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"While there are a plethora of music services, they differentiate by focusing on various aspects of how we interact with music. Pandora is great for creating instant playlists and background music. Spotify is better when you want to hear something specific. iTunes is still there for \u00E0 la carte downloading. And on and on it goes (Rdio, Xbox Music, Grooveshark, Turntable.fm, etc.), filling seemingly every niche of music culture.\nThere are so many services now, though, it makes you wonder: Is there any room left for a new service to stand out? Twitter Music answers with a confident yes, offering a fun music-discovery service wrapped in a gorgeous user interface.\nMusic and Twitter are a natural combo. The service's most popular users are musicians, by and large, and if you think about it, music is all about trends \u2014 both long- and short-term. Styles and genres help define contemporary culture, and individual artists can quickly get the whole world talking about them \u2014 with the right song (hello, Psy!).\nTwitter Music (or Twitter #Music, as the company calls it) fits right into this world by presenting users with snack-size slices of what music has to offer. Very little searching and browsing is required (indeed, the search function is one of the app's weakest features) \u2014 all you need to do is tap a couple of times to immerse yourself in music that someone, somewhere is listening to.\nHey, Player\nTwitter Music is a separate app from Twitter proper. It's available only for iPhone right now, although Twitter says there'll be an Android version at some point. Upon first launching the app, you can start listening immediately \u2014 you don't even have to log into Twitter, an excellent choice that adheres to one of the first rules of app development: Don't quiz the user.\nAt launch, the app presents you with its Popular chart \u2014 your standard Top 40, only here its Top 140. There's also Emerging for \"hidden talent,\" Suggested for artists Twitter recommends specifically for you, and #NowPlaying for all the titles that the people you follow are sharing.\nMore after the gallery...\n\n\nTwitter Music Review\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMusic and Twitter, Remixed\nTwitter has always been intertwined with music, but now the service has its own iOS app dedicated to it. Twitter Music quickly connects you with popular music and emerging artists, but its strength is in discovery -- thanks in part to a beautiful user interface.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWalk-Through\nTwitter provides brief walk-through of the service before you get going. You can always see it again in Settings.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPopular\nAfter the walk-through, you can start listening right away. The first screen you see is a grid of popular tracks. It's the first of four different ways to find music in the app.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEmerging\nThe next way is a grid of Emerging artists, presumably curated by Twitter.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSign In\nThe next two categories don't work unless you sign in, since they look at your profile to suggest tracks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSuggested\nHere's where you'll find artists Twitter thinks you'll like, based on which ones you're already following.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNow Playing\nIn #NowPlaying, you'll see songs your friends have actually tweeted, not what they're listening to.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMenu\nHere's the app's simple navigation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayback\nWhen you tap a song in the grid, it enlarges. Tap again, and playback begins via a chat head-like icon in the corner.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayer\nThe player enlarges when you tap it, blurring the background and displaying playback controls for a few seconds after you tap on it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNo Controls\nThe controls disappear quickly, but they still work, helped by visual cues such as the disc \"slices\" on the sides.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtist Profile\nArtist Twitter profiles are easily accessible via any song.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLock Screen\nAlbum art of whatever you're listening to appears on your iPhone's lock screen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSettings\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpotify Connection\nConnecting to Spotify lets you listen to full tracks instead of 30-second iTunes previews.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDesktop Experience\nTwitter Music in a web browser works very similar to the iPhone app, just with a bigger canvas.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtist profile\nClicking on an artist on the web doesn't take up the whole screen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpotify Problems\nConnecting with Spotify and Rdio via the web interface was having issues shortly after launch.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe last two only show you music if you log in with your Twitter account. By default, the app will play 30-second previews of songs imported from iTunes, but you can also connect your Spotify or Rdio accounts to listen to full tracks. Spotify requires a premium account for that, but my freshly created Rdio account had me playing tracks for free, although that was probably due to some kind of free trial.