Review: MyMusicCloud for BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook

I love to have music wherever I go; you never know when it will come in handy. Does this mean that I load up every single song that I have in my library onto my BlackBerry smartphone? No. Depending on how many songs you have, you could be eating into precious memory that your videos, images and other files already struggle for. Now true, there are slough of radio streaming applications you can tap into, but they too have their limitations. No matter how many settings and preferences you are given, you are still not in full control of what you are listening to. Using BlackBerry Desktop Software and WiFi Music sync puts the power of streaming your own music in your hands…until you disconnect from your wireless network. In order for WiFi Music Sync to work, your computer and your BlackBerry smartphone must be connected to the same network. On top of that, WiFi Music Sync doesn’t even work with your BlackBerry PlayBook. So what happens when you want to stream music wherever you happen to find yourself? Enter: MyMusicCloud.

About MyMusicCloud

MyMusicCloud is a online music services geared towrds connect users with their music over various platforms simultaneously. The service is powered by TriPlay who annouced MyMusicCloud on September 14th, 2011. MyMusic Cloud for BlackBerry smartphones requires you to be running OS 5.0 or higher. It currently is in version 1.6.3 and has a file size of 1.6MB - obviously not including content. The BlackBerry PlayBook version is a web based application, with a file size of only 297KB.

Cost: Free, also receive a free 2GB account. For additional storage, see prices below.

Rating of BlackBerry smartphone app in BlackBerry App World: Not yet rated

Rating BlackBerry PlayBook app in BlackBerry App World: 2/5

What users can do with MyMusicCloud is sync with their iTunes and other media players, with their BlackBerry smartphones. Actually, you can stream your music with multiple devices, you know, just in case you feel like using something not related to BlackBerry (but, why the heck would you do that?). The site says you can sync two computers and two mobile devices. That makes it incredibly easy to share your music library, as you could give your trusted friends your account information.

You aren’t able to upload music from your BlackBerry smartphone, so you need to set everything up prior to taking your music with you. The process is fairly easy; you can either upload music via their site or their Desktop Sync Agent. Most of the magic happens through the website actually, rather than with the BlackBerry smartphone app. The product description in BlackBerry App World makes it seem as though you can create ringtones from your smartphone, which definitely isn’t the case. You can only access the ones you have made online.

Here’s what you can do from your BlackBerry smartphone. The main menu of MyMusicCloud resembles the native Music menu; you can search music by genre, album and artist, as well as view playlists and the entire track listing. You can add/remove music to/from the queue or adjust the volume. When listening to music, you can view associated artist/album art, track title and the name of the artist/album. A progress bar is visible below, as well. Now I did find the controls to be a bit awkward with MyMusicCloud- very laggy as well. When pressing pause/play, or “restart” button, I discovered the app would either not respond to commands or would finally decide to execute them 6 to 10 seconds later. The music playback quality was, however, excellent.

Some of you might frown upon the lack of functionality around the BlackBerry smartphone app. Check this out; your BlackBerry PlayBook can get into the fun as well by accessing your account via the browser. This means that you can gain even more options that MyMusicCloud has to offer. Yes, that includes creating ringtones and accessing the Music Store; where you can purchase albums or tracks from within your dashboard. That’s over 11 million songs to choose from. Keep in mind that the store is only available in Canada, the U.S. or the U.K. You can also share your music preferences via Facebook (share album art and links to allow friends to sample, download or purchase tracks) and look up lyrics for the track you are listening to.

MyMusicCloud offers everyone a 2GB account for free. Want access to even more songs? They also provide premium accounts where you get:

5GB for $10/year

10GB for $20/year

20GB for $40/year

MyMusicCloud offers support for both online and offline support. The application will continue to make already downloaded music available for your listening enjoyment. Oh and the application also supports videos, as well.

Conclusion

If the playback controls could be more responsive, we would have an outstanding hit on our hands. Having access to a full bodied suite of options from the BlackBerry PlayBook is a saving grace, if you actually own one. You can look at it like this; once you set up your account, you have a lightweight, simplistic access point to your music AND newly created ringtones! Remember that, if you want to check out MyMusicCloud, you have a free 2GB account to mess around with. You can grab the BlackBerry smartphone app, and the BlackBerry PlayBook webapp, for free from BlackBerry App World.

More information/download MyMusicCloud for BlackBerry smartphones
More information/download MyMusicCloud for the BlackBerry PlayBook
Check out the MyMusicCloud site