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Opera and Spotify partner to bring seamless music streaming to your browser

Published Nov 19th, 2024 7:35AM EST
Opera and Spotify
Image: Opera

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Following Opera One’s recent R2 update, the Nordic browser still has a few more surprises for its users. Starting today, Opera and Spotify have partnered to make it easier for users to listen to their favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks while browsing on their computers.

Spotify is the default streaming service within the revamped Music Player in Opera’s flagship browser. To celebrate this partnership, Opera is offering up to three free months of Spotify Premium to users in Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam

“People love listening to music and podcasts while at their computers. Now, with Spotify in the sidebar of Opera One, everything’s right there at your fingertips – you can shop, write, plan a trip, all while never having to stop listening to your favorite music and audio via the browser’s floating multimedia player,” said Joanna Czajka, Product Director at Opera.

The new music player with Spotify is located in the sidebar of the Opera One browser. When activated, it can be detached and moved around the screen without interrupting a user’s browsing flow. That said, instead of switching between tabs and apps, you can use the floating browser window.

Another perk of the built-in widget is that Spotify audio pauses when you join a meeting or call and resumes afterward.

Opera One R2 new features

Image source: Opera

Opera One R2 also offers a brand-new experience. Expanding on the modular design introduced with Opera One, R2 features the company’s latest AI innovations, new dynamic themes, and enhancements for tab management.

With this major browser update, users can take advantage of several new AI features. With a more powerful Command Line interface, Aria, the browser’s free AI, can quickly summarize a webpage, analyze an article, or even help users compare products when shopping online.

Image Generation and Image Understanding are also part of the Opera One R2 update. Users can even upload pictures in the sidebar chat, where Aria can explain what’s in the image. It’s even possible to upload a landscape sketch and ask the AI assistant to create a realistic version.

Other highlights of this update include:

  • Tab management enhancements: With Split Screen and Tab Traces, users can join two tabs and divide their screen into halves to have them open at the same time. The latter gives subtle visual cues about their five most recently visited tabs. This is available to users with more than 30 tabs open.
  • Detachable music and video player controls: The redesigned Music Player can be detached and moved around the screen. The video player also works with video calls. For those listening to music before joining a Google Meet, the music automatically fades out and pauses for the duration of the call.
  • Native ad blocker support: Opera One R2 includes the company’s famous native ad blocker support. Opera says it brings a cleaner, safer, and more private experience.
José Adorno Tech News Reporter

José is a Tech News Reporter at BGR. He has previously covered Apple and iPhone news for 9to5Mac, and was a producer and web editor for Latin America broadcaster TV Globo. He is based out of Brazil.