In the past we’ve gone over streaming music applications for Android. Most recently it was Rdio, a service that not only streams music right to your device, but syncs with your iTunes, allowing you to easily play the songs you already own. Those songs can be cached, too, so you can play them while you’re out of signal range. For the tracks you don’t own, though, it appears that you can’t do much if you don’t have a signal. I hope this is one of the aspects that Google’s upcoming music service corrects. Caching is huge, especially for city and country folk, since there are many areas with weak or no signal.

Mog, another streaming music service, has gotten rave reviews from many outlets, including TechCrunch. They recently released an Android app, and it beats Rdio in a number of ways. First is its library, which measures 8 million songs. That’s right around what we see from major music providers Rhapsody and Napster, so you can expect to find most of what you’re looking for on Mog. Second, it allows you to download songs and store them locally. You’ll lose them, of course, if you cancel your subscription, but while you subscribe this is a wonderful feature. The downloaded versions default at 64Kbps for faster transfers, but you can get the files in up to 320Kbps (which, any audiophile will tell you, is the only acceptable bitrate for MP3 files).

Like Rdio, Mog costs $10 per month. At this point I’d have to say that the cost is much more justifiable. The streaming — including custom radio stations — plus download features, in addition to the larger selection of songs, makes this a value. You can sign up at Mog.com. If you’re undecided, that’s fine; they offer a free three-day trial, and you don’t even need a credit card to get it. Look for a full review sometime soon.

Mog’s Android app presents quality subscription music option

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One of the reasons that the Android Market has flourished to this point is because of its free applications. We learned a few weeks ago that The Market had 70,000 apps, and we know that 57 percent of them are free. That means, as of two weeks ago, there are just shy of 40,000 free apps in the Market. This certainly makes the platform more accessible, and keeping up the ratio of free to paid apps is probably good for its long-term health. But easier access to free applications can only help.

The only downside of carrier billing is the ease with which you can purchase applications. Of course, that’s also the upside. If you’re paying with a credit card via Google Checkout, you have to go through a few steps before you can complete the transaction and download the app. During that short interval you might have second thoughts and spend your money elsewhere. With carrier billing not only can you purchase applications with just a click, but you don’t even see a record of that purchase until you get your bill. That might create some end-of-month sadness.

Still, regardless of impulses this is a net positive for the Android platform. The expansion of carrier billing will make it easier for users to download premium apps, and presumably we’ll see an uptick in the number of downloaded apps. That could encourage developers who previously avoided the Android platform to start developing for it. So we get more free and paid apps, which are easier to download. All of this leads to a more robust market, filled with high quality applications of both the free and premium persuasion.

While carrier billing won’t be immediately instated, we should see something in about a month or so. By that time we’ll have the Motorola Droid 2, among other exciting, new Android releases, so the time will be even riper for an expanded market.

Via Talk Android.

Carrier billing coming soon to Android Market

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Reading on my Android has become one of the greatest features of the device. I’m actually working up a nice, long series about the pleasures of reading on the Nexus One, and I’m glad that Barnes & Noble released their Nook application before I finished it. The article figures to be a multi-parter, but I wanted to get the Nook application in there on the first shot. It’s that good a reading app.

What makes the Nook different than other e-readers? What stands out to me is its usability right after download. I didn’t have to change the font or anything before I dove into a sample reading of Jane Austen’s Price and Prejudice — which is a much more enjoyable read right now, I might add, than it was in high school. You can easily change the font if you want, and there are eight font faces and five font sizes from which to choose. It defaults at Amasis and the fourth-largest. That was nice, but I found reading comfortable enough at the second-smallest level as well.

Scrolling is nice and easy. Just flip your thumb (or finger) to the left to advance a page, or to the right to go back. If you move slowly the application actually has a page-turning animation, where you can preview the text on the next page, as if it were a real book. That is, a real book that is printed on only one side. You can also tap the screen to reveal a scroll bar, great for when you’re jumping around. If you know the chapter number you seek, you can pull up the menu and click GoTo.

Reading a book with your Nook desktop app and also on your Android phone? You can sync accounts so your bookmarks match up. This will also sync with your Nook reader, if you have one and also have an internet connection handy.

In terms of straight reading, I obviously love this app. I would, however, like to see two improvements in a future version:

1. Annotation. I highlight books and write in the margins. I know that the desktop Nook app allows you to highlight and take notes. Adding this to the Android version would put it over the top.

2. Sharing. Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary endeavor. My girlfriend and I always share books we read. She’s the one who turned me on to Nook in general, and I’d like to be able to share what I’m reading with her, right from the app.

