Boy Genius Report has some photos of a future HTC device that is rumored to be going to Verizon. Looks like a great combination of the size/features of the evo with some of the styling of the Nexus One/Desire. I love the fatter kickstand and wonder if that camera bezel has been recessed to protect it a little better than the Evo’s.

Source: Boy Genius Report

If Rhapsody is MapQuest, Rdio is Google Maps or Bing. It feels like a modern app and web site all the way around. The music is controlled by a slick looking player that is persistent across the web site. The Adobe AIR-based desktop client is a local instance of that same player so after you get your tunes flowing, you can close your browser and they don’t stop. Finally, the smartphone apps are there to keep the beats alive when you leave the computer behind.

Rdio Dashboard Views

Rdio on Android

The Rdio app on Android is a pleasure to use, with a clean interface that beats just about every straight-up music player that I’ve tried. The dashboard gives you quick access to what you’ve been playing recently so that you don’t have the frustrating experience of having to search and search for something you were JUST LISTENING TO!! I’ve had that happen a few times.

Search

If you are looking for something new, the search works pretty well. You can search for an artist and start drilling down through the albums available or you can search for an artist and song and zoom right in to what you are after.

Foo Fighters Karaoke Anyone?

While using the in-app search works very well, it’s its tie to Google Voice search that will most likely be making you go either ooooh! or arrrggh! Available now on Froyo, Google Voice Search allows you to say, “Listen to My Hero by Foo Fighters” and jump right to the song. This often works perfectly, but in my experience it fails as often as it succeeds. I just did the very search that I used as an example and while Google interpreted it as “My Hero by The Food Fighters”, Rdio correctly took it and gave me My Hero by Foo Fighters, almost. In what feels like a Guitar Hero 2 move, it started playing “My Hero (Made Famous by The Foo Fighters) from the album Foo Fighters Karaoke”—definitely not what I was after. Rdio does have the correct song, multiple times in fact on its over 30 Foo Fighters albums. Simply Searching for “Foo Fighters”, then picking their Greatest Hits album got me right to what I was after. This is only a problem when you are using Voice Search as it is like clicking “I’m feeling lucky” on the Google search screen. It is going to do a search AND pick a result. When you do a normal search in the Rdio application, you are presented choices as you would expect and this isn’t a issue.

Come on down!

Sync to Mobile

Once you find something that you really like, you may want to just have it with you all of the time and Rdio makes pulling it down slick. There is a “Sync to Mobile” link present in nearly every place that you find information about an album or a song. It’s almost too easy. I found myself on an artist page clicking away saying, “I’ll take that, and that, and that…”. I think I need to visit my collection and do some unsyncing.

Sync with iTunes

It’s almost a hidden feature, but the desktop client for Rdio has the ability to analyze your iTunes library to autofill your Rdio collection with anything that is both on your computer and in Rdio. This is not only a quick way to teach Rdio your tastes, but creates collection for you accessible from your mobile client that is already full of stuff you like.

Trial and Selection

Rdio offers a 3 day free trial without entering a credit card. It can be extended 10 more days if you enter a credit card number at the end of the first period. You’ll definitely want to make use of this trial to see if their selection of music matches up with your tastes. While I think you will find most of what you are after, I have entered several artists—Dave Matthews for instance—and found only a handful of songs for them.

Final Thoughts

It seems we are about to start seeing many services like this. Previously mentioned Rhapsody seems to be working hard to make itself fresh. Newer services like Spotify (which still isn’t available in the U.S.) and MOG are making plays in the same space. This said, Rdio is certainly a solid performer in the genre. The audio quality has been impressive, the selection has been adequate and I’ve already discovered some new music that I may have not otherwise stumbled on to. It’s also a killer phone demonstration to have someone say, “have you heard that new song?” and with a voice search have it streaming out of your phone in seconds—as long as you love karaoke.

Picts