8tracks Radio Review

I have no idea how the licencing works for 8tracks Radio but while it gives me a never-ending stream of playlists to work through, capturing plenty of great musical tracks and memories, I don't much mind. That sounds like Spotify, right? The "catch" here is that 8tracks doesn't even require users to listen to audio ads in between tracks.

Offering over 600,000 "mix tapes," there's pretty much something for everyone. It was just as easy for me to find the Lost in Translation movie soundtrack, as it was to find Ray Charles and Nat King Cole. Don't worry, modern music fans, there's plenty of that too.

It's simple to browse through what's on offer: tags make it a breeze to find something of interest. It all streams through quickly and I hardly noticed any buffering or slowdown. There are restrictions placed on how many tracks can be skipped in a set period of time, but that's a small price to pay for such variety. The creators of such playlists can add an attractive album cover to lure listeners in, plus it shows up once the iPhone has been locked. Such "DJs" can be followed through the app, with users learning a little more about them as well as tracking any future playlists they might create. I discovered some music I didn't anticipate I'd enjoy, through such means.

Creating a new playlist is a slight nuisance as it's not possible to do it through the app. Users have to go to the 8tracks.com website. I'd appreciate the ability to do it through the app in a future update.

That's a relatively minor quibble, however, for those who just want to consume music. 8tracks Radio is a very inexpensive and high quality way of doing it.