Twitter Unveils New #Music App For iPhone And Web

Twitter has officially the launched the much anticipated 'Twitter #Music,' its new music discovery and streaming app.  This new service pulls trending data from both your followers and the wider community to make tailored music recommendations to you.  Currently available on iOS or through the browser at music.twitter.com, it is currently not available for Android.

From the moment you engage with the service it is clear that the Twitter Music is aiming for the mainstream first. Using the music service is easy, music is sorted into ‘Popular’, ‘Emerging’, Suggested’, ‘#NowPlaying’ and ‘Me’.

Twitter Music pulls no punches, offering the latest full music tracks is going to entice users, possibly by the hundreds of thousands. The service, officially launched this morning, is suffering from teething issues, as shown below. However, this is the only noticeable issue with the Twitter Music service thus far.

Playing music on Twitter Music is easy. Well, yeah.. you’d expect that right? When playing PSY’s latest hit ‘Gentlemen’, a small launcher appears towards the bottom of the screen allowing you to change, skip, rewind, etc. It’s very reminiscent of the old Windows Media Player, but cool.

Twitter Music offers a plethora of musical tracks through pulling in music from the major big-hitters within the online music streaming world, including Spotify and Rdio. The tiled layout makes it easy to identify with your favourite music, and sharing the music you’re listening to is easier than ever.

My main issue with Twitter Music is the ‘#nowplaying’ category. Connecting with friends and bonding over music is ace but tweeting every sing you’re listening too is going to get you placed into the list. Yes, the list. The place for all those we can’t bring ourselves to un-follow.

Will Twitter bring an end to online piracy? Possibly. This does feel more like a music discovery service, rather than an actual free online streaming destination, so it will go someway to offering alternatives for those pesky online pirates.