Rdio Adds $3.99 US / 94¢ India Tier, 60 Day Free Trial

Ahead of the expected launch of Apple's streaming music service next month, competitors are pulling out all the stops with new features, promotions and other offerings. Today, Rdio unveiled a creatively conceived lower priced tier that's a bit like Pandora on steroids.

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Rdio has launched Rdio Select – a $3.99 subscription tier for mobile users combining ad-free streaming radio with unlimited skips and 25 personally chosen songs on demand. Subscribers can keep the 25 songs or replace them daily. Rdio Select streams at 320 kbps and like Pandora offers stations inspired by artists, albums and songs, as well as, stations curated by artists, labels and the Rdio programming team. Also included is a personalized station called You FM that is customized based on listening history.Rdio Select is available now in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, with additional countries to be added. For a limited time, Rdio Select is available for a 60-day free trial.An International Music Play For The "Squeezed Middle"

Whether or not Rdio Select attracts subscribers in the U.S. may be secondary to the impact it could have in international markets. Storing your 25 favorite songs on a phone saves data charges; and in India where that's a major concern, you can subscribe to Rdio Select for just 60 rupees (94 cents), according to TechCrunch.$3.99 is also a way for Rdio to reach out to the underserved middle class of music fans, says consultant and researcher Mark Mulligan of MIDiA. "The mainstream streaming subscription market is squeezed between premium and nothing," says Mulligan. "The average music spend of a consumer is around $3 a month, so $9.99 subscriptions are far out of reach of most consumers. $3.99 however is far, far closer to a realistic price point for the mass market."

Rdio Select features include:

On Demand: Download 25 songs and replace them up to once per day
Ad-free Stations: Listen without the interruption of ads
Unlimited Forward Song Skips
High-quality sound: 320 kbps
Playlists: Rdio will create and continuously update multiple 10-song playlists that will be genre and mood-focused, including playlists curated by artists and influencers, so that Select listeners can easily update their 25 downloads with new tracks

Rdio now offers these tiers:

Rdio, free ad-supported streaming radio (with limited skips), currently on mobile and connected devices, and coming to web this year in place of ad-supported on demand
Rdio Select, $3.99/month for mobile access to a combination of ad-free streaming radio and 25 downloads on demand at a time, refreshable up to once per day
Rdio Unlimited, $9.99/month for unlimited songs on demand and ad-free streaming radio with unlimited skips
Rdio Unlimited Family, ranging from $14.99/month for two Rdio Unlimited accounts to $29.99/month for five Rdio Unlimited accounts