I was listening to The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge when Spotify offered to skip ahead.

An ad had started near the beginning. But the button stayed available after it ended. Mansbridge welcomed listeners, previewed his conversation with Janice Stein, ran through the rest of the week’s shows and invited questions for Thursday’s Ask Me Anything.

Skip Ahead remained on screen through all of it. It disappeared when the conversation with Stein began, around 5:22.

I skip ads too. But that opening was Mansbridge talking to his audience.

Spotify was offering to take me past it before I knew what was there.

I started watching for the same thing in other podcasts. The season finale of Gloves Off began with nearly three minutes of clips, music and sound bites arranged to build tension and urgency. I was drawn in. Skip Ahead stayed available until Stephen Marche began his formal welcome.

On Pivot, the button continued from an opening ad into teaser clips, a live-tour announcement and the hosts’ opening conversation. Spotify’s chapter label had already identified the tour announcement while Skip Ahead was still offering to move past it.

Then there was a live episode of Curse of Politics. Skip Ahead stayed available through introductions and more than four minutes of show setup and discussion. Later in the episode, it wasn’t available over two host-read ads.

I don’t expect the button to be perfect. But after seeing it mark a produced opening, a tour announcement and a live-show welcome as skippable while leaving some ads alone, I’m less sure what it’s asking me to skip.

That matters because Skip Ahead does more than move the playhead forward. It chooses a destination in a piece of audio someone else put together.

Knowing that a section contains music or talk doesn’t tell you what it’s doing for the show, or what a listener might lose by jumping over it.

The ordinary 15-second button leaves that judgment with me. I can move ahead, hear where I land and go back if I’ve missed something. Skip Ahead asks me to trust Spotify’s choice without knowing what’s between here and there.

On The Bridge, that space held an ad. It also held the week’s plans, an invitation to take part and several minutes of Mansbridge being Mansbridge.

I’m glad I stayed to hear it.