Rdio completely revamps desktop and web apps
updated 01:50 pm EDT, Tue March 13, 2012
Rdio simplifies listening and sharing on desktop
Rdio wrapped the technology side of South by Southwest with a redesign of its desktop and web apps. The new interface is consciously much more unified and visual, with album art at the front and elements like playlists at the side. A new drag-and-drop interface, including on the web, lets users add whole albums to playlists as well as quickly share tracks to friends through the People Sidebar.
The same sidebar includes "influencers," whether musicians themselves to critics. Each album now has photos of friends who've listened in, both to help find those with common tastes and to help explain why some songs are being promoted over others.
More changes bring simpler but sought-after elements like private playlists and a web layout that now automatically reflows based on the browser size.
The new changes should be available immediately, both on the web as well as the Mac and Windows desktop apps. Mobile users on Android, BlackBerry, iOS, and Windows Phone 7 aren't yet seeing any changes.
