BBM Music

[Slava]

Anyone else on this? (I know, I know, RIM is about to go out of business and all that). Its pretty cool....overall I just want a bunch of people that we can share music between. Free until Dec 2, then if you input payment information its free until January. After that it will be $4.99/month if you keep it.

I'm not sure about keeping it yet, but for the free period I'm checking it out. Add me if you're on there: 23A13B78

[NuclearFart]

Big Black Male?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

Big Black Male?

I always thought it was Big Busty Mature?

[Slava]

Well its Blackberry Messenger Music...in case anyone is genuinely confused. You get 50 songs a month that you can listen to and share with others. The more people you have in your network the more music you get basically.

I guess there are other features, but I haven't really played with them yet. So far it seems good though. The catalogue of music seems large and if anything I find it hard to decide on which songs to pick.

[HotHotHeat]

Why would you want to share music over BBM?

[sclitheroe]

What if I have no friends

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

What if I have no friends

There's an app for that.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Why would you want to share music over BBM?

Its not exactly over bbm I guess, but then it does link up with the PIN. Its pretty slick though and easy to connect with people. I have about 30 connections now and about 1000 songs at this point. I like it because you can see what other people are listening to and check it out. I also like it because I dont actually know any of the people I've connected with but you don't actually have to talk to them.

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

What if I have no friends

I know you have no RIM devices, but like I say above it doesn't matter. You could link up with one person and go from there. I've spent very little time (under 20 mins) and have lots of music and variety to listen to. I'm sure that within an evening you could have plenty of contacts.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Slava

Its not exactly over bbm I guess, but then it does link up with the PIN. Its pretty slick though and easy to connect with people. I have about 30 connections now and about 1000 songs at this point. I like it because you can see what other people are listening to and check it out. I also like it because I dont actually know any of the people I've connected with but you don't actually have to talk to them.



I know you have no RIM devices, but like I say above it doesn't matter. You could link up with one person and go from there. I've spent very little time (under 20 mins) and have lots of music and variety to listen to. I'm sure that within an evening you could have plenty of contacts.

I think this is RIM only so it's right out for me, only on the basis of not having a device.

But I also don't quite see the value proposition either - I could do the same thing with Rdio (including the social aspect of following people, reading reviews, creating and sharing playlists, etc) and for $5 a month more not be artificially limited in my music selection by who I associate with, plus have the music available on my desktop and laptop.

Or, for example, if I discover a random artist I'm curious about (It's Jimmy Thackery today for me, for example), with Rdio I just go and listen - with BBM, would I have to track down someone with an interest in Jimmy Thackery if I'd already used up my 25 songs a month?

What if I wanted access to the Rush discography - would I have to build it by finding multiple people, each of who had one or two of the albums?

Also, what happens when other people swap out their music - do I lose access to those tunes if I don't add them to my 50 song library?

I'm not slamming the service, just trying to wrap my head around it - it seems awfully "small" compared to other services. Why do you think they are pushing the music library limited by social graph approach as opposed to Rdio's all you can eat? Do you think it was to allow them to hit a $5 price point?

That being said, I do think socially oriented music apps like this are extremely important for keeping the music industry viable as well as introducing people to new music, and I'm all in favour of them. I just don't understand why they've built it the way they have.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Slava

Add me if you're on there: 23A13B78

This is what just murders their model for me. I had a blackberry for a while, and I thought BBM was great (although I give iMessage the nod now for not requiring me to go in a seperate app/icon, it just knows whether I'm talking to an iOS 5 device or not and chooses SMS vs iMessage).

But why if I get a new phone should I have to email a hex code to a bunch of my friends?

Why can't you just be Slava@bbm.com and sign in on your new phone and have all of your contacts? It should be abstracted that you got a new device, your friends shouldn't even have to know about it.

It's archaic, we're back to ICQ numbers.

I wish phone numbers were abstracted, I should just sign into my phone and have my contacts. I should request to add you to my contacts and you can choose which of "Slava Work", "Slava Home" and "Slava Mobile" that you choose I can have access to. I never know your phone number, I just see those items in my phone. If I turn out to be a creepy stalker, you remove me as a contact, and I can't contact you anymore. I never knew your number at all. If you get a new work number, I don't need to know about it, you just update "Slava Work" and boom, anyone that has access to that number will now be able to call you on your new work number without even knowing it.

[Slava]

I agree with you to some extent here hulk, but I love bbm. I use it all the time and I find it really convenient. The fact that it links up with the Playbook is awesome and using the PIN is really not a big deal to me. I haven't used the apple version, but haven't heard many positives. I've heard of guys waiting for messages for hours on end and you have to use phone numbers to use it or something? I don't know. I just like bbm.

I also don't swtich phones that often, so its never really been an issue for me in terms of adding new contacts or anything. I think that last time I just put it on facebook and added some that I wanted to have there right away.

