Rdio redesigns site, looks a heck of a lot like iTunes

Popular streaming-music site Rdio has launched a new redesign that clearly takes a ton of cues from iTunes, the company announced today on its blog.

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“Change is good,” the company wrote on its blog. “Which is why we’re pleased to share that starting today, the new Rdio is available to all. We’ve taken everything that already makes Rdio the best way to discover and listen to music and redesigned it to be even faster, simpler and more social.”

While Rdio has not attracted as much attention as Spotify in recent months, it still has quite a few fans. The company continues to battle it out with MOG, Rhapsody, and a host of other streaming radio services. Rdio gives listeners a limited amount of free use or you can listen to unlimited music for $5-to-$10 per month depending on whether you want mobile app access.

Just looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the new design takes a healthy amount of influence from Apple’s ubiquitous iTunes player. The left-hand bar features playlists and navigation and the center shows songs and albums. The right-hand bar, with social activity and connections, appears to borrow from streaming music competitor Spotify. Unlike iTunes, which is steeped in years of minor tweaks and updates, Rdio’s web-based player is probably much faster for many users.

Compare that to the old, more colorful Rdio, below.

Here’s Rdio’s list of new features:

• A new look and feel — More than just a boring spreadsheet of songs, new Rdio puts music and people front and center.
• All in one place — Spend less time navigating. Music, playlists and your network are in one view.
• Add entire albums to playlists — One of Rdio’s most-requested features is now a reality.
• Browse even faster — Find music at lightning speed because pages remember your place. Browse a continuous stream of albums, explore one and easily return to the place you left off.
• Listen with your network — From the People Sidebar, see what your network is listening to in real-time and listen along with one-click.
• Let your network inspire your listening — Wondering if you’ll like an album in the charts or why it appeared in your Heavy Rotation? Under every album, hover over photos to see exactly who listened to it.
• Sharing made simple — Drag and drop music into playlists or collection and share with others on Rdio without missing a beat. Music can also be shared on Facebook, Twitter or via email.
• Create private playlists – In addition to public and collaborative playlists, now private playlists can be created and shared with just a select few.
• Easily discover people to follow — Check out Rdio’s latest music influencers in the People Sidebar and find others to follow such as artists, critics, record labels and brands.

You can watch Rdio’s redesign introduction video below for more details.

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