The first thing users will notice is the new look. While the previous design put the controls on top and album information and other content in the center, the redesigned interface puts the controls as the bottom and makes use of the entire browser window, making most of the elements larger and more easily readable.
Album art is prominently displayed in the center of the screen and is much larger than the previous design. If you want more information about what you are listening to, that is available as well. Lyrics, tour dates, bios, and other information is easily found without stopping playback.
Navigation, in general, has also seen a number of improvements and changes, with what Pandora called in the blog post announcing the new features “seamless navigation between past, present, and future listening.” The history of tracks you listened to has been streamlined, as has station creation and organization.
If you pay for a Pandora Plus subscription, the new interface is even better, as a new replay button allows you to easily play a song over, whether it is a newly discovered hit or an old favorite. Users of the free, ad-supported version have access to this feature as well, though they will need to watch a video ad before they are able to listen to the song.
While this feature is a welcome addition to current users of the service, the redesigned playback and track navigation has clearly also been designed with Pandora’s upcoming $10 per month on-demand service in mind. Whether or not the company will be able to compete with Spotify remains to be seen, but this new design can’t hurt the company’s chances.
