MediaMaster's mobile music streaming service goes live

MediaMaster is a Web based jukebox and music storage service we've covered a few times here on Webware. It launched in mid-March, and has since gone on to roll out a successful Facebook app, and a directory of user-created radio stations, which are playlists people have decided to share. In a nutshell, the service lets you upload your music and manage it in a Flash-based jukebox that's about as easy to use as Apple's iTunes software. Today they're launching their mobile service, which lets anyone with a Palm Treo or a Windows Mobile handset access their playlists or individual songs while on the go.

You don't get full access to your library (which would be nice), but it's incredibly simple to start listening to a playlist. Just login to the mobile version of the site, plug in your login credentials, and see all your playlists on one page. To get going, just click the "Listen" link, and your music starts playing in whatever order you've set for the playlist. I also managed to download individual song files to my phone from each of my playlists when going through Internet Explorer mobile and visiting each playlist's "info" section. Media Master recommends installing Green Software's GSPlayer to stream the music files; otherwise IE simply doesn't know what to do with the URLs. Palm Treo users get a slightly better end of the deal, as Palm's browser recognizes the URLs and will start streaming right away.

This is a good first effort from MediaMaster, although without the GSPlayer on Windows Mobile handsets, it's not nearly as friendly on the eyes as solutions from Orb, or some of the file-sharing services that offer mobile access for media files (e.g. Box.net). I also don't see much merit in accessing music files on your phone unless you're in a pinch, or have a phone with a 3.5mm headphone jack. Considering most handsets running Palm and Windows Mobile likely didn't come with these jacks until recently, owners of older models are stuck listening through the built-in speaker or carrying special 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter to get their music on without perturbing others.