Take a stroll down melody lane with Spotify’s new Your Time Capsule playlist

By Keith Nelson Jr. September 28, 2017

Spotify — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Feeling nostalgic? Spotify is hoping you do. The music streaming service has released a new playlist called Your Time Capsule that’s filled with your favorite songs from the past.

Personalized for each user, the Your Time Capsule playlist consists of dozens of songs Spotify thinks will send you on an aural trip down memory lane. You can find your personalized Your Time Capsule playlist at the top of the Home section on the mobile app. You can also find it by clicking on the Browse tab at the bottom of the app and clicking on “Decades” in the “Genre & Mood” section. If you use Spotify on desktop, you can easily get your nostalgia groove on by visiting timecapsule.spotify.com

Spotify says the songs chosen for your playlist will be from “your teens and early 20s” and only users older than 16 can get a personalized Your Time Capsule playlist. Sorry, Generation Z, you have a little bit more living to do before Spotify will let you bask in the nostalgia of Justin Bieber’s Baby.

Spotify did not reveal how it chooses which songs from your past to include, but it’s not that hard to figure out. Part of the methodology probably involves the streaming giant looking at each user’s age, and subsequently filling the playlist with old songs with high play counts. My girlfriend’s Your Time Capsule playlist had Juicy by Notorious B.I.G., All Falls Down by Kanye West, and Changes by 2Pac in the first five songs. I can attest that those are three songs I have heard her stream on Spotify incessantly.

This is Spotify’s latest attempt at mining your past for playlists. In June, it debuted Your Summer Rewind, a personalized playlist that compiles users’ favorite and popular songs from the last few summers.

September has brought a number of changes to the most popular music streaming service in the world. Spotify began letting users share songs through Apple’s iMessenger. It also partnered with Hulu to allow students to bundle a Hulu and Spotify Premium subscription together for $5 per month.

The new Your Time Capsule playlist is available right now to users in most countries.

Topics

Keith Nelson Jr.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…

Mobile

Spotify is finally bringing offline playback to Wear OS

Spotify is finally bringing a long-awaited feature, offline playback, to its Wear OS app. The company announced it at Google I/O in May, and now a timeline has been laid out for when users can expect to see this feature on their wrists alongside a refreshed design.

"In the coming weeks, Spotify users will be able to play their favorite playlists, albums, and podcasts with their smartwatches that run Wear OS. By having Spotify on your wrist, you’re more free to run, dance, shop, cook, and socialize -- and control your music and podcasts at the same time," Spotify announced in a blog post. "Plus, we’re excited to unveil one of the most requested features by our users: the ability to download all of your favorite music and podcasts to your smartwatch."

Audio / Video

Spotify Plus might give free users unlimited track skipping for $1 per month

Screen capture of the Spotify app promoting Spotify Plus.

Spotify appears to be testing out a new paid subscription option called Spotify Plus. At just $1 per month, it's far cheaper than its $10 per month Premium plan, but as you might expect, there's a reason. Unlike the Premium plan, Spotify Plus members won't be able to avoid ads, but they will get an unlimited number of track skips. Free Spotify members are currently limited to six skips per hour.

Originally reported by The Verge, Spotify Plus members will also get the ability to directly access tracks from a given album, another feature that free users don't get. Digital Trends reached out to Spotify to confirm these details, but the streaming company wouldn't entirely commit. "We're always working to enhance the Spotify experience and we routinely conduct tests to inform our decisions," a Spotify spokesperson told us via email. "We’re currently conducting a test of an ad-supported subscription plan with a limited number of our users. Some tests end up paving the way for new offerings or enhancements while others may only provide learnings. We don’t have any additional information to share at this time."

Audio / Video

If you sign up for Spotify’s Car Thing, you might get one for free

Spotify Car Thing

Spotify's Car Thing, a gadget that lets users access the company's streaming music offering in a driver-friendly format, is finally a product regular Spotify Premium subscribers have a chance of getting their hands on. As part of the device's formal launch, subscribers can sign up to get one, and, remarkably, Spotify is discounting the entire $80 price, asking that eligible customers only pay the $7 shipping charge.

What exactly is Car Thing? It's a device that Spotify has been working on for a few years, using early prototypes to understand how its customers interact with Spotify's streaming audio content while in their cars. The version that the company has just released looks like a smartphone with a large rotating knob attached to the front of the display.