A Nielsen analysis shows that younger consumers aged 21-24 years are most interested in mobile music apps in general and are also the premier consumers of music apps. With 54 per cent users today sporting music player apps on their smartphones and 47 per cent using radio apps, it is safe to assume that digital music has found its space on our mobile phones.
But accessing the best tools and services for creating a perfect digital music listening experience does not mean burning a hole in your pocket. All you need is a data-enabled (WiFi or mobile data) smartphone or mobile device and you can choose to stream music, download songs or share playlists with your friends.
Dhingana - Free
With over 11 million active users, Dhingana is well-known as an online music platform and offers apps for every major mobile device, including Android-based handsets, iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and Nokia smartphones.
Dhingana is also available on Facebook (the users are required to connect via their Facebook account). Once authorised, the app can share users’ Facebook profile with friends who can view and follow playlists and listen to songs shared by the user. Users in turn can find ‘music posts’ and ‘play buttons’ shared by friends within Facebook’s news feed. User and his Facebook friends can listen to music on Facebook together by clicking on the ‘listen with’ option. The company today has a collection of over 350,000 songs across 35 different genres, available legally and for free.
Recollect - Free
It’s hard to overlook the number of people recommending music on social networking site Twitter by either using hashtags like #nowplaying or through numerous music apps that let you share recommendations on Twitter like Sound tracking, NowPlaying, etc. What mars song recommendations on Twitter is the lack of a preview and that’s where Recollect.fm makes itself useful.
Recollect (available on Apple iTunes store) uses a News-stand-like shelf to display album covers of music your friends have shared on Twitter. To see who shared a piece of music, just tap the album cover, and the pop-up shows you the username, as well as options to collect the song in your folder, retweet, reply, or buy from iTunes (a facility that is not yet available in India).
Shuffler.fm - Free
Shuffler.fm is in fact a music service with an iPad and iPhone app now available. Where it excels is in its aggregation of music blogs, organising them into channels of individual genres. The published content is curated and displayed by Shuffler.fm just like a collaborative music magazine. For users who want to discover new music, the app’s interface displays the music tiles with a photo, a play button and a large text title. Not only this app gives access to a lot of great music you possibly never heard of before, you can also instantly read other people’s thoughts about pieces of music (via comments).
MusicBunk - Free
MusicBunk is an Android and iPhone app that makes social music discovery an effortless process. Users can quickly browse others' digital music collections and access both songs and playlists, even if they are not currently contained on individual computers or mobile devices. In short, the app lets one see what songs and playlists their friends are listening to, tune in to the same, share comments or connect with new acquaintances (once user has registered).
Also Read
App, once integrated with Twitter and Facebook, allows listeners to share their favorite songs and music discoveries. Users can also connect with friends on MusicBunk through their phones' contact lists, Facebook or a username search. Once befriended, buddies can access each others' collections of albums and tracks, enjoy 30-second samples of tunes.
StereoMood - Free
Behind every song there's always an emotion and StereoMood, the popular music streaming service has built a service on just that thought. The app lets you pick tunes based on your mood. Available for both iOS and Android users, users have the option to sign in using Facebook account or through Stereomood account. If you don’t have one, the app lets you register for an account. Stereomood presents a list of most popular tags that change frequently. Tap one, say ‘Relax’, ‘Sunny Day’ etc and the station starts belting out related songs. The app curates its content from independent artists and top music blogs which gives it access to over 100 music playlists and 50,000 songs.
Stereomood also doubles as a social network in its own right and the user can share songs via Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Friendfeed, etc.