Nokia Music app update adds on-device scanning for personal music profile

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An updated version (3.10.822.0) of the Nokia Music app is now available for Lumia devices running Windows Phone. The new version includes the ability to subscribe to Nokia Music+ using operator billing (select operators only). Where this is available, it should increase the uptake of the Nokia Music+ subscription service, as it will allow those without a credit card to pay for the service.

The new version also adds the ability to create a personal music profile from the tracks stored on your phone, something that was previously only available via a PC-based scan and was therefore little used. The music profile is used to offer personalised mixes, across a range of genres, with the aim of delivering music that is better suited to your personal tastes and preferences.

As with other mixes the personalised genre mixes can be pinned to the Start Screen and downloaded for offline playback. You do see a certain level of music stored on your device in order for a profile to be successfully created (about 15 albums or so worth of music with correct meta data). The more music that is used to create your profile the more accurate it will be.

This music profile based personalisation complements the existing artist mix functionality (created a personalised mix by specifying up to three artist names), but is arguably more personal as it is able to draw on a broader set of data (i.e. your whole music collection).

Nokia Music ScreenshotNokia Music Screenshot

Nokia regard the personalised music mixes as an important part of the service because it increases user satisfaction. Nokia measures the popularity of any mix by looking at the number of times it is played (more is better) and the number of times a user choose to skip a track (fewer is better). Using these metrics personalised music mixes generally perform better when compared with curated music mixes, although this is not always the case.

Incidentally Nokia uses these same metrics to determine which of the curated mixes is "working" best. New mixes are being created by the Bristol-based Nokia team all the time and there performance is always being measured. Mixes that under perform are quietly dropped from the public listings. Using this Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest methodology Nokia ensures that only the highest quality mixes are shown in the Nokia Music app. 

Here's the full change log from the Windows Phone Store:

New features in this version:

  • Subscribe to Nokia Music+ using your operator bill (selected operators only).
  • Scan the music collection on your mobile to update your personal music profile.
  • Bug fixes.

Nokia Music can be downloaded from the Nokia collection in the Windows Phone Store. If Nokia Music was pre-installed on your device, or if you have already installed the Nokia Music app, you will be prompted to install the update via the updates section of the Store app.