When you open up a playlist on Spotify, the ability to shuffle the music is such a small step to keeping your listening experience fresh and exciting. Yet does the same hold true for Netflix’s catalogue of content? The streaming giant is busy rolling out an update to all users that will introduce the “Play Something” feature for all those folks that really can’t settle on something to watch. Seriously, your food is already cold. Just throw on Parks and Recreation and be done with it.
It sounds silly but the Play Something option is literally just a version of shuffle for series and movies. If you select it, it’ll throw on a random show it thinks you’ll enjoy (based on the algorithm it’s built up around you). What it shows can be anything from entirely new series or movies, films you started watching but never finished or it may simply continue with whatever you’ve currently been sitting through. So the question then becomes: How much faith do you have in Netflix to not play you complete garbage?
Netflix takes the reins
Truth be told, Play Something has been on Netflix for some time now… for certain users. It’s been in beta testing for some time now as Netflix no doubts attempts to perfect how the algorithm suggests content to the viewer.
If the content it throws up isn’t to your enjoyment, you’ll be able to select a “Play Something Else” option to skip over to the next suggestion. If anything that’s just sifting through Netflix’s catalogue with more steps but who knows? Maybe you’ll find a gem in there somewhere.
The feature is currently rolling out to all iterations of the app but if you’re hoping to make use of it on mobile, we’re afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer before you let Netflix take the wheel.
Source: Engadget