As far as whether there are better apps than BBM Music I really don't know. I tried rdio on my iPhone and it was good I guess. I stopped after the free week though and didn't want to spend $10/month. I haven't had to pay yet for this service, so who knows....maybe the $5 will make me not want to pay for it either. Music is tough anyway I think in the sense that we all have hours and hours of music to access, but a lot of it is rarely listened to, if ever. I have piles of old CDs in boxes that I might never pull out again, tonnes of albums in iTunes and lots on my portable devices. I have no idea how long it would take to listen to it all, but its kind of pointless in some ways!

[troutman]

50 songs? I have 13,000 on my iPod.

I will check this out.

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

This is what just murders their model for me. I had a blackberry for a while, and I thought BBM was great (although I give iMessage the nod now for not requiring me to go in a seperate app/icon, it just knows whether I'm talking to an iOS 5 device or not and chooses SMS vs iMessage).

But why if I get a new phone should I have to email a hex code to a bunch of my friends?

Why can't you just be Slava@bbm.com and sign in on your new phone and have all of your contacts? It should be abstracted that you got a new device, your friends shouldn't even have to know about it.

It's archaic, we're back to ICQ numbers.

I wish phone numbers were abstracted, I should just sign into my phone and have my contacts. I should request to add you to my contacts and you can choose which of "Slava Work", "Slava Home" and "Slava Mobile" that you choose I can have access to. I never know your phone number, I just see those items in my phone. If I turn out to be a creepy stalker, you remove me as a contact, and I can't contact you anymore. I never knew your number at all. If you get a new work number, I don't need to know about it, you just update "Slava Work" and boom, anyone that has access to that number will now be able to call you on your new work number without even knowing it.

Regarding the device PIN, you'd be surprised by the number of users who use BB and BBM to communicate without having an email address. Obviously this isn't the case for North America.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

Regarding the device PIN, you'd be surprised by the number of users who use BB and BBM to communicate without having an email address. Obviously this isn't the case for North America.

But what would stop them from issuing a RIM username? (Although it seems odd to have a Blackberry with no email address....

I guess the point is, sure, some people don't mind having to use PINs, but there is no good reason to use PINs and much better methods of user identification out there, and there have been for many years.

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

But what would stop them from issuing a RIM username? (Although it seems odd to have a Blackberry with no email address....

I guess the point is, sure, some people don't mind having to use PINs, but there is no good reason to use PINs and much better methods of user identification out there, and there have been for many years.

You have to remember that the device PIN architecture is over a decade old.
Nothing stopping them from changing it to a more modern approach but they have over 70 million subscribers world wide using the current architecture so transitioning to a different approach is quite a commitment.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

You have to remember that the device PIN architecture is over a decade old.
Nothing stopping them from changing it to a more modern approach but they have over 70 million subscribers world wide using the current architecture so transitioning to a different approach is quite a commitment.

Sums up RIMs trouble's nicely.

[Bill Bumface]

^ Exactly.

"It was awesome 10 years ago, so why switch? Tons of people still use it".

BBM was simply amazing when it came out, nothing could touch it. Now, there are all sorts of alternatives, whether they are as good or not isn't the problem. They've let their platform completely stagnate and any attempts at innovation have been failures.

Again, I want RIM to succeed. Super successful tech companies in Canada = good for all of us.

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

^ Exactly.

"It was awesome 10 years ago, so why switch? Tons of people still use it".

BBM was simply amazing when it came out, nothing could touch it. Now, there are all sorts of alternatives, whether they are as good or not isn't the problem. They've let their platform completely stagnate and any attempts at innovation have been failures.

Again, I want RIM to succeed. Super successful tech companies in Canada = good for all of us.

I think its more like "70 million subscribers currently use the architecture so it's quite hard to force 70 million people to use a completely different architecture."

The new BBX platform is supposed to address issues such as outdated design since it is a brand new design. Users can either use the BBX platform or stick with the old OS, but they're not forcing any of the 70 million subscribers to completely change the way something is done.

But apparently, it seems like RIM can't do anything right in the media these days. If they launch a keyboard phone, people are going to complain saying its not full touch screen, if they launch a full touch phone, people are going to complain about RIM not sticking to their classic keyboard.

[Slava]

Ya RIM is just an easy target now. Apple has acknowledged a battery issue with their latest phone, and we barely hear anything. If that was RIM the shares would be down to $12 and we'd hear more of the "should focus on business instead of trying to buy a hockey team" comments. The problem with RIM is a PR issue as much as anything.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Slava

Ya RIM is just an easy target now. Apple has acknowledged a battery issue with their latest phone, and we barely hear anything. If that was RIM the shares would be down to $12 and we'd hear more of the "should focus on business instead of trying to buy a hockey team" comments. The problem with RIM is a PR issue as much as anything.

Not really. Apple got burned for not having such a great quarter, although they still did very well.

RIM hasn't done anything new in a LONG time. BBM is great. If I had a BB I would love it. People at work love their BBs. It does email very well, and is great for he business side. Nothing can beat it IMO. But the business side isn't what is driving sales.

The new Bold 9900 is a pretty cool phone. But it is just more of the same. They don't even have Wifi Hotspot. Seriously?

But, for certain people it is quite good enough.