Thursday, October 7, 2010

5 MARVELOUS MOBILE APPS FOR MUSIC DISCOVERY

Brenna Ehrlich A
5 Marvelous Mobile Apps for Music Discovery [Mashable Awards]


Mashable Awards ImageAs part of the upcoming Mashable Awards, we’re taking a closer look at each of the nomination categories. This is “Best Music Discovery Service.” Be sure to nominate your favorites and join us for the Gala in Las Vegas! Sponsorships are available. Please contact sponsorships@mashable.com for more information.

When you’re a young, busy music-lover living in an urban environment, you don’t have a ton of time to sit down with an in-browser music discovery service. When you spend about 65% of your time crammed into a subway, it’s all about the mobile apps.

At the moment, there’s a growing number of rad music discovery apps on the market — some that let you create playlists on-the-go, some that let you cache music for offline listening and some that are awesome for Internet radio-style music discovery.

Being a young, busy music-lover myself, I’m often found with headphones jammed in my ears — my record player sadly gathering a fine layer of dust in my room — looking for “something new to listen to.” Therefore, I took some time this week to test out a cadre of music apps ideal for daily commutes and wanders. I tested these apps on my Android mobile, but most are also available on other platforms, including the desktop web via a browser.

Check out my thoughts on these five apps and weigh in in the comments: What’s your favorite way to discover new music? Do you have a favorite mobile app or in-browser service?
See What Your Friends are Listening To

headphones

I’m constantly asking my musically inclined friends to suggest new albums. Rdio is basically a godsend (to my friends, as well, since I can stop pestering them). This service, which emerged from private beta about a month ago, is an all-you-can-stream, social, multi-platform music service (it has a web app and desktop app, as well as Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad mobile applications). Basically, it’s like Facebook combined with iTunes (sorry, Ping).

For $9.99 per month, you can listen to as many songs as you want, create playlists, listen to artist radio stations and follow friends (which can be found via Facebook and Twitter) — all from within the app. Also — and this is a big draw — you can sync Rdio with your iTunes account, which allows it to automatically find music you already own and add it to your “Collection.” That way, you can listen to whatever you want all in one place — so no more double-fisting with your iPod and phone.

Still, the social aspect is probably Rdio’s most unique feature. Following friends includes checking out (and listening to) songs they have in heavy rotation as well as seeing their recent activity (who they’re following, what songs they just downloaded, etc).

Instead of bothering my friend Jill to suggest some new jams, I can just check out what she’s downloading and take a listen. And with 7 million songs and access to labels like Sony, EMI, Universal, Warner Music Group, IODA, IRIS, Finetunes, INgrooves and The Orchard, there’s no shortage of tunes for my friends to inadvertently recommend.
Make Playlists On-the-Go

mixtapes

If you’re an iPhone user, you can skip to the next app; my fave app for easy playlist-making, Grooveshark, was nixed from the App Store a month ago due to record label complaints (Grooveshark gets its catalog from end-users, which makes for a sticky situation with the labels).

Still, the 3-year-old music service isn’t an illegal download site, so it still makes the cut. With Grooveshark VIP — which costs $3 per month or $30 per year — you can listen to your jams both on your desktop and in-app sans ads. There’s a ton of features that Grooveshark VIP users can reap, but one in particular will warm the hearts of those among us who are really down with making mixtapes: Easy playlist building.

The app’s interface clearly lends itself to organizing jams. “Playlists” is front and center on the home screen and clicking the gray arrow next to any tune allows you to either add it to an existing playlist or create a new one.

You can easily share playlists (via Facebook, Twitter, text, etc.) and make them available for offline listening by clicking the gray arrow next to the playlist itself.
Read About Music… And Then Download It

reading

MOG started out about five years ago as a network for music blogs (the team relaunched the blog aggregator in August). Before I worked at Mash, I did a brief stint helping with the blog at Death + Taxes. I checked out MOG every day to find stories and music news. The brand then ramped up by launching an all-you-can-eat and on-demand listening library in December of 2009. Finally, the introduction of the MOG app (previewed at SXSW) was the cherry on the sundae at the end of this musical buffet.

MOG is essentially a “brand circle” — I can read about bands on the blog, and then use the app to download new jams from its library of 9 million songs (the service costs $10 per month). I can also check out top picks and charts from the MOG editors and download those as well. I can listen to everything offline too. The only downside is that you have to create and edit playlists in-browser.

Still, MOG is probably one of the most attractive apps and plays nicely with the whole ethos the brand has created.
In the Works

Before I downloaded Slacker Radio, the one other music app I owned was Pandora. Pandora can be frustrating because I couldn’t listen to it in offline mode. Basically, Slacker lets users expand on the Internet radio music discovery experience (à la Pandora) by allowing you to cache stations.

This month, the service is going to get some upgrades with the launch of Slacker Premium Radio — $9.99 a month gets you on-demand music in the mix. Users will be able to listen to whole albums, create custom playlists and search for specific songs. Essentially, Slacker is going more the way of services like Rdio and MOG than limited stalwarts like Pandora.
Stay Classic

Pandora is quickly becoming the grandpa of music discovery services. At 10 years old (which is like 1,000 in tech years), it still adheres closely to its original (albeit successful) model.

However, we’ve come a long way since Pandora launched, and its music app lacks a lot of the features — offline caching, an on-demand music library, etc. — found in the apps mentioned above. Still, that’s not Pandora’s aim. Pandora focuses on Internet radio-esque music discovery and the simplicity of the app is kind of refreshing when you’re tired of wading through options. Want to hear something that sounds like Passion Pit but don’t really feel like listening to Passion Pit? It’s as easy as pressing “Create Station.”

Sure, I can’t listen to Pandora on the train to work every day — as I stand smushed between commuters — but I’ll always tote it around my apartment while I’m attempting to look presentable for the long ride.

Which of these music discovery services made your list? Are there others worth mentioning? Sound off in the comments.

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