Rdio preps radio-like, hands-off listening
updated 04:30 pm EDT, Fri April 6, 2012
Rdio working on new free-flowing radio feature
Online music streaming service Rdio plans to offer a radio-like listening option to its service, letting users set and forget a station or constant music playback, VP of Product Malthe Sigurdsson revealed in an interview with GigaOM. Doing so would mimic similar features from competitors like Spotify and Slacker, the latter offering it on their paid, Premium service.
While such a feature is currently under development, Sigurdsson wouldn't reveal other details nor any release dates. It will build upon the currently available playlists that can be created based on an artist or groupings of tracks from their friends. The idea is to offer Pandora-like functionality, though the challenge is greater since Rdio offers over 15 million tracks compared to Pandora's near one million-track library.
Wading through those tracks can be tedious for users, and having the queued up for them may be a distinctive draw. Rdio currently costs $10 per month or $5 per month for a web-only subscription. Whether the new feature will affect the rates isn't known.
