MOG offered me a free trial to its subscription-based streaming music service, MOG All Access, which launched on Tuesday. The service costs five bucks a month, and gives you unlimited on-demand streams of more than six million songs from all four major labels and plenty of indies. The site is trying to differentiate itself from competitors like Rhapsody and Napster with high-quality streams--all songs are 320kbps MP3s--and some fairly sophisticated music discovery features, like playlists posted by musicians (David Byrne got the featured spot on the day of launch) and other fans with similar tastes to yours ("Moggers like me").
(Credit:
Screenshot)
I've been sampling the service for about an hour, and I do appreciate the sound quality (although better volume-leveling between songs would be nice) and recommendation services. And I'd like to thank the designers personally for the ability to add any song to the already-playing queue--a feature I love on Grooveshark and my Zune HD and that I always miss whenever I use one of my iPods. But there's one big problem: song selection.
Because MOG is licensing content directly from copyright owners, there are big gaps from artists who simply don't want to participate in online music. The usual suspects like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles are mostly missing in action. There are also strange gaps elsewhere. For instance, half the songs on the Pixies' "Surfer Rosa" are unplayable. Compared with Grooveshark, which relies on user-posted content, MOG has too many holes. And of course, Grooveshark remains free (although a $3/month subscription gets you a version without advertisements).
Song selection could improve over time as MOG signs more licensing deals, but I found some other related glitches as well. For instance, '70s folk artist Roy Harper, whom I often use as a test case to see how well an online service does with relatively obscure old content, has almost no playable content, but does offer a nice list of albums with links to Amazon. The only problem: when you follow the Amazon link on unplayable songs, it takes you to the Amazon Music front door--most of his songs aren't available for download there, either.
In its demonstration video, MOG touts its online radio service as a unique feature. When you're playing a particular artist, a slider lets you control how much variety you want, from "play only songs by this artist" all the way up to "play mostly songs from similar artists." It could use some fine-tuning, however. When I started a queue with a Modest Mouse song, it used Modest Mouse as the basis for its selection. Fair enough, but when I added songs by Talking Heads and Public Image Limited, the radio algorithm didn't account for those artists. It simply switched my radio playlist completely when the new songs started playing, showing all Talking Heads songs, all PIL songs, and so on. Pandora and Slacker do a much better job of creating custom stations based on multiple artists. (Although, of course, those services don't let you play individual songs on demand.)
Finally, as I wrote last week, I still think MOG's lack of mobile support is a fatal flaw, but one that could be easily remedied: Apple's approved iPhone clients for subscription services Rhapsody and Spotify, so why not MOG?
All of these flaws can be fixed, although licensing content takes time and convincing. I'm a big fan of competition, though, and MOG takes many of the best features of a lot of other services, combines them in one place, and improves on some of them. For that, the company should be commended.
Rhapsody, the subscription music service owned by RealNetworks, has teamed up with music blog network and social networking site Mog.com to provide, well, music.
Through this partnership, songs mentioned on Mog's blogs are accompanied by a yellow "play" button that allows users to access the full-length streaming file through Rhapsody, which offers a total of about 4.5 million independent and major-label songs in its catalog. "We couldn't be more excited to have Rhapsody enabling music listening on MOG," Mog founder and CEO David Hyman said in a joint press release. "With today's release, MOG has put more key pieces in place towards its goal of building the ultimate online music community."
Rhapsody's full-length song playback is also now integrated into Mog's "Mog-o-Matic" downloadable music discovery software, creating playlists of recommended music based on what you play on your computer or portable music player. It's social, too--you can listen to not only your playlist, but also those created by members of your friends' list on Mog. In addition, Mog users can create custom playlists of Rhapsody songs, much like Imeem's streaming lineups.
New versions of Mog-o-Matic have been released in conjunction for both the Mac and Windows operating systems; the company touts them as faster, more efficient, and more stable. At the same time, Mog has souped up its music search feature, redesigned its artist and album pages, and tweaked its page layout.
But don't hold your breath--this Rhapsody-Mog deal isn't free. Mog members can access the Rhapsody streaming songs for a 14-day free trial, after which point they have to sign up for Rhapsody's subscription service ($12.99 per month) or a 25-songs-per-month deal.
Rhapsody's subscription-based music service has, thus far, proven unable to compete with Apple's ubiquitous iTunes. As a result, the RealNetworks-owned service has attempted to compete by forging partnerships across the digital-media landscape: an impending music store deal with MTV Networks and an appearance on TiVo set-top boxes, for example.
Unfortunately for Rhapsody, it still hasn't been able to create much of a dent in the iTunes arsenal. Nevertheless, the deals keep rolling in.
Yesterday MyStrands, the music discovery service/social network launched MyStrands.TV, a new offering that serves up music videos related to your tastes. If you've ever used Last.fm, the idea is similar--just type in an artist name and you'll get a playlist full of their videos, along with several recommendations for similar artists or genres. The service keeps track of which videos you've watched, and shows you a listing of members who have added that artist to their own playlists. There's also a social element with user pages full of custom band picks you can share with friends, and other MyStrands users.
What makes MyStrands.tv jump out is its simplicity. The focus is entirely on the videos, and the UI is pleasingly intuitive. You can tweak little things like whether or not you want just your artist to play, or for MyStrands to pick from other artists to surprise you. There are also simple StumbleUpon-like navigation controls to give whatever video you're watching the thumbs up or thumbs down, which will affect future recommendations.
The service supports itself with ads, which lay unobtrusively on the side of the page. They're contextual based on the artists and songs on the page, so if you like what you hear, there are links to buy the album on Amazon.com. The videos come from YouTube, so clicking on any of them will take you to the video's page on the service.
