interface and a new mini player that shows what's currently playing .
The main application window doesn't disappear immediately, but when you open other program windows and move them, it goes to the back while the mini player remains in view. Drag the dotted rectangle at the top of the mini player to move it, and drag the cross in the upper right corner (Windows) or upper left corner (macOS) to close it.
You can resize the mini player just like any other window: just drag its edges. As you change the size and shape of the window, its contents change too, and in the minimal case you'll only see cover art, track information, pause and play buttons, and a skip track button. If the window is larger, you'll get more controls (including a volume slider), but they only appear when you hover your mouse over the mini-player window.
A vastly improved experience
Listening to music (or podcasts or audiobooks) through the Spotify desktop app has been greatly improved using the mini player - much better than you might think, considering it seems to be a relatively minor addition. One thing I like is that it doesn't replace the main application window: you can still access all your playlists and libraries with a few clicks.
I like to stick with Spotify recommendations and other new music I've never heard before, and the mini player means I don't have to stop what I'm doing when I want to check out the title of a new song I like - All I have to do is glance at the corner of the screen. You can also click on track and artist information in the mini-player to access the relevant sections in the main program window.
Then there's skipping tracks because I also tend to load up huge playlists where I don't necessarily want to listen to every song. Jumping forward now takes just one click instead of several, and I can instantly see what the next track is - before the mini-player arrived, I had to dig beneath all the other open app windows to find it Spotify.
If you're of a certain age, you probably remember the halcyon days of Winamp, the infinitely reskinable desktop music player that helped define the MP3 era - it also had a compact mini-player mode that kept On top of all other windows. A lot has changed in technology and music since Winamp launched nearly 27 years ago, and Spotify's new mini player finally comes close to matching that experience: easy and intuitive access to all your music from your desktop.
