Hello, beautiful! Spotify gets a refresh on Windows Phone

The streaming-music service for Windows Phone 8 and up has a bold, new look and more features so you can better manage and personalize your listening experience.

Spotify, one of our favorite music apps (behind Xbox Music, of course), just got a big makeover. Just how big, you ask?

First, the app now has a sleek, black background, rounded iconography and updated typography that makes the visual content “pop”: The dark background now better displays album-cover art and various controls, such as play, pause and shuffle, especially in low light.

Next, Spotify has a handy new feature called Your Music. If you like a song you’re listening to, touch the plus (+) button to the left of the song title, and Spotify will bookmark it. You can then share the song via Twitter and other social-media channels, add the song to a playlist, create a new playlist or start a radio station based on that track, and more.

We’re not quite done yet! Last, Spotify refined its Browse feature so you’ll get the songs, artists, and playlists that best suit your personal preferences, no matter your mood.

I love Spotify’s wide range of radio stations and playlists. It’s an easy and fast way to listen to music you want to hear without having to curate your own mix. On a run, I like upbeat playlists such as “Sunny Side Up” while on the weekends or when I need an aural Vitamin D pill, I switch on “Wake Up Happy.”

At the office, if I’m doing administrative tasks or replying to email, I listen to “Deep Focus, ““Cool, Calm & Collected” or classical music mixed with electronica. (However, if I’m on a tight deadline, I prefer the cone of silence!)

The updated Spotify app is free to use, but if you don’t like your music experience interrupted by commercials, want to listen offline, and/or get the best streaming and download quality, the monthly $9.99 USD Spotify premium subscription is well worth it.

So try out the new Spotify and let us know what you think about it. Have you discovered any new artists as a result?