Spotify rolls out private listening in response to Facebook backlash

[Jazzy]

Spotify has rolled out a ‘private listening’ option in an attempt to appease users who have been angered by the company’s tie up with Facebook and being forced into over-sharing.



Last week the company announced a new relationship with Facebook, which had meant that all Spotify’s users’ listening habits were to be automatically pushed through onto their news feed.



And earlier this week, the Swedish music streaming made it compulsory for all of its new sign-ups to be have a Facebook account, directly tethering its future inextricably to Facebook, in a move questioned by many technology experts.



However, the close relationship with Facebook has angered many of Spotify’s users and prompted concerns about privacy and forced over-sharing via the social network.



The company has now responded by announcing a new ‘private listening’ option via its blog: “Many of our users have told us that they like to share what they're listening to, but also want an easy way to hide their occasional guilty pleasures. So we've now added a new `Private Listening' mode to our latest update.



However, Spotify users wanting privacy will have to note that the feature is automatically switched off when they next log in.



Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...stening-in-response-to-Facebook-backlash.html



Question: What do you think of this new ‘private listening’ option?

 

[Evil Eye]

Makes sense doesn't it? The whole world doesn't have to know what you're listening to. It's bad enough that you need Facebook.