Review: New Web music services offer tons of tunes
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 07:05PM By RACHEL METZ
SAN FRANCISCO – If you're itching to hear whatever you want, whenever you want, without breaking the bank on songs from Apple's iTunes store, your best bet is an online subscription music service.
Two new ones are hoping to capture your attention and dollars: Rdio, which was created by the founders of Internet phone service Skype, and MOG, from the music blog network of the same name. For $10 per month each, the two let you listen to an unlimited number of high-quality tunes on the Web and on your smart phone, download songs to your phone for offline listening (though you won't be able to listen to them if you cancel service) and connect with like-minded music lovers.
On the surface, they sound tempting, and after spending some time with Rdio and MOG, I could see myself opening up my wallet to MOG each month. Still, if you're not a music junkie, this kind of service is a tough sell in the age of digital freebies: Internet radio service Pandora won't always let me hear exactly what I want, but it also won't charge me $10 every four weeks.
First, I tried out Rdio (pronounced "ar-dee-oh"), which has been available by invitation since June and was opened up on Tuesday to anyone who wants to subscribe.
Rdio smartly offers two membership options: You can pay $5 per month to listen to as much music as you want over the Web, or $10 per month for all-you-can-hear access online and on a BlackBerry, iPhone or smart phone running Google's Android operating software. Since I've always got a smart phone on me, I chose the pricier option.
At the office, I tried Rdio's website, which is confusing to navigate with its smorgasbord of music-related lists and features. The search function is tucked away in the upper right-hand corner — not hard to find, but definitely not screaming for attention.
Within the busy website I found one particularly clever feature: You can sync songs remotely to your smart phone, instead of having to search for them on a tiny mobile screen.
Rdio also offers a simple desktop application that works as a music player so you don't have to visit the website to play songs stored in your online queue.
The application can also add digital music you already own to your Rdio account. It checks to see which songs in your iTunes or Windows Media Player collections are in Rdio's database and keeps a list, so you can instantly access the songs online or on your phone. The service managed to find more than half of the songs I had in iTunes.
Generally, I preferred using Rdio on the Android smart phone I used for testing, since it was simpler to find, play and download songs.
I was impressed with the quality of streaming on my phone. I found I could listen to tunes without a hitch while traveling several miles between the office and my home.
With 7 million songs in its catalog, I found plenty of music I like, ranging from M.I.A.'s recently released album, "MAYA," to tunes from '60s rockers Los Bravos.
There are holes in Rdio's collection, though. I could listen to The Decemberists' two latest albums, for example, and plenty of singles, but not some of the group's earlier work.
More impressive to me overall was MOG, which has a larger collection with close to 9 million tunes. I had no problem finding old songs by The Decemberists here, and tons of other tracks, too.
MOG launched its Web-based music service late last year, but added iPhone and Android apps just last month. It doesn't have the same $5-per-month Web-only option as Rdio, but if you have a Roku set-top box at home you can stream MOG to it for $5 each month.
Like Rdio, MOG has tons of content on its website, but I found it much more manageable and easier on the eyes. I liked that the site offered a lot of curated editorial content, such as a selection of "editor's picks" albums and stories about musicians, but it wasn't overwhelming.
It also helped that the first page I saw after signing in was a big search box, front and center.
Probably the smartest feature on MOG's website and mobile apps is an option to play a radio station made up of tunes by any artist on the site. Even cooler: A little slider lets you decide if you want to listen to songs by that artist only, or sprinkle in an increasing amount of songs by similar musicians, too.
For example, I turned on the radio function while listening to Lady Gaga and centered the slider. This quickly yielded other Gaga songs, plus tracks by Katy Perry, Depeche Mode and, to my surprise, Taylor Swift.
As with Rdio, I preferred using MOG on a cell phone. The mobile app is more detailed and stylish than Rdio's, with a smattering of options on its home screen that let you search for music, check out songs you've downloaded to your phone and see the top music on MOG's charts.
MOG seemed to take longer to start streaming music, though, and there would often be a long pause when I skipped between songs.
Regardless, MOG won me over with its trove of songs, ease of use and design sense. I'm still a little hesitant to spend $10 each month on a digital music service, and wouldn't take the plunge with Rdio just yet. But if music is your drug of choice, MOG makes an able dealer.
From Yahoo News
IMPORTANT: No advice is offered or given in this article or this publication. PLEASE ALWAYS REFER TO AN EXPERT before acting on any information contained in any of our stories.
Copyright © 2006-10, Blogertize Publications (http://www.blogertize.com), except as otherwise indicated. Text may be excerpted UNALTERED with FULL CREDIT and LINK. PHOTOS MAY NOT BE COPIED, DOWNLOADED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION. Note: Some photos of real people may be models used to illustrate the editorial concept. MISSION: "You Need to Know" Our publications are daily online newspapers and magazines (webzines), plus delivered Ezines. Our stories also appear on various newswire services and are picked up in other publications. Our reporters and journalists break or report stories and their sources and source information are protected by the doctrine of free press as expressed in the First Amendment, Reporter's Privilege statutes, and also the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. COMMENTS FROM USERS: We invite dialogue and comments from our readers and limit moderation to obscenity and privacy issues, however WE ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR THIS CONTENT. We believe in the doctrine of FREE SPEECH. COMMENTS AND MOST STORIES ARE FROM OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS AND READERS AND NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF THIS MAGAZINE. The opinions expressed by our writers, columnists and reporters are their opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this magazine, its writers and staff, or Blogertize Publications.TM - Our magazine names are trademarked. Our publications team provide this ezine and web site and its contents in good faith but makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this web site or its contents. We disclaim any representations and warranties, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of any kind. In addition, we do not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this web site or the products or services sold or given free on it are accurate, complete or current. Errors and Omissions Excepted. By using/visiting this site you agree that use information herein is at your own risk. PRIVACY: SPAM POLICY: We do not use, nor do we condone the use of unsolicited bulk email. Our email system is an opt-in only. Please report any incidents of unsolicited email coming from or mentioning our domain to editor AT blogeritze.com. All matters will be investigated and dealt with promptly. Jurisdiction: Any action or dispute arising from the use of information on this site will be deemed to have been undertaken and concluded in Toronto, Canada and will be interpreted, construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with the laws of Canada and all parties thereto shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Ontario courts. A visitor agrees that the applicable law to be applied shall, in all cases, be that of the city of the web site owner, namely, Toronto, Canada.
Persona Corp. and Blogertize publishes several webzines, magazines, e-zines for news, entertainment and information, but cautions readers to read the USAGE NOTICE. Our mandate: "You Need to Know!"
• Auto News (autonews.co): The latest news, reviews and views on all things automobile
• Automobile Buzz (automobilebuzz.com): Everyone's favorite zine with the latest road tests, videos, and breaking news with special focus on sportscars and greencars
• Films and Books Magazine - News from Hollywood and New York, Books and Films
• Webzine (webzine.co): Reviews of the best, newest and brightest of webzines, print to web conversion zines, ezines and online publications.
* Noetic News: News, Features, Research on the Science of Consciousness
* Dog and Cat World: You can't know too much about your best friend.
* Advance Magazine - Body, Mind, Spirit
* LINK Magazine: Good News Report
* Buddha Weekly - Buddhist news, events, profiles from all traditions.
Social Network
Contributors
• Derek Armstrong, Chief Crime Correspondent, Crime Report USA, contributor various
Reader Comments