Review - MySpace Music

Finally, MySpace does something right.

The social networking service (and so much more, maybe too much) recently re-launched the music portion of its site. The big news is that all the major labels signed a deal with the new MySpace Music service, allowing free streaming of the majority of artists' catalogs.

The service still works much like the old version of the music portion of MySpace. Artists have their own customizable pages where you'll find a music player featuring their songs. In the past, artists would upload anywhere from one to several songs, usually from their latest release. That hasn't changed, although the music player has a fresh new look. One great new feature is the designation of "Official Profiles." No more wondering whether a profile is run by the artist/management - MySpace tells you which profiles are legitimate.

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of playlists. MySpace users can create multiple playlists from the tracks available on the service. Instead of the old single-song profile player, users can now feature up to ten songs on their profiles. I think that is very reasonable. Adding songs to your profile is easier than ever. Next to each song on the new Music service is an 'add' icon (+). Clicking the icon launches a box where the user can add the song to any playlist. Unlike the old way, you are not brought to a new window to confirm the song add. You stay on the same page you were looking at.

Managing the playlists is also very easy. The main MySpace Music page has a link for "My Music." This is where you can view, edit and create your playlists. When you click the "Play" icon on any song, a new window is launched which will play the selected song. I'm on DSL and I haven't had too many problems with playing anything. The controls are fairly simple - you can only pause a song, not stop it completely.

The record labels are continuing to add songs to the service. In most cases, the songs are full-length. Searching for artists from the top search bar works the same as usual (and can now be filtered for artist name, album name or song title), but there's a better way. "My Music" allows you to browse and search. Plug in the name of an artists, and all that artists' songs on MySpace Music will be listed. You can add and listen right from the search results. This also works for song titles. The long process of searching various profiles for a particular song has ended.

I hope MySpace will continue to improve their music service. I also hope the labels will continue to add songs. I hope the indie labels will be allowed to participate. MySpace Music currently tops Last.fm in the free music streaming game. The search is better, the user experience is simpler, and there is no limit to the number of times you can listen to anything.

I'm very, very impressed. MySpace has solidified its position as the place on the internet for music.