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Music

Forget SoundCloud or Spotify, Craaave is the Only Mobile Music App You Need

This San Francisco start-up makes sharing music between platforms easier than getting laid at prom.

To say that apps aiming to "revolutionize the way we listen to music" are a dime a dozen is to severely overvalue the myriad of offerings available. Rather than talk about programs with limited use in the real world, (when would I use a DJ or MPC app in public?) and even more limited functionality (tracks don't play in the background? What is this, the Middle Ages?) I want to talk about Craaave: an app with too many A's in its name that set out to solve a problem and did so with phenomenal grace.

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The Problem:
Let's say you're on a walk with your headphones in and a song you'd long forgotten comes up on shuffle. Your friend (let's call him Edward) would love this track, so you set about the arduous process of sending it to him. Up until this point, there were two ways to do this:

The YouTube Way:
1.     Carefully remember the song and artist name
2.     Open YouTube in Safari and not its stand-alone app (easier to get shareable URL)
3.     Wait for the page to load
4.     Type in the song name
5.     Wait for another page to load
6.     Scroll through until you find a version that isn't low quality, a live recording, or in the middle of a full album stream
7.     Quickly close the video that pops up
8.     Copy the URL in the address bar
9.     Text or email the URL to a friend and hope that you copied it correctly

The SoundCloud Way:
1.     Carefully remember the song and artist name
2.     Open SoundCloud in Safari or its stand-alone app
3.     Wait for the page to load
4.     Type in the song name
5.     Wait for another page to load
6.     Keep waiting
7.     Close app in frustration

If Edward wants to listen to the song again a week later, he must scroll through your text history and find it again. There are other apps such as Rdio or Songza that make it a bit easier to send music, but those depend on your friend being a registered user as well. The problem, however first world it may be, is indeed there and it affects every one of us.

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The Solution:
1.     Open Craaave
2.     Type song name
3.     Tap any version
4.     Select name from your contacts list to send to

Let's call this "The Craaave Way." It's far fewer steps, and even on my primitive 3G connection the buffering time was negligible at worst and indiscernible at best. If Edward wants to come back a week later and listen to the song, he can either listen to it in the app or add it to his playlist on one of the six music streaming services (and counting) that Craaave caters to.

How It Works:
Step 1: User types in search or enables 'Listen'
Step 2: Craaave scans mp3 tags (each platform has a different set of rules, but we don't see this) and picks best matches
Step 3: User selects desired song
Step 4: Craaave sends a compatible version to recipient i.e. if the recipient has SoundCloud linked to Craaave, he won't receive a Spotify version of a song

How It Looks:
The GUI (graphical user interface) is crisp and simple. I'm particularly fond of the shade of fuchsia that they use throughout the app, and though it isn't groundbreaking I enjoy their use of fonts immensely nonetheless.

What We Like:
a) Craaave is true to its word and actually makes sharing songs easy
b) Being able to add a song to our SoundCloud favourites is primo
c) Buffering time is significantly shorter than the platforms it brings together
d) Shazam-like functionality to send songs that are playing around you
e) Snappy response, messaging feature, and song inbox make Craaave feel like Snapchat, but for music
f) Outbox let's you know which songs your friends like
g) Works well as its own streaming service
h) Songs play in background when you exit the app
i) Search functionality is very good

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What We Don't Like:
a) Adding a track to your iTunes library can be cumbersome and didn't work at times
b) Can't unlink iTunes from the app (fuck iTunes)
c) Could do with one more degree of communication i.e. send a custom message when you like a friend's song

Editor's Note: there was a d) and an e), but updating to version 1.0.1. has fixed the intro screen and contacts list issues that I had.

Should You Download It:
Unlike Flappy Bird, YO, or iBeer, Craaave is an app that solves problems. If you find sharing music cumbersome, hate SoundCloud's native app, or are annoyed that you can't listen to songs on YouTube mobile in the background then Craaave is definitely for you. You can download it for free here.

This app is low carb - @bluuuuueeeeeee

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