Rdio is about to be shut down, which is unfortunate because many of us adored the service.
We recently learned that Rdio has filed for bankruptcy and will transfer its assets and technologies to Pandora for $75 million in cash. We hope Pandora makes good use of Rdio’s assets to deliver a strong Rdio-like offering in late 2016. While the news is undoubtedly disappointing, Rdio fans are now on the lookout for an alternative that provides the characteristics we enjoyed on the troubled music service.
Let’s speak about why Rdio died and what features will be sorely missed before moving on to Rdio alternatives.
Why Rdio died?
Rdio had a lot going for it, but its marketing and development plans were the reason for its downfall. Rdio had a head start over well-funded and now-popular competitors like Spotify, but it failed to capitalise on it. All of the online comments about Rdio agree on one thing: Rdio was a great music service, but its marketing and distribution left a lot to be desired.
The key to being profitable in music streaming is having the most customers, and Rdio was doomed from the start. Let’s hope Pandora’s Rdio clone is as good as, if not better than, the original Rdio.
Rdio features that will be missed
Rdio offered a lot of fascinating features, which is why it was so popular among its small user base. Rdio’s outstanding user interface, which consisted of simplified design elements and a very easy user experience, was the first thing that made it great. The company’s constant focus on the design components of the apps and web player, as well as the user experience, ensured that Rdio always felt like a finished product. Rdio’s design components are still being employed by competitors today.
Rdio has a number of characteristics that set it apart from the competition, including a fantastic user interface. It allowed you to find out what songs were popular among your pals.
For better music discovery, Rdio included autoplay, suggestions, and stations. The amazing “Queue” function on Rdio, which could be synced across many devices, added to the listening experience. It also had the “Favorites” function, as well as a focus on playing entire albums.
Rdio was also relocated due to its great home page implementation, which made it simple to pick up where you left off, find new music, and replay your favourite tracks. There were many other features, but the ones listed above are the ones that made Rdio so popular.
There are many excellent music streaming services available, but we’ve selected the best of them as a viable Rdio alternative.
Best Rdio Alternatives
1. Spotify
With Rdio’s conclusion approaching, we can anticipate its popular features to make their way into other music streaming services, including Spotify, and given how good Spotify is now, it should only become better. Spotify is available in around 60 countries, which is fewer than Rdio, which was available in 85 countries, but we can expect Spotify to grow in the near future. Spotify is a free ad-supported music streaming service, but there is a $9.99/month paid subscription that adds more features and removes limitations. Spotify, like Rdio, is available on all mobile, PC, and other platforms we’re aware of.
2. Deezer
Even if you like Rdio, Deezer is a popular music streaming service that you will enjoy. To begin with, Deezer is brilliantly designed, and anyone coming from Rdio’s excellent user interface should feel right at home. Deezer offers fantastic social media tools in addition to a superb user experience, allowing you to find music and playlists. The service’s Elite subscription even includes lossless high-quality audio (1,411 kbps). Deezer, like Rdio, offers over 35 million tunes and 100 million playlists.
Unfortunately, Deezer does not support syncing queues, which is a popular Rdio function.
Other than that, Deezer is a powerhouse in terms of features and accessibility. Deezer, like Rdio, is available on virtually every platform imaginable, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, OS X, Windows PCs, Smart TVs, and automobiles. It also outnumbers Rdio in terms of country availability, as it is available in over 180 countries worldwide.
3. Tidal
Tidal is a capable alternative to Rdio that incorporates some of Rdio’s capabilities as well as its own unique features. Tidal features a fantastic user interface that is uniform across all platforms, ensuring that you don’t have a horrible experience while switching between devices. Tidal, like Rdio, has some wonderful social media features, such as music discovery based on what your friends like and user-curated playlists. While it doesn’t quite match Rdio’s 35 million song catalogue, it’s close with 25 million tunes. It also includes unique features such as Tidal X, which allows users to discover new up-and-coming artists, as well as audio search, offline support, and more.
Furthermore, it provides the maximum music quality, which is CD lossless (1,411 kbps), albeit this is only available in the HiFi plan, which is a little pricy at $19.99/month. If you don’t mind not having lossless music quality, there’s also a Premium option. Tidal, like Rdio, is available on every platform imaginable, including mobile, PC, car systems, smart TVs, and more.
4. Rhapsody
Rhapsody doesn’t have as many features as Rdio, but it has enough to make it a viable Rdio alternative. It has a great experience, particularly in the apps, where it’s quite intuitive, so you won’t miss Rdio’s interface. The popular music streaming service boasts a music library of over 30 million songs, which is comparable to Rdio’s. Rdio and Rhapsody both provide fairly intuitive notifications on new music that are detected from your offline and online collections. It sends you well-organized updates about new music and albums from artists who might be of interest to you.
