Music subscription services (Google All Access, Spotify,etc).

[Knut]

I had an issue with rdio for a bit last year, but an update fixed it a few days later.

Rdio through my vehicle Bluetooth has enabled me to cut off my Sirius subscription

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Songza got really repetitive for me. What phone did you have that Rdio wouldn't run on it?

Desire HD. I think it was the phone, as it was always a bit of a lemon, but I also don't think I was using it enough to justify the monthly fee.

[fundmark19]

I was the same with Rdio. Great service but since I can't listen to music at work I wasn't using it enough to justify 10 bucks a month so I stuck with Pandora. I do however create a fake email address or subscribe for 1 month of service before half marathons to revive my old playlist as well for roadtrips. It is very handy that it saves all of your information

[Bobblehead]

Apple is going to sell ad-space on their upcoming streaming service:

Now hear this: Apple will sell audio ads on its forthcoming streaming music service, already being dubbed "iRadio" by many. The service is expected to offer highly targeted ads, which could make it pricey -- but appealing -- to marketers and a major threat to already-struggling Pandora.

http://adage.com/article/digital/app...ervice/241863/

I can see the benefit to ad companies. I wonder what the benefit will be for the consumers?

[Rathji]

A free streaming service that completely integrates into your existing iTunes without signing up for any other accounts or installing any other applications?

Seems like a benefit to me.

Its not really head and shoulders above the other options out there, but it certainly matches many of them.

[Bobblehead]

For sure free is nice, but there are other free options without being interrupted by ads.

Will the ability to seamlessly integrate into the iTunes ecosystem offset the annoyance of ads?

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

For sure free is nice, but there are other free options without being interrupted by ads.

Will the ability to seamlessly integrate into the iTunes ecosystem offset the annoyance of ads?

Who are the free ones with mobile access that don't have ads? And how do they make money? Hard to see how that can be a sustainable business model with expensive music licencing requirements.

[Bobblehead]

They have ads - just not inserted audio ads.

[Rathji]

A visual ad on a music playing service seems about as useful as stapling your scrotum to the table.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Rathji

A visual ad on a music playing service seems about as useful as stapling your scrotum to the table.

For sure, but they all also get income from selling the song you are listening, keeping track of what you listen to, what you skip, which channels you select, generally offering market research.

I'm sure that is nothing new to anyone reading this thread (as most of the people commenting are tech savvy).

I just think it sounds like inserting audio ads is one step closer to becoming more like terrestrial radio. One of the benefits to online services to me has been the lack of (audio) ads. So while I can see the benefits for the ad buyers, personally for me a service which was to insert ads would seem like a negative thing.

And I am not tied into the Apple ecosystem (I have a couple iPod Nano which I like, but only tolerate the iTunes app) so the benefit of easy tie in with the iTunes Music Store or associated services means nothing to me.

[Russic]

For people who have a curated iTunes library it could definitely be worth it, but it wouldn't be for me. My guess is that whatever iRadio ends up being will come in both free and paid ad-free flavours. Frankly I'm actually a little hesitant to even believe Apple would offer a free model. Anytime Apple has worked with ads (iAds are about all I can come up with), they generally focus on being unobtrusive as possible. I don't know how you make audio ads unobtrusive.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

They have ads - just not inserted audio ads.

Free version of Pandora always has had inserted audio ads. Spotify doesn't allow mobile use with their free version. Google doesn't have a free version. Iheartradio I think has audio ads, and I don't see a free offering of rdio that runs on mobile.

It doesn't seem like there is any pandora or spotify like service that runs for free on mobile devices without audio ads. I think the licencing costs to stream to mobile are too expensive for a free ad-less service to work.

[Russic]

Rdio has introduced an updated Stations feature. You can now create a station off any artist, song, genre or user. I really like that it has a slider that runs from base-->adventurous. I've always found it annoying that if you put a Canadian artist into something like Pandora, all you get back is the same 10 canadian artists, instead of the music type from all regions. The slider seems to be pretty good at branching the selection out a bit. When you're listening to the station of a user, the slider keeps the selection either totally within their collection or it begins to stray to similar stuff.

It's turning out to be a great discovery tool.

http://blog.rdio.com/us/2013/08/find...ampaign=Buffer

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Russic

Rdio has introduced an updated Stations feature. You can now create a station off any artist, song, genre or user. I really like that it has a slider that runs from base-->adventurous. I've always found it annoying that if you put a Canadian artist into something like Pandora, all you get back is the same 10 canadian artists, instead of the music type from all regions. The slider seems to be pretty good at branching the selection out a bit. When you're listening to the station of a user, the slider keeps the selection either totally within their collection or it begins to stray to similar stuff.

It's turning out to be a great discovery tool.

http://blog.rdio.com/us/2013/08/find...ampaign=Buffer

I haven't fully explored this feature (mostly played around with You FM, the station curated based on your listening history, Twitter follows, Facebook friends, etc), but it seems like all the stations also implement the "thumbs up thumbs down" model for influencing the playlists it is generating on the fly to fine tune what it thinks you'd like.

The whole thing is a huge new feature for Rdio - it's extremely cool to be able to turn on someone else's radio feed and see what kind of music they listen to. If any of your favourite musicians happen to use the service (I follow Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, for example), it's fascinating the breadth of music that they listen to.

[Azure]

Having a hard time making it in the internet radio space? Maybe you should take a feather from the cap of a firm that still rides the airwaves. That seems to be Rdio's approach -- according to the New York Times, the company is partnering with Cumulus Media (a company that owns for-real radio stations) to create a free version of its audio streaming service. Rdio will also trade a stake in its parent company, Pulser Media, for chunks of Cumulus programming and promotion on the traditional airwaves. Cumulus will sell ads for Rdio's impending free service, as well as compile playlists from its catalog of syndicated programming. This could buffer Rdio's music library with news and talk shows, which will hopefully give the service a competitive advantage over services like Spotify, Pandora and iTunes Radio. Although the deal doesn't involve a cash exchange, the Times reports the value of Cumulus' services at over $100 million. As for that free Rdio overhaul? It's predicted to be out sometime before the end of the year. The deal will be officially announced on Monday, until then, check out the NYT report at the source link below.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/15/r...-by-years-end/

[photon]

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/03/r...roid-streaming

Rdio supposedly free streaming in Canada now, though I can't find the app and the Stations tab in the web still wants me to pay. Hopefully sometime today.

EDIT:

Mobile only, and sometime today they say.

http://blog.rdio.com/

[Cheese]

I have free Rdio now...still subscriber options but can get free stations

[Knut]

RDIO reallly is a fantastic service. The Stations are great and they make it easy to add to your collection in a hurry.