\nBack to the categories. Each one shows songs arranged in a grid of small album covers, a nice visual touch borrowed from other services. Tap one, and it enlarges, growing a playback button along with a \"follow\" icon in the top right. The song title appears along the bottom, right above the artist's Twitter handle, which leads you to their profile if you tap.\nThe whole experience is slick, and you can tell the designers put a lot of thought into how things would move as you interact with them. When squares enlarge, for example, the smaller squares around it re-arrange by sliding out of the way and re-ordering themselves. It's intuitive without being too showy.\nIf the grid is slick, the music player is dazzling. Play a song, and the circular disc icon in the lower left comes alive, importing the album art and spinning like a record player (whatever that is). Artist info appears for a few seconds and then disappears via some pretty animation.\n\nTo control playback, just tap on the disc, and it will enlarge to show Pause/Play and Skip controls. Again, for a second \u2014 they go away pretty quickly. However, there's still a nice visual cue that you can skip to the next or previous song: Slices of other discs appear on either side, which you can tap or swipe to skip tracks. Rewinding and fast-forwarding within a song is as easy as sliding or tapping within the disc currently playing.\nControls and visual cues like this have appeared in other apps, but Twitter has wrapped them all around a very responsive player. Top marks to the designers.\nOn the web, everything works in a similar way, although menus and icons are rearranged to make use of the larger screen. You also don't necessarily need a paid account on the third-party services to play full tracks, although the connection to Spotify didn't work for me.\nThe #Discovery Experience\nTwitter Music is the best music discovery app I've seen on mobile. That's because of three factors: First, it's easy and inviting to use. Second, it doesn't inundate you with too much choice. And third, suggestions from friends are self-curating.\nI'll explain the last point first: Too many music apps tell you every single song your friends are listening to. It's nice to know my pal Marcel is rocking out to Kanye's latest single on Spotify, but is he listening because he really likes it, or is he just checking it out because he heard about it somewhere?\nBy contrast, Twitter Music's #NowPlaying chart only shows you songs the people you're following have tweeted. Clearly, it's something they're recommending and think others should hear, too. Sure, there will be plenty of artists tweeting their music to promote it, but if you're following them already, that's probably a good thing.\nIt's very wise that Twitter Music doesn't hit you over the head with choice. You can't really search for songs in Twitter Music, and artists appear to be limited to a single song on the service. One artist, one song \u2014 then you have to move on. If you want albums, try Myspace.\nTwitter Music plays 30-second previews of songs from iTunes by default, which can lead to an ADD-fueling experience of rapidly varying music. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. At that pace, you can get through the entire Top 140 songs in a little over an hour \u2014 not bad for capturing the zeitgeist.\nConnecting a Spotify or Rdio account creates a different, more laid-back experience as you listen to full tracks. That's good for casual listening, but I think there's value in just going with iTunes. For quickly sampling Twitter's recommendations or what your friends are listening to, it's actually pretty cool.\nHowever, the app forces you to completely log out of Spotify or Rdio to switch back to iTunes samples. I wouldn't mind if it were easier to toggle back and forth.\nTwitter Music's suggestions for artists I \"might like\" are okay \u2014 at least, they're no better or worse than any other app's. But by the nature of its operation \u2014 letting you sample a single song from each of the recommendations \u2014 I'm much more inclined to actually listen to them.\nCurtain Call\nOther complaints: The search function is crap. It's slow and totally unclear what it's for. Searching for obvious titles (\"Thriller\" for example) doesn't bring up anything related to the artist you're looking for. It appears to be purely for searching Twitter for artist profiles.\nThe player also needs some kind of shuffle control. I'm not sure how this would work in every category, but it's a little nuts that the only way to listen to all the songs in the Popular section is in order, from Psy on down.\nTaken as it's intended, though, Twitter Music does its job extremely well. It shows you what the world is listening to as well as what your world is listening to. It's much easier to quickly immerse yourself in new music than, say, the new Myspace. Sharing and connections are nice, but the music should be front and center, and Twitter gets that.\nThe big thing Twitter Music has going for it is that it's designed for mobile from the start. There are certainly plenty of mobile music apps, but Twitter struck the right balance between personal preference and following trends. In the iPod era, the choice was between listening to the same 100 songs over and over or FM radio. We've come a long way.\nHomepage image: Mashable composite, images via Twitter and iStockphoto, zoechan"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/04/18/twitter-music-review/>