Rdio Is an Awesome Social Music Service (and We've Got Invites) [Screenshot Tour]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5575870/rdio-is-an-awesome-new-social-music-service-and-weve-got-invites

Rdio is a new social music service that helps you discover new music through your friends, listen to their playlists, and share your own. It's in closed beta, but we've got 2,000 invites to share, so come check it out.

When you first log in to Rdio, there's a good chance you're not going to know what to do. It's a little confusing, and the site doesn't offer much in the way of direction; if you don't already have friends in your network, you won't see any music in your dashboard at all. We can forgive Rdio for being a little obtuse out of the blocks, since it is so young—and because once you actually figure it out, it's got all kinds of promise. (If you've already got a pretty good idea how Rdio works and want to get your invite now, jump to the end of the post.)

Note: Rdio is a monthly subscription service after the trial, so the invite is just a good way to try it out.

You can discover new music with Rdio in a lot of ways, and it's possible to bring (some of) your own tunes into Rdio. Check out the video above to see Rdio in action, or jump straight to the screenshot tour below.

Getting Your Music in Rdio

While there are several ways you can add music to your Rdio collection (which we'll look at in a minute), the fastest way to get as much of your music into Rdio is via the Rdio desktop application. Rdio Desktop was created in Adobe AIR, so it'll work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Once you've downloaded, installed it, and opened it up, click the "Match Collection" button on the bottom right of the window and then the big blue "Match Collection" button in the panel that appears.

Go grab a sandwich because this will take a minute. Once Rdio has analyzed your music library, it'll need to upload the results to their server. The time this takes is proportional to the size of your collection and how much of it is available on Rdio. Once the matching process has finished, you'll see a bunch of your songs appear in your Rdio collection. (Probably some you didn't even know you had.)

You can add music to your Rdio collection other ways, too. The search bar in the top right of the Rdio web site will let you search for any song on Rdio. You can also browse for new music through any of the categories in the "Browse Music" menu up top or just snag whatever your friends are listening to.

Connecting with Friends and Linking with Last.fm

You'll find your friends by choosing "People" from your menu. In my case that menu is called Adam Dachis, but in your case it will (hopefully) be your name.

If you have a song or two you like and you want to hear the rest of the album, Rdio lets you easily complete that album with just a click. Click the down arrow that appears when you hover over an album image will provide you with a contextual menu. From there you can choose to complete the album and all of that album's songs will be added to your Rdio collection.

Another way to add music is to link your account to Last.fm. You can find this option hidden in your Account Settings. To find it, go to the "Account" menu, choose "Settings," click the "External" tab and fill in your Last.fm user information. Save your changes and you'll be all set.

Creating Playlists

You'll start out with an empty playlists screen. To make it a little less lonely, all you have to do is find a song you want in your brand new playlist and click the little down arrow. That'll reveal a contextual menu where you can choose "Add to Playlist." If you haven't created a playlist before (and presumably you haven't if you're reading this), you'll be prompted to create one. Later, when you add other songs, you'll be able to choose the playlist from a drop down menu or create a new one.

Put Rdio in Your Pocket

One cool thing about Rdio is its ability to work on your mobile device. While an Android app is forthcoming, you can currently download Rdio on iPhone and Blackberry. While I couldn't test the Blackberry version, the iPhone app was pretty nice. If you've ever been in a situation where you want to listen to a song but don't have it, Rdio's mobile app is the solution (provided the song you're looking for exists in Rdio's music collection). The biggest drawback I noticed is that background listening in iOS4 has yet to be implemented. Hopefully that'll change soon.

The Rdio Dashboard

The last thing we'll take a look at is probably the first thing you'll see in Rdio: the dashboard. You can always get back to it by choosing "Dashboard" from your menu (the one that's your name). This gives a basic overview of what you, your network, or everyone's been listening to lately. It's a good way to explore new music or just enjoy what you've already been enjoying most recently.

Rdio was gracious enough to provide us with 2,000 invites to their private beta, so if you want to sign up, act quickly. Just be aware that when you do sign up you only get three days to test the service. You will have the option of extending your trial period for an additional ten days, but in order to do that you'll need to provide a credit card. It would be nice if Rdio offered some addtional, credit card-free time to test the service but you should find out pretty quickly if you feel it's worth paying for.

While I found Rdio to be a little confusing at first, it's a really good service. Hopefully this tour will clear up some of the initial confusion and you'll be able to enjoy it unencumbered.

If you want to give Rdio a try, sign up for the Rdio beta (that link is the invite).