Skip to main content

Hands on: Songdrop knows you’ve been listening to music for free and wants to help

Screen shot 2013-03-04 at 5.25.43 PM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For all the crap people generally give the music industry – usually rightfully so – it has done a decent job of adjusting to a new landscape over the years. Artists have embraced new means of distributing their music, a change ushered in heavily due to the popularity of the iPod and iTunes. The industry is at a point where you can pay a monthly flat fee and stream all the music you want without having to buy albums or download and upload songs between multiple devices. And yet the majority of us still have YouTube playlists of music we like to listen to reguarly. We have those playlists for two reasons: It’s easy and it’s free. The folks at Songdrop are onto that game. In fact, they want to make it easier.

Screen shot 2013-03-04 at 4.59.38 PM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The concept of Songdrop is simple and not altogether unique. It’s essentially a bookmarking site for music with the added bonus of allowing users to walk around the pay wall that accompanies most streaming services. You create playlists that consist of music you “drop” from various media sources like YouTube, Soundcloud, Vevo, and others. Those playlists live within your account so you can crank whatever fits the mood wherever you may be. That’s the theory of it, at least. We’ll get back to the execution.

Recommended Videos

One of the big selling points on streaming options like Spotify is the social aspect, a way to share tracks with friends who have similar taste or just show how much indie cred you have. SongDrop is no slouch when it comes to social, giving users standard Facebook connectivity, but also making it easy to share playlists and tracks via social networks. Adding another layer to the social aspect is the ability to follow both friends and artists. Following ‘friends’ gives access to their playlists and activity, and following ‘artists’ will let you know when someone has dropped a track of theirs so you can add it to one of your playlists.

Screen shot 2013-03-04 at 5.01.16 PMAll of this is great, so far. Easy access to music with no fee (for now), and a way to organize all the music that you’re using in a bunch of normally walled-off services is wonderful. But Songdrop struggles when it comes to actually using those playlists you put together while on the go. At the moment, it is a Web-only app. It works great in your standard browser on a computer and features a Google Chrome extension that makes adding music and tagging it correctly extremely easy. Playing music from your computer browser is also really well done, with a simple bar brought up to control the track. If there’s a video accompanying the music you can choose to watch it but the standard controls focus on the music.

The problem is that this cohesiveness breaks down when trying to access the site via mobile. Using Firefox and Dolphin on an Android phone, the website was glitchy and unresponsive. Adding music was essentially impossible as was playing already dropped music. Accessing playlists was doable, but we could never get to the page to play that music – it would constantly return to the playlists page. The site was also very touchy on the mobile Web browser and had some odd glitches while browsing. 

The glitches went away on a tablet-based browser as the site loaded and was easy to navigate in both Chrome and Dolphin on an iPad. Listening to music – the whole reason for visiting the site – still wasn’t working, though. Tracks appeared playable unlike on the phone browser, but the songs never loaded or played. This is a bit of a deal breaker for a service like this. Organizing music into playlists and being able to listen to them without having to deal with the blockade that is a pay wall is great, except that’s not the fun part. If you’re really neurotic and into putting things in cubbies or proper drawers, this is probably fine with you. But if you want to, you know, listen to music, this is going to need some work. 

We’d hate for personal experience to stop you from trying out Songdrop. The service is interesting and enticing. It seems like it has quite a bit of potential to give a functioning infrastructure to the scarcely regulated and freeform market of music posted on the internet. Songdrop realizes it’s all about the music and knows where people are going to get it, which is a great step in the right direction. It’s making that music accessible on the go where it’s currently struggling. The Songdrop team seems like it is intent on regularly making improvements and a recent round of funding should help with that. We’ll check back to see.

AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
Does the OnePlus 13 have wireless charging?
Renders of the OnePlus 13 in its three colors.

The OnePlus 13 is on its way to the global market. OnePlus already launched its latest smartphone in China on November 1 and announced its specs, including a beefy 6,000mAh battery and powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. Now, all we have to do is wait until we can confirm whether its ready to impress overseas customers. Of course, one of the most competitive specs is battery life and charging, which can be enough to turn customers away if they fall short of expectations.

The OnePlus 12 lasted well into two days and offered a variety of charging options, but what about its successor? That beefy 6,000mAh battery won't charge itself. Here's what you need to know about OnePlus 13 wireless charging and its other charging options.
Does the OnePlus 13 have wireless charging?

Read more
Does the OnePlus 13 have a headphone jack?
Official OnePlus 13 product renders showing rear panel colors.

Lucky number 13? For the new OnePlus flagship phone, it certainly seems that's the case. The OnePlus 13 debuted on October 13 with an array of scary-good specs for Android lovers. While it's not yet available in the West, it's well worth keeping an eye on, especially if you're looking to replace your current Android smartphone.

But with every new iteration of a popular branded piece of tech, even those that appear to tick every box you could possibly want (AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, affordable price), there are always questions to be asked about what other changes have been made to bring the new model in line with its competitors. And in the case of the OnePlus 13, an Android phone clearly in competition with heavy hitters like Samsung's lineup of Galaxy devices, it's important to know what's there or isn't there before purchasing. So the question is: Does the OnePlus 13 have a headphone jack?
The OnePlus 13 skips the headphone jack once more

Read more
Best phone deals: Save on the iPhone, Galaxy Z Fold 5, and more
Galaxy S22 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro cameras seen from the back.

Many of the best phones come in at prices most of us don’t want to shell out for. Keeping an eye on the best iPhone deals, best Samsung Galaxy S24 deals, best Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra deals, and best Google Pixel 8 deals is one way to track down some savings, or you can tune in right here, where we’ve rounded up all of the best phone deals from retailers and carriers across the internet. A couple of other ways to save on a new phone include checking out the best prepaid phone deals and by shopping the best cell phone plan deals. But read onward if you’re in search of the best phone deals available and you’ll find discounts on phones from Google, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Apple, and more.
Nokia C300 (Unlocked) — $120 $140 14% off

The Nokia name may trigger nostalgia for the early days of cell phones, but the Nokia C300 is as modern as it gets in an entry-level smartphone. It has an octa-core processor for better performance and multi-tasking, yet still manages to get up to two full days of battery life on a single charge. Its camera system is more on the entry-level end, but it still takes 13-megapixel pictures and has three lenses for different shooting scenarios. This phone comes with a pre-installed, full version of Android 12, allowing you to keep up to date with all the latest features the operating software has to offer.

Read more