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Spotify’s crown may about to be challenged here in the UK, as rival music streaming service Rdio has launched, albeit somewhat quietly.
While the California Company may not have officially announced a UK launch, nor thrown around any sort of media hype, we’re hearing from the Rdio Twitter account that it’s now available for us Brits to sign up. We’ve managed to do it already and we’re confident that you’ll be able to as well.
Those who sign up now will get a free 7 day trial of Rdio Unlimited, which gives you – as you might have guessed – unlimited streaming from the extensive catalogue available.
Just like Spotify, it offers two pay models – Web and Unlimited – which are £4.99 and £9.99 per month respectively. The former gives you unlimited listens with no adverts via the Rdio website or the Rdio desktop app, while Unlimited lets you listen on your smartphone, Roku TV streamer or Sonos products. The Unlimited package also lets you save songs and playlists offline for listening when you don’t have a data connection – handy for mobile users.
Apps are available for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 devices to let you stream music on the go, as well as listening to your offline playlists.
While Rdio offers features and pay models the same as Spotify, it’s also got some other cool features up its sleeve for music lovers. Individuals, companies and record labels can become ‘Influencers’, who you can then follow and check out their recommendations, playlists and new music as it hits. You can also follow your friends and link up to Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm.
Rdio also offers radio stations which are tailored to play everything from new music to your favourite artist. Think of it as Spotify mixed in with Last.fm, it’s pretty cool.
If you like what you hear you can sign up for a free 7 day trial now over at Rdio.com.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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