Rdio’s iPhone App is getting a bit of a makeover to celebrate its 1.0 release. Now it has a springboard-style homescreen and a player bar that is always visible along the bottom of the screen (Both of which are similar to what MOG has on their app). They also added enhancements for search, playlists and viewing user profiles. Combine that with the existing strengths of their app and you see why we picked them as our Streaming Music Battlemodo winner.
Rdio Unveils Its Completely Redesigned iPhone App
To Provide a More Intuitive and Best-in-Category Music Experience
Rdio for iPhone 1.0 Now Available for Download
SAN FRANCISCO, February 17, 2011 – Rdio, the unlimited, on-demand social music service from the founders of Skype, today announced that a completely redesigned Rdio app for iPhone is now available for download from the iTunes App Store and as an automatic update for existing users. The new app includes all of its previous features organized on an all-new “springboard” dashboard along with several new features like one-touch access to new releases, top charts and recommended albums as well as numerous enhancements including deeper search and a new persistent player that stays put no matter where you browse within the app.
“We were uncompromising in our approach to improving Rdio across all platforms and focused on creating a world-class music experience optimised for iPhone without losing any of the core social and music innovations that you have come to expect from the Rdio website,” said Malthe Sigurdsson, VP of Product Design at Rdio. “We’re extremely passionate about design and music at Rdio and we believe it shows in our web service and this newly updated iPhone app.”
The all-new mobile app includes several new features and enhancements, including:
A more efficient home screen – We’ve eliminated the tabs along the bottom of our app and organized all your favourite features into a customizable home screen. Just like the iOS we’re all familiar with, you can tap and hold icons on the springboard to rearrange them. We’ve also smartly integrated the search bar at the top of the dashboard for quicker access to our catalogue.
New releases, top charts and recommended music – Never be in the dark about what’s new and buzzing in the world of music. The new Rdio app has easy access to New Releases, Top Charts, and Recommended albums so you can always stay up to date on new music and easily re-discover old favourites. Drill down to learn about new music from this week, last week, or 2 weeks ago. Check out top albums, songs and playlists, or browse a visual collection of album recommendations based upon the music you’ve previously played.
A persistent player at the bottom of the screen – Rdio rethought the player when we designed a way to make it move with you no matter where you browsed within our website. Now we’re bringing that same experience to our mobile app so you can always see at a glance what’s playing and access player controls with a tap of the finger no matter where you are within the app.
Deeper search – More than just artists, albums and songs, our fast search now also provides results for playlists and people.
More syncing options – Syncing songs to your phone over the air for offline playback is undeniably cool but can be costly if you exceed the limits of your data plan. The new Rdio app gives you the option of syncing over Wi-Fi or 3G, Wi-Fi only, or never.
Synced songs and playlist views – There’s a new way to filter your Collection and Playlist so that you can easily see what you have synced to your device without going into offline mode.
Rdio is an unlimited, on-demand social music service that lets subscribers listen to music on the web, in your home and on your mobile phone, even offline. Rdio’s key differentiator is its unique social design that emulates the way music has always been shared-from person to person. Rdio subscribers build and share their online music collections from a catalogue of over 8 million songs, and can see the listening activity, collections and playlists of other Rdio users including friends and influencers. Subscribers can also see what’s in heavy rotation in their network and the Rdio community, top charts and newly released albums. Rdio has relationships with all four major labels (EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group) and thousands of indie labels.
Pricing
Rdio for iPhone 1.0 is a free download from the iTunes App Store. After a 7-day free trial, Rdio Unlimited (web, desktop, mobile, Sonos) is $US9.99 and Rdio Web is $US4.99.