Neither of these seems tough to implement. Now that B&N has the app out for Android, I suspect we’ll see improvements in the future if it becomes a popular app. Considering that it accomplishes its main task as a reader masterfully, I think it will.

I’m loving the Barnes & Noble Book app for Android

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That’s not to say that he’s wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the best approach from a public relations standpoint, but if Jobs’s point is that other handsets can also lose reception when in a death grip, well, he’s at least partly right. The bigger issues, however, is that many smartphones contain flaws that make it all the way to the production models. We want our devices to be perfect, sure, but oftentimes they’re never quite what we envisioned.

Take this story that ran this week on Engadget. Apparently some Droid X users are experiencing “serious graphical or possibly electrical problems with the handset’s giant screen.” That seems like quite a bigger issue than losing reception when gripping the phone a certain way, no? The difference, of course, is that Verizon and Motorola played it straight with consumers. They did downplay how widespread the issue was — one-tenth of one percent of handsets, almost all in the launch-day batch — but they did take immediate action. Their joint statement:

Verizon Wireless and Motorola are aware of a very small number of DROID X units that have experienced a flickering or banding display. Motorola has resolved the issue and is continuing to ship the phones. Any consumer who experiences a flickering or banding display should contact a Motorola customer support center or Verizon Wireless.

Of course, it was easier for Motorola and Verizon to address this issue quickly and directly than it was for Apple. For starters, the Droid X wasn’t expected to sell nearly as well as the iPhone. Second, the problem is far more concrete, and directly affect’s the main functions of the handset. It’s tough to do much without a screen. Still, I’m sure many Droid X users are having other issues with the handset, just like I’m sure are people using all sorts of smartphones.

Hell, I’m having plenty of issues with my Nexus One. Just last week I had to pull the battery four times in about 20 minutes because the screen kept freezing. This happens every once in a while. I know a number of people have had power button issues, but that hasn’t been the case for me. Sometimes I’ll press the power button to light up the screen and it will not respond, but that gets fixed with a battery pull. It’s a pain, but I understand that these devices are not perfect.

Companies, both handset manufacturers and wireless carriers, are under plenty of pressure to roll out new devices and software to sate a hungry market. This means that devices often come out before they’re 100 percent ready for the show. We’re going to have to deal with issues like the iPhone’s antenna and the Droid X’s screen now and in the future. It’s the unintended consequence of expedited releases. The difference, though, will be in how the companies respond. If they handle the issue more like Verizon and Motorola we will be in good shape. If they act like Apple, well, right or wrong they’re not going to be the most popular handsets on the block.

The phones have issues

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The outfit, powered by the founders of Kazaa and Joost founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, moves in a direction we’ve seen many companies take. Instead of providing music on a per-song basis, they’re providing a cloud-based streaming experience that allows users to access not only their own music, but additional millions of songs. These aren’t yours to own, but rather options that you can stream at any time. This, I think, is the way many services, perhaps even iTunes, will go.

The streaming service certainly has value of its own. You can use it right from your desktop, or you can take it on the road with the Android app. Rdio syncs with your iTunes library, so you can easily stream the songs you already own. Then you can search out new music, both on your own and by seeing what your friends are listening to. This, I think, is worth a subscription. I’m inclined to agree with Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch when he says that the $10 mobile subscription price point is a bit high. You’re not getting any actual music, just the means to listen to and discover music.

Again, that’s worth something. If it were $5, and therefor $30 per year, I could see the value. I say this because the app not only provides some level of value on its own, but is designed to get people to actually buy the tracks. Remember, the songs in the cloud are available to you only when you’re within reasonable cell range. Go underground on the subway or fall out of range and the app becomes temporarily useless. If you buy the tracks, priced at $0.99 to $1.29, you can then listen to them anywhere, even if it’s not on your Android device.

The idea, I think, is to build up a catalog similar to that of Rhapsody and Napster. Rdio falls short of that right now, with only 2 million songs available. But as they grow they’ll add more songs. Perhaps they think that it’s worth the $10 per month for the streaming package once they build up the library. Again, I disagree. Keeping the streaming cost low will encourage more people to sign up. The more people who are signed up the more potential track sales they have.

Rdio is not available to the public now, but it is in a private beta. TechCrunch still has some invites, which you can get here. It’s definitely worth the look if you’re willing to slap down the $10 per month. If not, maybe you’d best be waiting for a price drop. I really think it will ultimately benefit all parties.

Rdio on the right track with cloud-based music app

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