Rdio - Spotify alternative offering free trial

[Joe Cox]

http://www.whathifi.com/content/rdio-rival-to-spotify-launches-in-uk-with-free-trial

Just launched in the UK. The interface looks quite smart. No word on bitrate that I can see though...

 

[Crocodile]

What format do you use for music downloads?

Plain old MP3. That means no DRM. We deliver music downloads in the highest bit rate we have available to us, 256 kbps.

http://help.rdio.com/customer/portal/articles/58964-faq-

 

[Joe Cox]

Good spot but that's for downloads not streaming. They're "still experimenting" with codecs for streaming.

 

[Crocodile]

I was working on the bais that if 256k is the highest bitrate they have available for download, then logically they can't stream at a higher rate unless upsampling. I guess there could be different licensing arrangements for downloading & streaming & so could be using different source files. Seems unlikely though.

I would have thought that if they're going up against a well established model at the same price, they would at least need to match the bit-rates already on offer.

 

[paradiziac]

Been waiting to try this for ages.

No time for detailed listening, very brief first impressions compared to Spotify:

- worse sound quality (the Mac app does seem better than the web browser, though I felt Spotify still had the edge)

- poorer selection of music I listen to

At the moment I'll probably just use it whenever I can't find something on Spotify...

 

[Crocodile]

My network stat monitor is showing around 240k.