Online music service Rdio today announced plans to totally revamp its interface and add much-requested features like drag-and-drop playlist creation and private playlists.
"We basically took Rdio apart and put it back together," Malthe Sigurdsson, vice president of product design, said today during a launch event at SXSW.
The idea, execs said, was to make Rdio faster, simpler, and more social.
At this point, the Rdio update is only available for those with Web or Unlimited Rdio subscriptions. To access, click on the drop-down menu under your name and choose "Try New Rdio."
"New Rdio will be available in the near future to everyone else with an account, like those using Rdio free," the company said.
Sigurdsson said Rdio wanted to avoid presenting its 15 million songs in a spreadsheet-like fashion. "We want big, beautiful album artwork [and are] willing to spend time and money and effort on that."
As a result, the new Rdio "puts music and people front and center," the company said in a blog post. Music, playlist, and your social network links are all in one place, allowing you to spend more time listening and less time navigating.
In addition to style updates, the new Rdio adds some new features, including the ability to add entire albums to playlists, which Rdio said was one of its "most-requested features." Similarly, the update allows for private playlists, in case you don't want everyone sharing in your favorite tunes.
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For faster playlist creation, meanwhile, users can now drag and drop favorite songs and albums, and share them on social networks.
Also on the social front, the new Rdio provides links to friends. "From the People Sidebar, see what your network is listening to in real-time and listen along with one-click," Rdio said.
If you're not sure if you'll like something, meanwhile, hover over an album and Rdio will tell you which of your friends has listened to that selection.
"We don't think that machines can do it alone," Sigurdsson said about music discovery. "Machines are a nice help, but they can't do it alone. No matter how good they get, they still don't have taste."
The new Rdio means "real people, enjoying music together, the way we still do in real life today and have done for a long time," he continued. "We want to enable that and empower that and make that even better and more powerful."
The update comes one day after rival Spotify, meanwhile, expanded into Germany, where Rdio launched in January.
For more from SXSW, see PCMag's slideshow.