MixZing The Best Recommendation-based Android Music Player
If you’re a fan of iTunes’ Genius feature, Last.fm, Pandora, or any other recommendation-based music service, MixZing is the app for you. As soon as you start playing music in the app, MixZing creates a playlist based on that song, filled with recommendations from your own library, which you can vote up or down to fine-tune the playlist.
Recommendations Engine: Everything you do in MixZing works together with the recommendation engine. When you first start playing a song, it will gather information and create a playlist based on that album. It will then add 20 recommended songs to your queue, which you can choose to add or remove from the playlist from the Now Playing window. Just hit the queue button in the upper right-hand corner, then scroll down to see your recommendations. Hitting the green plus sign will permanently add a song to the playlist; hitting the red “x” will remove it (you also have access to these buttons from the Now Playing Window when MixZing is playing a recommended track). Then, when you go to the playlist through the Playlists menu, you’ll see your added recommended songs. Check out the video above for an example of how to do this.
LifeHacker.com says
You can also view recommended tracks that aren’t in your library by hitting the “More” button and hitting “New Music”. It will start playing track previews of songs similar to the music you were playing before. It also presents you with the plus sign and “x” buttons: hitting the plus sign adds the song to your Shopping Cart for later viewing and purchasing (when this feature is out of beta); hitting the “x” skips it.
Equalizer: A feature you don’t see too often on the Android platform is an equalizer. MixZing has one accessible from the Now Playing menu. It only has a few very basic presets, so unless you’re an equalizer enthusiast, you might want to leave it alone. The more you crank up different bands, the more of your phone’s resources this feature uses, too, so if you don’t have processor or battery life to spare, you might want to stay away.
Other Features: Within the Now Playing window you can view info on the currently playing artist by clicking the button in the upper left-hand corner. You can scrobble to Last.fm from the app’s preferences as well. MixZing also offers 10 free downloadable songs accessible from main menu’s menu (that is, go to the main menu and hit the Menu button). MixZing’s Pro version is a little pricey at $6.99, but it gets rid of ads, adds a lock screen widget, and a tag editor. Both versions are available in the Market.
Send an email to Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com.
