Dec 18, 2009 10:08 AM

Skype, Kazaa Founders Launch Rdio Streaming App (Private Beta)

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Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom think they can succeed where others have failed, in convincing music fans to spend a few dollars each month on an unlimited music subscription service. If these were any two regular Joes, we'd be inclined to shrug off their upcoming Rdio service, whose iPhone app appeared in iTunes Thursday, as yet another me-too effort destined to be driven into the ground by high music-licensing costs, a slim advertising market and consumer indifference to yet another music service.

But Janus and Niklas have two big megahits under their belt already – the Kazaa file sharing network and the Skype VOIP service – so we're inclined to take their San Francisco–based Rdio service seriously, even in advance of its launch early next year.

"We have watched many ad-supported music businesses come and go," conceded Friis in a statement in October announcing the upcoming service. "We felt the time was right to revisit this space, this time with a compelling offering and a sustainable subscription model."

Rdio is currently restricted to a private beta, to which the press does not appear to be invited. (If you have an invite, we would love to hear from you.) But late Thursday, Music Ally (subscription required) spotted the Rdio app in the iPhone store (iTunes link), which offers additional hints about what this subscription (i.e., ad-free) service will look and feel like.

The Rdio iPhone app includes tabs for Collection, Search, Playlists and Notifications. The Collection tab (above right) lets users find music in their cloud-based account by artist, while the Search tab (below) links up to the service's online catalog so that users can find new music to add to their accounts. The Playlists tab (below) offers access to the play queue, user-created playlists and collaborative playlists – a feature also available in Spotify. Also like Spotify, changes made to playlists on the mobile will almost certainly show up on the computer-based version of the service and vice versa, providing seamless switching between the mobile and computer versions of the service.

The Notifications tab is a bit more mysterious, but our screenshot to the right sheds a sliver of light on the situation. Rdio's Notifications feature relies on the iPhone's relatively recently acquired ability to receive push notifications to pull in "alerts, sounds and icon badges" from the service or other users. Rdio likely includes social features that let users zing tracks, playlists and albums to each other, and badges denoting status or membership in groups.

Unlike Spotify, the computer version of Rdio will be web- rather than application-based. This means that unlike their other two major creations, Kazaa and Skype, Rdio will lack a peer-to-peer component. (Spotify's use of an application allows it to save on bandwidth by having users stream music to each other.)

Rdio's official description of its iPhone app paints it as another contender for the celestial jukebox crown:

Rdio is like carrying a giant MP3 player in your pocket – you have unlimited and unrestricted access to all the music, and you get to select exactly the song, album or artist you want to hear. And you can skip, pause fast forward as much as you want. Build your collection and compose your playlists on rdio.com and listen to them all on the go. Or search for just the right song when you’re out and it will start playing instantly.

We've heard this one before, from imeem, from Lala, from MOG, from Napster, from Spotify and from Rhapsody. Early next year – the same time frame in which Spotify is expected to launch stateside – we'll find out whether the Kazaa-Skype guys can convince people to pay a little for a lot of music. Interoperability between music services would surely help.

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notification

If users enable push notifications on their iPhones, Rdio can deliver alerts, sounds and "icon badges" to the Notifications box.

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Screenshots (other than "Notifications") courtesy of iTunes