Initial impressions of RDIO
Image by Gubatron via Flickr
I’ve had an RDIO account for a couple of days now so since my 3 day trial membership is about to expire I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.
The Model
The model is interesting because you can put any music you can find in your queue. It’s not like Pandora’s “we play songs and you have limited control over what gets played” model. I find this interesting… but annoying.
I was not comfortable with Pandora at first. I fought the control mechanism. I eventually relented and became used to it. Now I pick a station and just run with it for hours unless the selections start repeating or veering wildly.
With RDIO you have to fill the queue yourself and manage it like your Netflix account. It’s great that you can do this but I just wish I could put it on autopilot. My queue keeps draining and I have to got put stuff back in.
Interface
My first reaction to the Web UI was that it was fairly slick (although I did get a weird error the first time I logged in which is probably fixed for future signups) and I was able to figure out where to go to get to the major features fairly quickly. I had to poke and prod for a while to get to where I could “manage” my queue, however. I’m still not sure what I should add to my collection and what to put in my queue, either.
The desktop apps for RDIO and Pandora frankly suck. The Air platform may have a lot of appeal for developers but it’s a memory pig and it’s convoluted. The RDIO app has a slight edge over the Pandora app in that it has a few more options.
Prices
I like the idea that RDIO features content you can buy and download from them instead of the affiliate model Pandora uses. I haven’t actually bought any music though because their prices seemed very high! I like the fact that there are two price points and would probably be fine with the web only tier for $4.99 a month even though that’s a big jump over my Pandora One subscription.
Discovery
I like the idea that the discovery mechanism in RDIO is based on a social graph instead of a computer algorithm. My network is rather limited because I just joined recently and invites are slowly spreading. I’m curious if the discovery will work better as my network expands but so far I prefer the discovery process on Pandora. I’ve discovered a fairly large number of artists because they have a sound similar to a band I already listen to.
I suppose if it works right, the social network could achieve the same effect. Only time will tell.
Summary
I think RDIO shows a lot of promise but I think its different enough from Pandora that they can co-exist. It has the ability to scan your iTunes library (which resulted in this interesting bubble graph that shows that my wife has been loading music on my computer…) and add songs to your collection.
I can’t say for sure I’ll start paying for it when my trial ends but I’ll seriously consider it. If you want an invite, hit me up on Twitter.
- Rdio’s Silence Ends As Skype Founders Launch Music Subscription Service (gigaom.com)
- Rdio - false advertising? (annetteholland.com)
- 1,000 Trial Invites For Rdio (techcrunch.com)