Altogether MyStrands.tv is a dead-simple way to explore music videos and get introduced to new bands. Although since it's video-only, you're missing out on some of the goodness that comes your way with the less popular indie bands that find their way into services like Pandora and Last.fm.
Like K-Fed? Well, if you did, MyStrands.TV could tell you some other artists you'd like, too.
(Credit: CNET Networks)This morning's presenters on music at today's Under the Radar conference are probably one of the most interesting groups. A few months ago, it would have been just another pitch session, but in light of radio silence day just a few days ago, music on the internet is a big deal--especially what happens to it when RIAA royalty rate increases go into effect next month.
We've covered Mog before, as well as one of its latest offerings, MogTV.
Stay tuned for more Under the Radar coverage. Coming up later today we'll have presentations on games, power tools, virtual worlds, and internet TV. To see all the Under the Radar posts from today, just bookmark this link.. You can also check out our live Webcam feed.
With this morning's news of Last.fm launching a video service, we thought it would be worth mentioning a few resources that are out there for finding free music videos.
Related: MogTV, which launched in March [coverage here], uses Mog's recommendation tool to scan your computer's music library and serve up YouTube music videos it thinks you might like.
Have any other services you use, or would recommend? Let us know in the TalkBack.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Mog, the music recommendation tool and social network left beta this morning and launched a new video channel called Mog TV. The video service scans your music library and offers YouTube music videos that it thinks you'll like. There's also a kitschy feature called "The Magic Button" that can randomly bring up content related to your musical tastes. The button has been placed site-wide, and can be found on user profiles, Mog TV, and artist pages. The only bummer here is the need to install the Mog-o-matic software on your machine for access to personalized recommendations, although Download.com's Peter Butler thought it was worth it in his original hands-on--despite the potential concerns outlined in the software's privacy policy.
Installing the Mog-o-matic software is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's yet another application running in your system tray. On the other, you can upload your listening habits and tastes without any additional work or need to replace your current jukebox solution. We'd like to see these types of services move toward a Web-based process that scans your music library's database files and updates without the need for software. Although if you're concerned about personal privacy, this isn't likely to sound appealing either.
On a side-note, Mog's servers seem to be getting slammed at the moment, so expect some slowness while browsing the new features.
Related: StumbleUpon's music channel, iLike.
My Mog features a Coop skin and a flying squirrel.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The social-networking/music-recommendation site Mog.com offers a Friendster-like network for connecting "Moggers," an old-school collective blogging system that puts every contributing member in the spotlight, albeit briefly, and a downloadable component that automatically updates your Mog page with your current tunes. The fun and easy method of sharing musical favorites and recommending new gems has already developed a well-informed and well-behaved user base that even includes a few indie superstars.
Mog.com launched back in June 2006 and has attracted an interesting assortment of professional rockers. Among the semifamous musicians with their own Mog pages are Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service, indie rockers Deerhoof, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, former Minutemen cofounder Mike Watt, Portastatic (a.k.a. Mac McCaughan of Superchunk), and Tom Gray of Gomez. As I check out Mog.com right now, there's a post by Brian Vander Ark of the Verve Pipe on the main page. Of course, we've all seen spoofed accounts on Friendster, but these posts and pictures seem authentic enough.
The Mog-o-matic.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Aside from the standard social-networking features you'd expect such as multiple photos, personal descriptions, and connections (called "My Trusted Mogs"), the most important part of the service is the dynamic content piped in automatically from the Mog-o-matic, a downloadable client that syncs your local music with your Mog page. You choose which files you'd like to include in your digital-music library, and then the Mog-o-matic, when running, will update the stats on your Mog page.
Users concerned with privacy are definitely wise to question whether a third party should have access to info about your personal music files, and everyone even considering using the service should first read Mog's entire privacy policy. Most importantly, you should note this section about the Mog-o-matic:
MOG uses technology that provides you with the ability to show others your musical collection and your musical listening habits. MOG-O-MATIC retrieves this contextual information and stores a Title Unique Identifier ("TUID") on your computer. The TUID allows MOG-O-MATIC to retrieve this information efficiently. Data regarding the specific content you are playing is retained until you have removed your MOG account. You have the option to turn this feature off by right clicking on the MOG icon in your system tray on a PC or via System Preferences on your Mac. MOG-O-MATIC data is collected to serve targeted advertising to you. [Emphasis mine.]
So, no, the people at Mog.com aren't likely running this service simply out of the goodness of their hearts. The primary purpose seems to be gathering marketing data. The Mog-o-matic made it simple for me to specify which files I wanted to "Mogify," but it also seems to automatically scan my entire "iTunes library" every time it starts up.
The site lacks the streaming-music picks of the slick Pandora player or even the more complex recommendation features of last.fm, but what it does offer is compatibility with numerous media players, including my favorite Quintessential Player. The Mog page itself is limited to a standard three-column layout, and you can drop and drag most of your widgets wherever you'd like. The service uses ID3 tags and the Gracenote database to identify the songs in your personal library and offer a 30-second sample that's immediately playable from the Web site, which is a welcome feature when stumbling upon unfamiliar artists. When applicable, there are also links to music videos.
The privacy issues around sharing any local file information are likely to keep Mog-o-matic from widespread use, but that could be a blessing in disguise for the community. Privacy issues aside, the Mog.com service is addictively fun, and the Moggers themselves are intelligent and communicative...so far. Blog posts range from insightful industry observations and heartfelt raves to self-centered babble, but a Digg-like voting system in the "Mog-o-sphere" assures that the best posts will usually get noticed. My personalized music recommendations via "Mogs Like Me" have been decent. However, I'm baffled how anyone could suggest Stevie Ray Vaughan to me with a straight face.
- prev
- 1
- next
