Personalized internet radio service MixRadio is now available on Android and iOS. The service which has been synonymous with Microsoft having been dominant on Windows Phone as an exclusive from the days when it was owned by Nokia is now looking to court users of two of the world’s most dominant mobile platforms.
MixRadio boasts of over 35 million songs and 10,000+ pre-made playlists and is available in 31 countries. You’ll need to use a VPN in order to access it outside those countries. Just like we do other streaming services we can’t access locally like Spotify. On mobile there can be workarounds but that is too much work. You’re better off using alternatives if you’re in regions like East Africa where I am.
The MixRadio service is free as the ads in the application are the main revenue generators unlike competitors like Spotify where one can pay to remove ads and access other perks like the ability to save songs for offline listening. Tidal, the new entertainment streaming service backed by Jay Z and fellow music stars does not even have a free subscription for sampling the music before paying for it. As is Beats which is said to be in line for a big refresh as Apple negotiates with music distributors to provide exclusive content on the service.
I had to battle device compatibility issues and was never able to download the application on any of my devices and had to sideload only to be rudely notified that the service is not available my “territory”. Bummer. There are quite a number of local apps you can turn to like Waabeh or Mziiki.
