Launched in August 2010 by the founders of Skype, Rdio (pronounced ar-DEE-oh) is one of the most popular streaming music applications available today. RDIO enables its user to play their own music collection, which can be duplicated from your own existing iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries. As a streaming music service, which means users do not need to download files to listen to the music, RDIO maintains a collection of over 18 million songs. RDIO allows users to share their musical tastes through a variety of social networks, but unlike other popular streaming music players like Spotify, they do not require their users to link their accounts with Facebook. Users are encouraged to follow each other to broaden their musical horizons, including access to listening histories and profiles.

To get started with Rdio, simply open up the app. You are first presented with a heavy rotation selection. These are albums that Rdio thinks you will like based on how often they are played, and on your likes and follows. A search bar in the top left allows users to search for music by anything: song title, artist, album, genre, etc. Categories to browse through include recent activity, top charts