Spotify is testing a new tool to up the competition with Apple Music by stealing a key feature from one of the oldest companies in the streaming game: Pandora.
Stations, a new stand-alone app from Spotify, launched on the Google Play Store in Australia this week allowing users to listen to curated stations without any type of manual controls.
The best part of Stations is that you don’t need a Spotify premium subscription to listen to the songs. The free app offers some personalizations so you can find new music in different genres.
Stations is the easiest way to listen to the music you love. Totally free,” Spotify says in its description for the app. “Stations is an experiment by Spotify that makes it easy for anyone to listen to great music.”
The company hasn’t said if it will make Stations available in the U.S. soon, or if an iOS version is in the works. Some of the stations appear to be based off playlists you can listen to in the regular Spotify app.
We haven’t been able to use the app yet but it looks like its designed to reduce the number of steps it takes for users to get from their homescreen to their music. It’s also supposed to help make it easier for users to choose what to listen to.
