Reviews
Grooveshark: one of the most unique music streaming services on Android [App Reviews]
July 27, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
Android App Reviews, Reviews
The list of streaming radio services grows with each passing day, but there are a few hidden gems in the heap, and Grooveshark is one of the lesser-known services worth considering. The company’s $3 per month Android app has one of the most diverse selections, is one of the easiest to use, and has a key strength that not all services have: user-defined playlists to hear songs whenever you want.
I’m very pleased that Grooveshark has a library that bests any service when it comes to music from obscure or lesser known acts. The underground and fringe genres are best represented by Grooveshark, which actually has songs you won’t find on Pandora or Rhapsody. Users also have a great deal of control over those songs. Grooveshark is playlist-driven, so you can search its library – or upload your own music collection – to create a list of Lady Gaga songs and hear it whenever you want. Or you can mark items as a “Favorite” in radio mode and play those songs when you just want to hear the hits.
But Grooveshark is faulty because certain songs are able to playback only in Wi-Fi mode. The lack of 3G playback on Grooveshark’s entire library makes the Android app incredibly flawed and could prove frustrating depending how often the issue arises. I was unable to listen to three songs within a 20 minute span because of this problem.
Grooveshark is great because it plays music on demand, recommends songs in radio mode, and creates playlists that take advantage of its growing music library. Factor in a pristine interface and a monthly membership cost that’s only $3 per month, it almost holds its own against any steaming service. Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi only mode for some songs may prove to be an inconvenience too large to overlook.
KEY FEATURES
- Offline sync for select songs
- On-demand playback of songs or playlists
- Large and diverse song library that is easy to browse or search
- Upload music for increased customization (desktop only)
CONS
- Many songs not available to play unless in Wi-Fi
- Duplicates of the same song are commonly listed
App: Grooveshark
Price: Free, but requires $3 per month VIP account
Website: http://www.grooveshark.com
Rhapsody, MOG and Rdio allow for streaming over 3G. All of them work great and are $9.95 per month for unlimited streaming. Rhapsody and MOG allow unlimited downloading to your device as well, so songs can be played offline without any connectivity at all (as long as you maintain your subscription).
You can do the same downloading to the device with grooveshark for less than 1/3 of the price. It also has great desktop clients on adobe air (and therefore on every operating system) and an iPhone app (requires jailbreaking). All your playlists sync across these services. Honestly, grooveshark is the best service for music that I've come across. You can also use grooveshark for FREE through your browser. My recent post Lollapalooza 2010 Lineup
No widgets? Are you sure? They have three widget sizes!
"Offline sync for select songs" – I haven't found any songs that you can't sync offline and I have about 800 songs in my library. "Many songs not available to play unless in Wi-Fi" – If you download all your songs for offline playback it will play even the songs marked for Wi-Fi only, an easy way to get around the limitation.
I have been using SubSonic. Works over 3g and WiFi and in addition to the Android app it has an Adobe Air app for PC, Mac, an Linux.
You really need to rethink your Cons list… The app DOES have homescreen widgets, try again. None of my songs don't stream over 3G with the new version (same one in your screenshots), and as said before, making songs available offline would fix that. And duplicates happen only if you add a duplicate to your playlist yourself, that's not the app's fault.
The desktop sound quality is not that great, can you control the bitrate, could not find the settings for it? Even on the mobile?
cool