Forum Discussion

Karma_'s avatar
Karma_
Roku Guru
7 months ago

Roku please add a Shuffle and Repeat buttons for your next remote for music apps such as Spotify

Id really appreciate if there were repeat and shuffle buttons on the next model remote for Roku Ultra. This would allow me to change the shuffle or repeat šŸ” šŸ”€ state just by pressing remote buttons.

Maybe put a white light above the buttons showing what state of repeat is currently used. And to see wether Shuffle is currently ON or OFF just by looking at a white light above the remote button. Spotify has repeat for current playlist/album or repeat current song. Or Shuffle.

The Live button and streaming service buttons are useless to me and just ads. I never use those and they add unnecessary clutter to the remote.

Roku, please instead add usual functionality buttons to the remote such as repeat, shuffle.

Remove the Live and Streaming services buttons which are basically ads, because the Streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ paid you to have a permanent place on the remote. 

 

7 Replies

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert

    Why put buttons on the remote that are only useful for certain apps? Roku keeps their remotes simple by only having buttons that can be used on all available apps. I can't think of any streaming player that has buttons that only works with specific apps, so this isn't specific to Roku.

    • Karma_'s avatar
      Karma_
      Roku Guru

      atc98092 I’m sorry did you read the title? It says for music apps as such as Spotify. This includes all music apps not only Spotify, and adds useful functionality when you’re using music apps. So adding those buttons in the next remote would be useful for any music app. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, you name it.

      Also you claim ā€žRoku keeps their remotes simpleā€œ which is very obviously not true. Because of the clutter of streaming service buttons and the IMHO useless Live button the Roku remote is anytime but simple unfortunately… They are paid by these streaming services to have their apps added to the remote regardless of wether people pay for and use those apps…

      So I’m not sure why you’re opposed to this idea of adding useful functionality for ALL music streaming apps. 

      • atc98092's avatar
        atc98092
        Community Streaming Expert

        Karma_ wrote:

        Also you claim ā€žRoku keeps their remotes simpleā€œ which is very obviously not true. Because of the clutter of streaming service buttons and the IMHO useless Live button the Roku remote is anytime but simple unfortunately… They are paid by these streaming services to have their apps added to the remote regardless of wether people pay for and use those apps…


        Yes, we do have different priorities. But I will say that what I'm mentioning is more aligned with what the vast majority of users desire. 

        You say number buttons would greatly clutter the remote. No argument there, as it certainly would increase the number of buttons. But those would be useful buttons for most users. As far as the dedicated service buttons, that's simply a source of income for Roku, as they are paid for those button placements. And because their contracts for those buttons are always changing, there's no consistency to the buttons, with Netflix as the only one with a guaranteed position. I completely agree it would be far more useful to be able to program them for the user's desired usage, but their contracts with the companies don't allow it.

        I understand the light idea was just that, an idea. And I can see the value, but from my past programming experience I believe it would be extremely difficult to make something work and not be a complete battery drain. Especially since the light function would only be applicable to specific apps, and the remote has no way of knowing if one of those apps are in use. It would be more practical for a dedicated player that only does that function (stream music) so it doesn't need to know the app in use.