Only 2 days into the release of RIM’s BBM Music app beta and let me tell ya, it has been a life changing experience! It seems to be that this is the first BBM 6 connected app that has really gone viral around the BlackBerry Community. So you might be wondering what’s the whole hype about? Well first of all BBM Music includes a social aspect to it where it can form a closer bond between BBM users by allowing users to detail their own sense of style by adding their music taste and having the option to add straight to BBM for a future relation.
Keep reading for key features, detailed rules, tips and tricks!
Some Key Features Include:
- Ability to build a music profile (up to 50 songs) from a catalogue of millions of tracks
- Invite friends to BBM Music from your BBM contacts
- Share playlists or single songs with BBM Music friends
- Create multiple playlists by combining your profile songs plus your BBM Music friends’ profile songs
- See what new songs your BBM friends have added, view comments, or start up a BBM chat about favorite bands
- Cache music for easy offline listening
Now you might think, “well I’m only limited to 50 songs, that blows! ” Well think again as you go along adding BBM Music friends their songs add up to yours which makes the music experience pretty much unlimited! The fun part is that you can cache this music for easy offline usage or simply whenever you’re having signal issues you can still have the liberty to enjoy all your songs! Here is a more detailed guide so you can gain from your BBM Music experience.
BBM Music Usage Rules:
• Contacts – You can add contacts at any time by finding new contacts in the Recent Updates tab within BBM Music or by clicking Add a Contact on the Contacts tab. You can choose to invite them by way of BBM, email, PIN, text or Social Networking applications. Whenever someone receives an invitation they are given the option to accept or decline. Once they accept they are added to your contact list in BBM Music only.
When you are friends with a BBM Music contact you can access their music anytime. Except for private playlists.
Remember you can delete a contact at any time too.
• Your Profile – In the My Songs tab you can set your profile information, such as display name, status updates and a display picture. Change your display picture and it will only change in BBM Music, not in BlackBerry Messenger.
You can add up to 50 songs to your profile. Each month you can swap up to 25 songs for new songs. You do not need to swap songs until you reach the 50 song limit. You won’t see this option until reaching it. If you do not swap all 25 songs in a month, they will be carried over to the next month.
Note: you can only add songs to your catalog that are available in your countries catalog. If a song is removed from the catalog you can replace the song without using a swap.
• Previews – Previews are 30 second portions of a song that are playable in the BBM Music app only. Having a wireless network connection is required to play previews.
• Playlists – This feature let’s users create playlists on your my Songs tab from your contacts’ music. Playlists can be private or shared.
• Comments – You can leave comments on your contacts’ playlists, profiles or your own playlists and profile.
• Recent Updates – Here users will find a recent timeline of events and recent activities of your BBM Music contacts’.
• Music Catalog – Adding songs to your catalog will show only the songs from the country or region your participating in. The catalog will also be determined by your service provider.
Note: once your are registered with a particular country catalog, you cannot switch to another catalog.
• Song caching and offline mode – When you play songs they are stored on your memory card. You can listen to any song that has been stored/cached when you are not connected to a wireless network. Previews are not cached.
To avoid data usage while roaming you can turn off your data connection or switch your smartphone to roaming mode.
You can use your smartphone in offline mode until your next subscription renewal is required. After 30 days without a connection, the BBM Music application with no longer play your songs.
• Explicit Content – You can choose to turn on explicit content in your BBM Music options.
Subscription types – Depending on your wireless service provider, country or region there are several subscription types.
FREE Trial Account – When you start using BBM Music you will get a Free Trial account. With the free trial users can use all the features of a Premium account for a limited amount of time. At a point during the free trial, you’ll be asked to enter your payment information so you can continue your trial and enjoy your BBM Music with a Premium account once the trial is complete.
PREMIUM Account – With a Premium account you can use all the features and functions of BBM Music. You can listen to all your friends music, build your profile, create playlists, listen to songs (online & offline) and much more!
PREVIEW Account – Here you can use BBM Music without a paid subscription by using a preview account once your trial is completed. Using a Preview account you can get only 30 second previews of songs, create your profile, and discover your friends music. But you can upgrade to a Premium account at any time.
Now don’t forget you have the option to ignore songs or artists to save you the trouble of having to ignore each song individually. Currently BBM Music is in a limited beta which is by invite only, should you be lucky enough to receive an invite, please note it may take up to 48 hours for the download info to reach your inbox from the day it was established. This will change the future of music technology, say bye bye to Itunes and welcome BBM Music, enjoy!
If you’re on BBM Music -Feel free to add me to your friends PIN: 314CCB57