
Rdio 2.0 Design - jarederondu
http://theindustry.cc/2012/11/27/rdio-2-0-for-ios/
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saturdaysaint
As a longtime Rdio loyalist, I'm really digging it. It seems to take fewer
taps to get to the different sections and many of the discovery sections ("New
Releases" and "Heavy Rotation") finally infinite scroll in iOS, which really
makes discovery easier.

Plus it's remarkably pretty, which I appreciate. Nice fonts, subtle color
variations and a few transparent UI layers give it a nice texture. A lot of
hard core music lovers like vinyl because the attention to packaging invokes a
certain reverence for the art - to some extent I think Rdio accomplish this as
much as they can on a 3.5 inch screen.

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edandersen
Interestingly, Rdio 2.0 is built with C# and MonoTouch, sharing significant
amounts of code with the Android client.
<https://twitter.com/migueldeicaza/status/273487637292130304>

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Hovertruck
For some reason, I would expect this to improve the quality of their Windows
Phone app, which is nigh-unusable. Despite how much I love Rdio (and opted to
pay for the family plan), I'm considering switching away because of this.

~~~
cmelbye
The question is, what would you switch to? Spotify is AWOL (at least on WP8),
Rdio's app is terrible, etc.

~~~
Hovertruck
My predicament exactly. I have heard good things about Xbox Music, but I
haven't given it a look yet.

~~~
cmelbye
Xbox Music is nice if you like the built in music+videos interface for
browsing music, playlists, etc. Good selection, fairly easy to search for and
download music. The only issue is that since I'm on a Mac, I have no way to
listen to that music when I'm on my laptop.

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cageface
The radical new all-white design of the desktop app and their refusal to
address the outcry it caused among their users was the main reason I switched
to Spotify after happily using their service for years.

If they're "doubling down" on this style in the mobile app now I guess I made
the right choice. It's a shame - rdio is a great service in a lot of other
ways.

~~~
benschwarz
Wait… so you stopped using rdio because you didn't like the design, but you
chose spotify? ARE YOU BLIND MAN?

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cageface
Spotify isn't beautiful but at least it's not like staring right into the sun.

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dcrall
Not only is Spotify ugly, it's nearly unusable in my opinion. Today I was
trying to navigate to a friend's playlist and was unable to do so from the
list of my Facebook friends. The web presence for the playlist had no titles,
and the first time I tried to open it in the app it failed.

I did not like Rdio's re-design at first, but it has grown on me more than I
thought it would.

~~~
cageface
Rdio wins hands-down for social/sharing features. That's the thing I miss the
most. On Spotify I'm pretty much solo.

Spotify's other killer feature is local sync on the laptop. I'm usually
dependent on crappy hotel/cafe wifi and Rdio just chokes.

~~~
bratsche
Spotify's killer feature is that you don't have to exit the app and switch to
a different app to play music that they don't have.

~~~
gagege
True, there are also a few of my favorite bands on Spotify that Rdio doesn't
have. Rdio seem like they haven't gotten a hold of certain indie labels. I've
considered switching to a paid Spotify account just because of that.

Spotify had a terrible Android app for a while, so I switched to Rdio. Then
Spotify really improved their app so I considered them again, but now Rdio's
app is even better. Hmm...

Also, Rdio has a "family plan" type thing. My wife and I both have accounts,
so we get a discount.

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nzjames
I'm enjoying the new mobile design.

My initial reaction was not positive, I saw the similarities to the FB mobile
app with the swipe right menu and I thought "oh no." But quickly I found it
much more intuitive to use than the previous grid layout.

I've modified my opinion that the style of revel navigation is not bad but I
previously didn't enjoy it because of Facebook's unresponsive implementation.

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bratsche
The new Rdio design is really nice, but there's really only one thing about
Rdio that I find extremely lacking (and it was never their design).

I wish I could play my phone's iTunes music collection from Rdio. The fact is,
you can't find everything on Rdio (hello, Led Zeppelin?) and it's kind of
sucky that you would have to switch to a totally different app for that.

~~~
chrischen
They answered this question in their support forum. Their answer was that your
own audio files are not "social" so they do not plan to support them inside
Rdio.

~~~
bratsche
That rationale makes me more sad than I can express in a comment. :(

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dannygarcia
Glad to see the new design go full-circle. It's nice that there's consistency
on all fronts. Although, I was surprised by the omission of a volume control
interface.

The volume can be controlled with the hardware buttons, but the lack of
software controls is really inconvenient. It forces the user to have physical
access to the side of the device – this should never be a requirement. Also,
iOS remembers the volume state when the headphone jack is plugged in or out.
Not having visual feedback of the current volume level leaves the user in the
dark. Finally, users expect consistency – the web app and Mac App, and even
the official Music app, offer a software volume control. Why should the Rdio
mobile app be the exception?

Although it may seem like a petty issue, it contributes to a sub-par listening
experience.

~~~
fredoliveira
I have to respectfully disagree. I think it makes sense to assume that if the
user can touch the screen to change the volume, they can touch the side of the
device too.

That assumption is enough to justify the move. It also plays into the
constraints of a smaller screen, lending more space for the UI bits for which
there are no hardware controls.

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obilgic
And on my blackberry I still have the same rdio app for 2 years...

~~~
bobz
Surprised they made one in the first place.

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hippich
Rdio - is iOS app used to manage music:

 _Earlier today, music streaming service Rdio launched a major update of its
mobile app for iPhone and iPad, a much-needed redesign for an app that was
starting to show its age._

