Streaming music subscription service rdio has launched a desktop application for the Mac OS.
Spoiler alert – it’s really good.
I know, that sort of kills the entire point of this article, right? Well just for fun, let’s dive in a little deeper.
Aesthetics
Rdio was created by the same people who brought you Skype, and it feels like it. The layout is extremely smooth and intuitive to navigate, and as visually appealing as you could possibly hope for. Searching for music, browsing through new releases and current chart toppers, and moving through your own libraries and playlists is not only a complete breeze, it’s an absolute joy.
Usability
I’ve been very impressed with the service so far. The search interface, as alluded to before, is intuitive and useful (not to mention fast). Browsing through music feels easy and helpful at all times. I can search for an artist, click back and forth through some albums, play some tracks, and read reviews and biographies with absolute ease.
Music playback has been close to perfect for me so far. Pressing play on an individual song results in actually hearing the music in as close to instantly as I imagine is physically possible. No lag, no buffering, no nothing. When I press play on an album, the song to song transition is flawless.
The Bad News
Admittedly, my experience was not without a few technical hickups. My first roll in the hay with the rdio app involved tracks not playing and the app itself crashing twice. Convinced the app was better than what that small sample seemed to indicate, I gave the rdio app the rest of the night off, and the next day it worked beautifully. Even since then there have been a few issues here and there (a frozen screen for a minute or two with a possible re-start of the program being necessary has not been entirely unheard of for me) but nothing that has ever interfered with my enjoyment of rdio for more than a matter of moments.
Final Verdict
Remember, this article is not so much about the rdio experience overall, but rather the experience of using the rdio mac application speciically. In that regard, rdio nailed it. The app is solid, visually pleasing, and for the most part it works like an absolute charm. If you already have the rdio sevice, this app is free – you might as well go play with it yourself. If you’re otherwise considering rdio, and are going to rely on a desktop experience to utilize the service, don’t let this app be a reason not to subscribe. You won’t be disappointed.
Post by Alex Horowitz
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