Rdio is all set to be shutdown and it’s sad, considering many of us really loved the service. We recently came across the news that Rdio is filing for bankruptcy and it’s selling off its assets & technologies to Pandora in a $75 million cash deal. We hope Pandora uses Rdio’s assets to bring us a great Rdio-like product, which is expected to launch late 2016. While the news is certainly unfortunate, we Rdio lovers are now looking for an alternative that matches the features we loved on the beleaguered music service.
Before get on to the Rdio alternatives, let’s talk about why Rdio died and its features that will be really missed.
Why Rdio died?
Rdio had a lot of things going for it but the reasons for its ultimate demise was its marketing & expansion plans. Even though Rdio had a headstart against well financed and now popular competitors like Spotify, it failed to use that momentum. All the opinions around Rdio across the web have one thing in common, that is Rdio was a great music service but its marketing & distribution left much to be desired. The key to be profitable in music streaming is having the most number of users and that’s where Rdio was always doomed. Well, here’s hoping Pandora’s Rdio equivalent is as good or even better than what Rdio used to be.
Rdio features that will be missed
Rdio had a number of cool features, which was the reason it was so loved by its modest userbase. The first thing that made Rdio great was its brilliant user interface, which comprised of streamlined design elements and the very intuitive user experience. The company always emphasised on the design elements of the apps & web player and the user interface made sure Rdio felt like a polished product always. Even today, its competitors have used various design elements from Rdio.
Along with the brilliant UI, there were a number of features in Rdio that made it unique. It let you discover tracks trending among your friends. Rdio also featured autoplay, recommendations and stations for better music discovery. The listening experience on Rdio had its own perks with the great “Queue” feature, which could be synced across various devices. It also featured the “Favorites” feature along with emphasis on playing full albums. Rdio was also moved because of its brilliant home page implementation, which would easily let you resume from where you left, discover new songs and repeat your favorite tracks. There were many other features but these aforementioned features are the reason Rdio was loved by so many people.
There are a number of great music streaming services but we have chosen the best among them that can be a really good Rdio alternative.
Best Rdio Alternatives
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Spotify
Spotify is arguably the biggest music streaming service currently, so it’s no surprise that it is a Rdio alternative. If you are a Rdio fan, you might not find it as good as Rdio but it has its own unique features. While the user interface of Spotify isn’t as great as Rdio, the user experience is pretty good with features like long press to preview. Compared to Rdio, it does not feature syncing queues or playlists but its Discovery is so great that you might not even need putting tracks in a queue and wanting them later. On the music catalogue front, Spotify is close to what Rdio offered (35 million tracks) with more than 30 million tracks.
With Rdio nearing its end, we can expect its popular features to make it to most music streaming services including Spotify and considering Spotify is already a great music streaming service, it should get better. Spotify is available in more than 60 countries, which is less when compared to Rdio, which was available in 85 countries but we can expect Spotify to expand in the foreseeable future. Spotify is available to use as a free ad-supported music streaming service but there’s a paid subscription of $9.99/month, which brings more features and removes limitations. Like Rdio, Spotify is also available on all the mobile, PC and other platforms we know of.
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Deezer
Deezer is another popular music streaming service, which you will love even if you are a fan of Rdio. Firstly, Deezer has been designed beautifully and anyone coming off of Rdio’s great user interface should feel at home. Along with the great user interface, Deezer brings great social media features, which lets you discover music and playlists. The Elite subscription of the service even brings you lossless high quality music (1,411 kbps). Similar to Rdio, Deezer features more than 35 million tracks and 100 million playlists.
Sadly, even Deezer does not feature syncing queues, which is a much loved Rdio feature. Other than that, Deezer is no slouch when it comes to other features and availability. Deezer, like Rdio, is available on most platforms you can think of including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, OS X, Windows PCs, Smart TVs and Car systems. It also trumps Rdio’s availability in countries, as it’s available in more than 180 countries across the globe.
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Tidal
Tidal is a very capable alternative to Rdio, which brings some of Rdio’s features along with its very own unique features. Tidal has a great user interface, which is consistent across all platforms and that makes sure you don’t have a bad experience when you are on a different device type. Like Rdio, Tidal features some great social media features like music discovery from what your friends like and curated playlists from users. While it falls behind Rdio’s 35 million songs catalogue, it’s not very far behind with 25 million tracks. It also brings its unique features like Tidal X to discover new upcoming artists, audio search, offline support and more.
Moreover, it brings the highest quality of music, that is CD lossless quality (1,411 kbps), although this is only available in HiFi plan which is a little pricey at $19.99/month. There’s also a Premium plan if you are okay with not having lossless music quality. Similar to Rdio, Tidal is available on all platforms you can think of, be it mobile, PC, Car systems, Smart TVs and more.
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Rhapsody
Rhapsody might not have many features that are common to Rdio but its unique features make it a worthy Rdio alternative. It brings a very good interface, especially on the apps where it’s very intuitive making sure you don’t miss Rdio’s interface much. The popular music streaming service has a music catalogue of over 30 million tracks, which is close to what Rdio offered. Rdio offered some very intuitive notifications on new songs detecting from your offline & online collection and Rhapsody also brings similar functionality. It brings you well sorted notifications letting you know of new tracks & albums from artists that might interest you.
