Where to go after Rdio?

December 23, 2015 11:24 AM

I was a huge fan of Rdio, and am disappointed when it is gone. I used it in part because it fit my needs so well compared to any of the other streaming services out there. Where should I go now?

I liked Rdio because it fit my listening habits very well. This means that it

1) Worked well in Canada
2) Allowed me to easily stream full albums rather than curated playlists
3) Had a large library of stuff; rarely was the time I couldn't find something (and often those turned out to be very local artists)
4) Had a nice, clean interface
5) Had a free option that let me listen in my browser (I am willing to put up with ads)

Basically, I never used it for discovery--usually my listening habits were that I'd listen to KEXP in the morning, discover new artists, stream the full albums on Rdio. Or, I'd listen to a classic album or an old favourite. I'd make my own playlists but rarely ever listened to any body else's. Mostly, I liked Rdio's interface--it was clean and easy to use.

What are my best options now? Everything else I have ever tried left me lukewarm, but I'm wondering which service best matches my use case.

posted by synecdoche to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

Google Play Music?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by option 5 - do you not want to pay for this at all? If not, then Play Music isn't the answer. All of your other requirements apply to GPM.

I used to pay for Rdio, moved to GPM and never looked back.
posted by dforemsky at 11:32 AM on December 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I'm not sure exactly what you mean by option 5 - do you not want to pay for this at all?

I'm not going to threadsit but to clarify, I'd prefer an ad-supported free option than a paid option, but if I like the service enough I might be willing to pay depending on the price.
posted by synecdoche at 11:33 AM on December 23, 2015

I tried Google Play then ended up with Spotify, mostly because the Google Play app would sometimes not display album art and also I thought Spotify was better at suggesting music, which you don't care about. I mostly listen to full albums too and that's working out fine.

I found a link in some forum to a tool to export my rdio collection to Spotify, which helped a lot. I can't find it now but the person who made it was asking for donations to planned parenthood, if you happen to find it. I found something else that looks useful for moving your rdio data too.

I'm paying for it so I'm not sure what the free option is like.
posted by carolr at 11:37 AM on December 23, 2015

Previously
posted by Perplexity at 11:38 AM on December 23, 2015

I'm finding Google Play to be worth the 10 bucks. Works well in Canada, and it also disables YouTube ads as a bonus.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:41 AM on December 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

We have been enjoying accuradio.com. I don't know much about other services (other than those availble through iTunes), or whether it fits your criteria, but we found it when looking for holiday music last year. We enjoy particularly the holiday "O" station -- not what you're thinking, maybe; it plays only songs with titles like "O come o come Emmanuel", "O come all ye faithful", "O little town of Bethlehem", etc.

I mention this because it's indicative of the somewhat eccentric array of other stations they have; a bunch of jazz stations, pop, etc.
posted by amtho at 11:42 AM on December 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Spotify definitely. I've always preferred it anyway (I pay for it, but it's not a requirement), but now I know other people who have happily converted after Rdio's demise. The only complaint I've heard is that it has a smaller number of songs you can have in your personal library.
posted by cgg at 3:02 PM on December 23, 2015

Spotify is probably the closest you can get. The interface isn't as "clean" as Rdio - it feels more busy and typical of media player interfaces - but it satisfies all your other requirements.
posted by curagea at 3:36 PM on December 23, 2015

I am a longtime user of Rhapsody. I like it for the reasons you mention, except that I've been paying for it for years (I don't think there is a free option). One thing we like about it is that you can keep stuff in your library, so if you are without good internet access (for example, sometimes when traveling) you can listen to that downloaded stuff. We actually keep in on an old phone at this point and use it around the house. It's gone through some bad UIs over the years and it's kind of crap for discovery, but it's great for album play.

FWIW, I really dislike Spotify. No idea how it became the standard service. I find the interface really annoying.
posted by vunder at 5:51 PM on December 23, 2015

I like Apple Music quite a bit. Spotify is decent, too. But when I have both, I usually find myself using Apple Music.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:09 AM on December 24, 2015

I really like Play Music, and it sounds like it would fit your use case very well, aside from it costing money.

Unless you've already used it on your Google Account, you should be able to get a 30 day trial. If you have a Chromecast, Chromebook, or Nexus phone/tablet, you may also have a longer trial available through one of those. They don't charge anything until the trial period is over and canceling is a simple button in the settings, so it's not difficult to avoid being charged if you turn out not to like it.

If there is a gap in the catalog, you can fill it with music purchased elsewhere or ripped from CD. That's one of my favorite features, really, as I have some pretty obscure stuff that isn't available on any all you can eat service, and it is nice to have it right there in the same library as everything else.
posted by wierdo at 11:28 AM on December 25, 2015