Another important feature of Rhapsody is that it is extremely sleek and fast, making the user experience much more pleasant. Rdio has been plagued by issues that have caused music to load slowly in recent weeks, so you’ll appreciate Rhapsody’s quick performance. Rhapsody, like Rdio, is available on mobile platforms (Android, iOS, Windows Phone), home streaming devices (Chromecast, Sonos), the web, and personal computers (PCs) (Windows only).
With its free trial offers and UnRadio ($4.99/month) and Premier ($9.99/month) memberships, it’s also less expensive than the others on the list.
5. Apple Music
Apple Music is a new music streaming service, but it already has a lot of features. While Rdio’s feature set differed significantly from that of Apple Music, it’s worth a shot. Although Apple Music’s UI could be improved, it does offer a number of useful features such as gapless streaming, personalised music recommendations, Beats 1, internet radio curations by prominent musicians, and exclusive content. Apple Music’s Discovery function is particularly impressive, given that it is selected by real people and learns from you to provide you what you want.
With over 40 million tracks, Apple Music already outnumbers Rdio in terms of music library.
Apple Music is free for the first three months, after which it costs $9.99 per month for an individual plan and $14.99 per month for a family plan that covers six devices. Apple Music, unlike Rdio, is exclusively available on iOS, OS X, tvOS, watchOS, and Android; while iTunes Radio is available on Windows, it does not provide the same experience. Despite the fact that Apple Music is still relatively new, it is already available in over 100 countries, including India, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the majority of other important countries. To summarise, Apple Song is a terrific alternative to radio, and you’ll enjoy some aspects of it, such as the incredible music discovery, but its UI should be improved.
6. Google Play Music
Google has made a concerted effort to compete in the music streaming sector, and with recent additions such as YouTube Music Key, Google Play Music is improving. While it lacks Rdio-like functionality, it has its own distinct flavour. With 30 million tracks, Play Music is comparable to Rdio in terms of music library. It also has a really clean interface, which you will appreciate if you prefer things to be simple and straightforward. In addition, Play Music provides excellent suggestions, radio, and audio quality (320 kbps).
You may also use Google Play Music to make playlists from your own music library. It also allows you to download tracks for offline listening, and while Rdio’s social features aren’t available, you can still share your favourite songs. Currently, the Google service is available in around 58 countries, which is less than Rdio, but we may expect Google to expand the service in the near future. Google Play Music is available on iOS, Android, and the web, with a 30-day free trial after which you must purchase a subscription.
7. Groove Music
Groove Music, Microsoft’s music streaming service, is also a good Rdio alternative. Groove Music includes features such as song downloads, artist-based radio stations, tailored playlists, device sync, and more. With 40 million recordings in its library, it outstrips Rdio when it comes to music. It also has some similar features to Rdio, such as device sync, which allows you to resume playing where you left off, artist-based radio stations, and so on.
Microsoft Groove Music is accessible for a month for free, after which you must pay a $9.99/month or $99.99/year subscription price. Groove is an online player as well as a mobile app for Android, iOS, and Windows. The music streaming service is only available in 20 countries, a far smaller number than Rdio.
8. Slacker Radio
Slacker Radio may not amaze you with its meagre 12 million track collection, which pales in comparison to Rdio’s 35 million track offering, but it does have some unique features. Slacker Radio’s best feature is its beautifully produced playlists, but it also has some amazing discovery options. Slacker’s design is unremarkable, but it compensates with artist bios and lyrics for each music. Even if you don’t have a good internet connection, the music streaming service includes a beneficial offline mode for your music demands.
Slacker Radio’s best feature is that its free version is unrestricted in any way. You can listen to millions of tunes for free in the ad-supported free version. Plus ($4.99/month) and Premium ($9.99/month) are the two subscription options. Plus, features such as caching, song requests, unlimited skips, and more are available. Premium adds features like on-demand music, bespoke offline playlists, and more to the Plus package. In terms of platform support, Slacker Radio is comparable to Rdio, as it includes apps for all major mobile platforms, home media systems, Smart TVs, and automotive media systems. Regrettably, the service is limited to the United States and Canada.
Rdio playlists can be exported to other music streaming services.
Because Rdio’s services and apps will be shut down once the Pandora acquisition is finalised, it’s critical that you migrate your Rdio playlists to another music streaming provider. You can use Soundiiz to easily export your Rdio playlists to a variety of music streaming services.
You can simply drag and drop your playlists from Rdio to another music streaming service once you’ve logged into your account. Spotify, Tidal, YouTube, Qobuz, SoundCloud, DailyMotion, Apple Music, Deezer, Napster, and Groove Music are all supported by Soundiiz. Stamp can also be used to transfer Rdio playlists to Apple Music or Spotify.