Another important point about Rhapsody is it’s very sleek and fast, making the user experience a lot smoother. In the past few weeks, Rdio has been marred by bugs with songs loading slowly, so you’ll feel great with the fast performance of Rhapsody. Like Rdio, Rhapsody is available on mobile platforms (Android, iOS, Windows Phone), home streaming devices (Chromecast, Sonos), web and PCs (Windows only). It’s also lighter on the wallet compared to others on the list, with its free trial offers and UnRadio ($4.99/month) and Premier ($9.99/month) subscriptions.
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Apple Music
Apple Music is a budding music streaming service but it’s already very feature rich. While Rdio’s feature list was very different from what Apple Music offers, it’s worth giving a try. Although Apple Music’s interface can be better, it does bring a lot of cool features like gapless playback, recommendations based on music taste, Beats 1, internet radio curations by famous artists, exclusive content and more. The Discovery feature on Apple Music is especially impressive, considering it’s curated by real people and it learns from you to bring you what you would like.
In terms of music catalogue, Apple Music is already ahead of Rdio with over 40 million tracks. Apple Music offers a free trial for the first 3 months after which you will have to pay $9.99/month for an individual plan and $14.99/month for the family plan, which supports 6 devices. Unlike Rdio, Apple Music is only available on iOS, OS X, tv OS, watchOS, Android and while iTunes Radio is available for Windows, it does not bring the same experience. Even though Apple Music is fairly new, it’s already available in more than 100 countries including India, Australia, US, UK, France, Germany and most other major countries. To sum things up, Apple Music is a great alternative to Radio and you are going to love some parts of it like the amazing music discovery but its interface still needs some improvements.
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Google Play Music
Google has made sure it competes strongly in the music streaming space and with recent additions like YouTube Music Key, Google Play Music is indeed getting better. While it lacks in Rdio like features, it brings its own unique touch. Play Music is close to Rdio when it comes to the music catalogue with 30 million tracks. It also brings a very clean looking interface, which you will like if you like things unfussy and clean. Along with that, Play Music also offers great recommendations, radio and decent audio quality (320 kbps).
Google Play Music also allows you to upload your own music catalogue to create playlists. It also supports downloading of songs for offline listening and although Rdio’s social features are missing here, you can make do by sharing your favourite songs. The Google service is available in over 58 countries right now, which might be less when compared to Rdio but we can expect Google to expand the service soon. Google Play Music is available on iOS, Android & web and you can get a free trial for the first 30 days after which you will have to get a subscription.
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Groove Music
Microsoft’s music streaming service dubbed Groove Music is also a decent Rdio alternative. Groove Music brings some cool features like the ability to download songs, artist based radio stations, curated playlists, device sync and more. It trumps Rdio when it comes to the music catalogue with 40 million tracks in its arsenal. It also packs some features that are similar to Rdio’s like device sync, so you can start playing where you left off, artist based radio stations etc..
Microsoft Groove Music is available as a free trial for a month after which you will have to pay a subscription fee of $9.99/month or $99.99/year. Groove is available as a web player and as an app for Android, iOS and Windows. The music streaming service is only available in 20 countries, which is way less than Rdio’s reach.
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Slacker Radio
Slacker Radio might not impress you with its meagre 12 million tracks catalogue, which is very less when compared to Rdio’s offering of 35 million tracks but it has some very cool features. The best feature of Slacker Radio is its expertly curated playlists and it also brings some great discovery features. While Slacker’s interface is pretty ordinary, it makes it up with artist biographies and lyrics for every track. The music streaming service also has a useful offline mode for your music needs even when you don’t have a decent internet connection.
The best thing about Slacker Radio is that its free version is not limited by any means. The ad-supported free version lets you listen to millions of tracks without any limitations. There are two subscription plans: Plus ($4.99/month) and Premium ($9.99/month). Plus unlocks features like caching, song requests, unlimited skips and more. Premium brings all the Plus features and adds features like on-demand songs, custom offline playlists etc.. Slacker Radio matches Rdio in terms of platforms support, as it has apps for all major mobile platforms, home media systems, Smart TVs and car media systems. Sadly, the service is only available in the US and Canada.
How to export your Rdio playlists to other music streaming services
Since Rdio will be shutting down its services and apps once the deal with Pandora goes through, it’s important that you move your Rdio playlists to some other music streaming service you plan on using. You can use Soundiiz, which lets you export your playlists on Rdio to various music streaming services with ease. Once you login to your Rdio account, you can simply drag & drop your playlists from Rdio to another music streaming service. Soundiiz supports Spotify, Tidal, YouTube, Qobuz, SoundCloud, DailyMotion, Apple Music, Deezer, Napster and Groove Music. You can also use Stamp to move your Rdio playlists to Apple Music or Spotify.
SEE ALSO: 15 Best Music Streaming Sites and Internet Radio
Move on from Rdio with these worthy alternatives
These are some great music streaming services and we hope they fill Rdio’s space in your life. Do let us know in the comments section below if any of these services were as good as Rdio or even better.
