Rdio on Android: A Look at the Music Streaming App

Interface

The writer called the interface clean and easy to use. The home screen gave quick access to:

• Your collection, meaning starred music, plus playlists and queues.
• Heavy rotation, which showed popular music.
• Activity from other users and your own history.
• New releases, top charts and recommendations.

The now playing screen showed large cover art, play, skip, back, repeat and shuffle controls, a seek slider, and a button for the track list. Controls were also available from the notification bar and lock screen.

Library

The catalogue held over 18 million songs across pop, rock, hip-hop, rap, indie, country and soundtracks, and it kept growing. The writer found Disney soundtracks and even renditions of game music. The one downside was that some albums were restricted by region.

Offline sync

You could sync chosen songs to the phone in the app’s own format for offline listening, and un-sync them easily to free space.

Pricing at the time

After a free trial, access on a mobile device cost about 10 dollars a month. A family plan cost 17.99 a month for two users and 22.99 for three. The writer reasoned that buying one new album a month cost about the same, so the service paid for itself.