It's been a long time coming, but Spotify now offers a mini player for those on computers. The resizable mini player floats on top of other apps on your desktop, providing music and podcast controls without distracting you from other tasks. You can even watch podcast videos on the mini player!
Spotify just got a mini player on computers!
The Spotify desktop app is basically a web app. As a result, this mini player behaves like a picture-in-picture window rather than a desktop widget. It floats above apps and includes a simplified set of playback controls – play, pause, skip, rewind, add to favorite songs and switch between songs. Podcast viewers can also skip forward or back 15 seconds from the mini player, just as they would in full-screen viewing.
In its smallest configuration, the mini player is just a “sleek bar” with play/pause and skip controls. Those who like to see the album cover will probably use the miniplayer in its larger “square” size, which is also used for podcast videos. Artist, album and podcast names are always visible in the mini player and can be clicked to view additional details in the full-size Spotify app.
Until now, users had to resort to third-party readers, such as SpotMenu.
However, some of Spotify's rivals, including Apple Music, already offer a built-in miniplayer. Spotify was late, but its mini player looks great, so it might have been worth the wait.
Spotify claims that the miniplayer will reduce distractions and prevent users from having to endlessly jump between windows. I'm sure this will be true in some circumstances. Meanwhile, you can now control Spotify playback using the keyboard's multimedia buttons.
Meanwhile, Spotify's mini player for desktop is coming as a server-side update. If you don't see the button in your Spotify app, wait a day or two and check again. Please note that the mini reader requires a Premium account “for now”, but may be made available to free users at some point.