Underscore: Now Slightly Less Random

I pushed a key change to the Underscore music player over the weekend. Members can now click on any song in their collection to play it (previously there was only a randomize button). I added this because I often wanted to listen to a particular song/album/playlist, genre, or tempo (chill, upbeat, etc.)¹ and sat there hitting the random button until I got something I liked. No more; quick selection and back into the work groove.

If you missed it, here’s what I wrote about Underscore at launch:

Here’s how it works. You can add links to music from Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Apple Music to it — just paste their share URLs in. Reloading the page gives you a random piece of music from your collection. You can see a list of the songs, videos, playlists, and albums in your collection and can hide them if you want. That’s it. That’s all it does.

There’s no APIs or authentication or auto-synching playlists. The music is played through embedded players and if it lands on something from Spotify, Apple Music, or Bandcamp, you’re gonna have to click the play button in the embedded player (Soundcloud and YT videos should play automatically (but don’t always for whatever reason)). When your current selection ends, the new random thing doesn’t automatically play…you need to refresh the page.

I use Underscore every single day while I’m working. Is anyone else out there using it?

P.S. I also added the ability to add Tidal albums & playlists to Underscore. Unfortunately, Tidal’s embedded player doesn’t play full-length songs, even for logged-in users. If you’re a Tidal user, bug them about adding this feature to their embedded player!

1. I prefer chill in the morning and when writing. When designing or programming, I like something more upbeat. Also depends on my mood on the day.↩

• kottke.org
• music
• Underscore