Why don't I "get" Rdio?

[sclitheroe]

It's got to be sure sign I'm getting older, but there's something bugging me about Rdio that I can't get my head wrapped around, and I'm sure one of the fans of the service here can help me out.

Right now I like XM streaming on my iOS devices because I can flip on BB King's Blues station, for example, and get a varied blues playlist handed to me with no thinking.

How does one do this with rdio? I get that people have created playlists, because i can find them when I search on blues, but almost invariably, I find playlists that have tracks that are preview only, or have songs that are unavailable in rdio.

So what exactly is the sense in people sharing playlists on a service that can't play those tracks?

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Flipping around the question, I notice in Rdio you can search for a song and get an "artists" playlist that will sorta meander along the genre the selected song is in. Is there any other way to get a generic Blues playlist without having to think of an artist and song to start?

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What I'm looking for is the depth of Rdio for investigating artists and tracks, but also the "flip on and tune out" mentality of XM - there's tons of times where I don't want to be actively guiding the Rdio client on my Mac or iOS device - i need it to simply "go" like an XM channel does, essentially uninterrupted for long periods of time (like driving, coding, etc)

Can Rdio be a suitable XM replacement for me? Why can't I get my head wrapped around this server?

Thoughts, suggestions, and prayers appreciated.

Thanks!

[Bill Bumface]

Not that I'm much help, but you've described me with Twitter. I now understand it for breaking news, but I still don't get why a 'normal' person would bother tweeting because who is going to bother reading it? I'm glad people on here have twitter so they can post the news they discover for me.

[/derail]

[Russic]

Rdio is great at some things and not so great at others. For just throwing something on and zoning out I don't think it's that strong. There's a recommended section which I actually like quite a bit, but it lacks the ability to mimick a radio station like pandora or lastfm.

I think the reason you get preview only songs is because American and Canadian rdio selections must differ. I'm 100% guessing, but that always seemed like the most obvious solution.

It sounds like you already have the product you want in XM. I don't use rdio to listen to "stations", I use it to listen to full albums.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Russic

It sounds like you already have the product you want in XM. I don't use rdio to listen to "stations", I use it to listen to full albums.

Yeah, I think so. I was hoping Rdio could fill both needs, but I don't think it will. And your explanation about the two markets makes sense, I hadn't considered that.

Thanks for the feedback

[Russic]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Yeah, I think so. I was hoping Rdio could fill both needs, but I don't think it will. And your explanation about the two markets makes sense, I hadn't considered that.

Thanks for the feedback

The way I justify the money for rdio is as follows:

- while I didn't spend $10/month on music before, ethically I probably should have been

- If I find one album worth $10 per month (to me), it pays for itself as I likely wouldn't have found it without rdio in the first place.

- There are too many bands that I hear about and try to remember to listen to them later, which I never do. I've found a couple of bands already that I never would have gotten around to listening to that I really dig all because getting their album was a 5 second process.

Personally I would use XM and Rdio together. Use XM to find the bands/songs you like and Rdio to explore their discography or have their stuff downloaded to your phone.

[kermitology]

Totally agree with russic on the usage of Rdio. Personally, I have a lot of friends who suggest music to me, I look it up on Rdio and make a note to listen to the artist's music.

You CAN create a bit of a playlist for an artist by searching for the artist and then play the artist radio, but it's not really well implemented in my mind. Too much of the same artist, not enough of artist discovery. I see that coming down the road though.

I love new music tuesday though.. so many things to give a try. That always helps me find new tunes. One of the strongest things about Rdio though is using it concert with Shazam.. say you are watching some show or a commercial, or hear a song on the radio and you're like.. what is that awesome music! You find out who it is, search for it on Rdio and listen to the rest of the album without searching for a torrent or buying it.

They also just implemented the ability to listen to your library like a radio station, which I think of like putting your iTunes at home on shuffle. So now you have that ability on demand, on the road, at work, wherever you have your mobile phone.

Plus with the syncing you can listen to stuff offline (for a while) to take on road trips. I downloaded a couple of Sasquatch playlists that others made for bands playing this past year and listened to that on the drive.