MOG has been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks, thanks to a reported acquisition of the streaming music service by audio hardware firm Beats. There’s still no announcement on that, but MOG has some other news: the launch of its official iPad app.
Released on the App Store on Saturday (24 March), it’s a free download, although a subscription is required. Here’s the strange thing though: the app isn’t just available in the US App Store – you can download it in the UK too, despite MOG not having launched on this side of the Atlantic.
It does ask for a username and password though (I’ve got it working due to having a review account from 2010, when MOG was mulling a UK launch and doing some press).
Anyway, the app lets you browse MOG’s catalogue and download songs and albums to cache locally on your iPad for offline play. There’s a ‘Just For You’ section providing recommendations of albums you might like, and you can flick a switch at any time to switch between on-demand listening and MOG Radio, which offers Pandora-style personalised stations based on specific artists.
MOG makes a big deal out of its audio quality, streaming at 320kbps – yes, it sounds good, and likely even better if listened to on a pair of Beats’ headphones: the companies seem well-matched on that score.
The app also supports Apple’s AirPlay technology to stream music to a compatible hi-fi, and it plays in the background if you switch to using another app. It also continued streaming when I turned Wi-Fi off, so the app still works over 3G (although the obligatory caveat is that it’ll hoover up your data allowance, presumably).
It’s a very slick app: I’m impressed. It joins rival Rdio’s native iPad app on the App Store, with Spotify and Rhapsody yet to release their own clients for Apple’s tablet.
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