Rdio on iPhone now shows which friends are listening, web streaming hits seven countries

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <img alt="Rdio on iPhone now shows which friends are listening, supersizes album art" data-src-height="340" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/03/rdio-ios-now-playing.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Listen enough to Rdio on the desktop and you'll know your friends' taste in music when they're fellow subscribers. As of a fresh update to the iOS app, you'll also appreciate any musical kinship while on the road. iPhone users receive an overhauled playback view that shows just which friends have listened to that favorite album or playlist. They'll also have a more pleasing view in mid-play that blows up the album art and downplays the interface. There's no word on similar treatments for the Android app, but the odds have increased that you'll at least have the web fallback for social listening: Rdio has quietly added web streaming for Austria, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania and Mexico, bringing desktop access to a total of 24 countries.</div><div dir="ltr" id="pr_box_button" style="text-align: left;">Hide Press Release</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <strong>Rdio Expands to Seven New Markets, Furthering Digital Music Service's Bold Global Growth</strong></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Rdio Launches in Mexico, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and Austria and Extends Offering in Brazil, with Free Music Streaming For Up To Six Months, No Credit Card Required</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Rdio (http://www.rdio.com), the digital music service founded by Janus Friis, one of the creators of Skype, has expanded into seven new territories.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Now, music fans in Mexico, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and Austria can sign up and activate free streaming at rdio.com, without entering a credit card, then dive right into Rdio's library of over 18 million songs. With up to six months of ad-free web streaming available upon sign-up, music lovers in these markets can organically discover a great number of artists and bands.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> In addition, Rdio has announced that the extended free web offer is now available to Brazil - currently the streaming service's third biggest market and its fastest growing territory in terms new users. By extending the free web offer in this vibrant market, Rdio is looking to reward Brazil's passion for a quality music discovery experience and encourage new users to try the service.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> "Rdio is the best product on the market for discovering music," says Drew Larner, CEO of Rdio, "and we will continue to improve that discovery experience by developing smarter tools to surface artists and songs our users love. By opening the social circle to seven new international markets, we're making Rdio an increasingly global way to play, discover, and share music."</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Rdio's latest expansion will allow listeners from the seven new markets to:</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Choose from over 18 million songs, without ads<br /> Listen free on the web for up to six months, depending on how many songs they stream<br /> See and hear what their favorite artists are listening to<br /> Discover new music by following friends and tastemakers<br /> Create, curate, and collaborate on playlists<br /> Share their life soundtrack in real time on Facebook and Twitter</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> A meter at the top of user profile pages shows users how much free music they have remaining each month. Users can also try Rdio for free on a 14-day mobile trial.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> It's easy to upgrade to one of Rdio's flexible subscription plans for unlimited streams and access to Rdio's acclaimed mobile apps. Plan options include:</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Rdio Web: £4.99 a month. Unlimited Web streaming<br /> Rdio Unlimited: £9.99 a month. Unlimited Web and mobile streaming, as well as wireless syncing to listen offline</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Music fans can start listening free at rdio.com.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Notes to Editors</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> Rdio is the ground-breaking digital music service that is reinventing the way people discover, listen to, and share music. With on-demand access to over 18 million songs, Rdio connects people with music and makes it easy to search for and instantly play any song, album, artist, or playlist without ever hearing a single ad. Discover what friends, people with similar tastes, recording artists, and more are listening to in real time and share across Twitter and Facebook. Build a digital music collection that's available everywhere - on the web, in-home or in-car, on tablets or mobile phones, and even offline.</div></div>

Rdio on iPhone now shows which friends are listening, web streaming hits seven countries

  Listen enough to Rdio on the desktop and you'll know your friends' taste in music when they're fellow subscribers. As of a f...

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Sonos app gets universal favorites, Android widget and iPhone 5 tweaks

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="copy post-body" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Sonos app gets universal favories, widget on Android and iPhone 5 tweaks " data-src-height="301" data-src-width="620" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/sonos-sub-620.jpg" /></div>Ask a Sonos listener about flaws in the Controller app and you'll often hear about three sticking points: favorites buried in separate sections, the absence of an official Android widget and an iOS version that still isn't optimized for the iPhone 5. As of Tuesday, the company is cleaning house by curing all three hiccups at once. A new software update puts a source-independent Sonos Favorites section at the top of the menu system; Android users now have a playback widget to quickly skip tracks, and the iPhone app finally takes advantage of those 176 extra lines on the screen. All the official Controller releases should see their fixes appear at relevant app stores soon, if not by the time you read this.<br /> </div></div>

Sonos app gets universal favorites, Android widget and iPhone 5 tweaks

Ask a Sonos listener about flaws in the Controller app and you'll often hear about three sticking...

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Nokia intros Music+ subscription service with unlimited downloads, web listening

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr /> <div class="copy post-body"> <div class="image-container" style="text-align: left;"> <img alt="Nokia Music on a Lumia 800" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/11/nokia-lumia-800-music.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> Most of the bigger streaming music services have both a free tier for casual listeners and a paid level for truly committed music fans. Nokia doesn't want to be the exception to the rule. It's launching Nokia Music+, a paid version of its existing platform. Paying <span>€4</span> per month <span>(</span>$4 in the US) gives perks that you'd normally expect from a more expensive alternative like Spotify or Slacker's premium tier: the upgrade ratchets up the audio quality, adds lyrics, allows unlimited skips in Mix Radio and enables as many downloads for offline play as the phone can hold. Aren't you suddenly glad that you picked up a 32GB Lumia 920? Not that you'll always need it to tune in -- Music+ adds web streaming for anything with a suitably capable browser. Nokia hasn't said just which countries beyond the US will get the more advanced service, but it should make a formal debut within the next few weeks.</div></div></div>

Nokia intros Music+ subscription service with unlimited downloads, web listening

Most of the bigger streaming music services have both a free tier for casual listeners and a paid lev...

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