If you can’t decide between Internet radio and on-demand streaming, Rdio’s $4 per month plan will give you a bit of both.
The new “Rdio Select” plan is like a cross between the premium plans offered by Pandora and Spotify, combining ad-free Internet radio with a handful of on-demand tracks for offline listening.
Similar to Pandora, users can create radio stations based on artists, songs, genres, and other factors. There’s also a “You FM” station that rolls up all your listening habits into one personalized playlist. It’s helpful for the extremely indecisive.
On-demand listening is capped at 25 songs, which can play offline on phones and tablets. (Offline support for Roku, Chromecast, and Sonos is also coming soon.) Users can swap out those songs for up to 25 new ones on a daily basis, and Rdio says it will offer 10-track playlists curated by artists and tastemakers to help get people started.
The new plan is available now, and appears to replace the “Rdio Web” plan that offered ad-free, on-demand listening on desktop browsers. (Existing subscribers will be grandfathered in.) Rdio’s free service remains unchanged, with ad-supported on-demand songs on the web, and radio stations on mobile devices. Rdio’s $10 per month unlimited streaming plan is sticking around as well.
Why this matters: Rdio Select isn’t the only streaming plan that’s cheaper than $10 per month. Pandora’s own ad-free service costs $5 per month, and Slacker offers a $4 per month ad-free radio service with offline stations. But Rdio’s plan is the only one that adds on-demand songs (albeit a limited number), and its audio quality of 320 kbps is better than than its rivals. It’s worth considering if you’ve thought about an on-demand subscription but don’t want to go all-in.