“Its Rocking” in the Free World
of Nokia Music
Imagine an
application that brings access to a vast catalogue of 17 million songs,
available to listen to online and offline, and ad free without ever having to
sign up or pay a monthly fee? That application is here.
It’s Nokia Music, which launched exclusively for Nokia Lumia in the
United States a couple of weeks ago, and will feature prominently on the
forthcoming Windows Phone 8 devices like the Nokia Lumia 920 and NokiaLumia 820 smartphones.
While eager Windows Phone 8 fanciers will have to
wait a little while longer to access the app, owners of the existing Lumia
devices can download the free app today from the Windows Phone Marketplace,
within App Highlights.
Once you open the app from the Nokia Lumia 900, 800
or 710 you’ll notice that you’re not asked to sign up for an account. The
listening can begin immediately, without handing over personal information or
credit card details.
You’ll see from the Nokia Music homescreen a series
of menu options. One is My Music, which takes you to the tunes you have stored
locally on your phone or the files that you have purchased or added to the
device from your computer. Any music you purchase using this app will end up
here too.
Mixing It Up
Selecting
Mix Radio instantly opens up a world of pre-curated playlists from a large
array of genres. You can select from Bestsellers, Decade Mixes and much, much
more. There’s even playlists from artists like Green Day, Rihanna and Lana Del
Rey, with more playlists by new artists being added all the time.
There are many music streaming services that offer offline
playlists for those times when connectivity or monthly data allowances are at a
premium. However, most of them charge a pretty penny each month for the
privilege of going off the grid.
Mix Radio allows for playlists to be made available offline free
of charge or subscription. All you have to do is ‘long press’ on a playlist and
select ‘Make available offline’. As the playlists are constantly evolving as
the weeks go on, simply refresh them to ensure they’re perfectly up to date.
You can download up to 14 hours to listen to offline at any one time. All
playlists, online or offline, can be pinned easily to the Windows Phone Start
Screen.
Creating A Mix
If
you’re a picky playlist curator like myself, then you may want to rock a custom playlist. You
can do this by selecting ‘Create A Mix’ from within the Mix Radio
section.
Contrary to rival services, here you can add up to THREE artists
from which to form the Custom Radio station, which beautifully narrows down the
list to ensure you get just what you want.
If you create a playlist using Green Day, The Offspring and New
Found Glory, you’re sure to get an almighty selection of the world’s finest
pop-punk.
All of the Custom Radio stations you create can be shared to
social networks or via email.
Getting Personal
Another neat feature of Mix Radio is the ability to create a
personal music profile, which divides you up into neat percentages based on the
genres of music you most enjoy.
Select the Personalize section of Mix Radio to examine your
listening history or even scan your music library in order to create the
profile (for example 27 per cent Rock, 33 per cent pop, 20 per cent soul and 20
per cent R&B) and then you can easily create a Custom Station based on your
profile.
Forever yours
Beyond the Mix Radio magic, there’s also a built-in music store,
allowing you to permanently own a digital copy of each of the 17 million songs
you may hear while listening to playlists.
Going to the show
Nokia Music is, naturally, fully integrated with Nokia Maps,
allowing you to search for concerts near to you through the Gigs Finder section
on the main menu. Hitting this option will identify shows going on within your
vicinity. If your choice isn’t listed, simply choose the search option.
Clicking
on a show will allow you to buy tickets directly from within the app, from a
range of online outlets. You can even get directions to the venue using Nokia
Maps
