Review: 7digital
Score:
75%
Announced back in December last year, 7digital released their Windows Phone music store last week. Available as a free app download from Windows Marketplace, is it worth making a song and dance about? I think it is.
Version Reviewed: 1.1.0.0
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Boil it all down, and 7digital is another store to buy music. The majority of Windows Phone handsets will have the Zune marketplace built in, and with a significant number of those handsets being Nokia Lumias, the Nokia Music Store will also be present. Do we need yet another music store on the handset?
Perhaps as individuals we don't (especially if, like me, you are using the monthly Zune Pass to download music), but for the platform as a whole, having multiple options for any retail environment can only benefit consumers in the long run. So 7digital bringing its platform to Windows Phone is a good thing in my book.
Part of the value is the cross platform nature of 7digital. It already has mobile clients for Android, BlackBerry and iOS users; it's used as the music store in Canonical's official Ubuntu distributions; it's the store that features in the Songbird web browser and music client... in short, wherever you can have an alternative store, 7digital is there, as the second choice in many markets and as the primary market in others.
And that means the value of 7digital on Windows Phone could easily be huge... if you are an existing user of the service. Your previously purchased music can be found in the Locker section of the application, to re-download the music to the handset, or simply to stream the music over the air, be it using a mobile data connection or over Wi-Fi to keep the bandwidth cost down.
7digital uses all the Metro UI elements, which means that the app feels comfortable and 'right' when in use, which I always feel is just as important as making sure all the options and functionality is present. 7digital is not aimed at the power users, so it needs to be smart and use the built in UI, which it does very well, from the initial options list, to the recommend, charts, and featured sections in the panorama.
Search is implemented well, and it's the first option you see when you open the app, so there's no excuse for missing it. Once you put in the search term, you have three results; albums, artists, or tracks, and can click through to any of them for a full listing, and confirmation of the cost. The thirty second sample is in effect here, so you can check it really is the tune that you want before purchase.
The first time you do this you'll be asked for credit card details, and then asked to confirm your purchase - subsequent purchases just ask for the confirmation once you reach the payment screen. Once that goes through, the track is added to your digital locker where you can either stream it or download a DRM-free MP3 version of the track. Pay attention to these downloads though, because you can only download an MP3 a maximum of five times from your account - which I suspect is a licensing issue from the major record labels - thankfully 7digital has agreements to use the catalogues of all of them.
Unfortunately, 7digital doesn't integrate the downloaded music into the built-in Zune player's library, you have to use the 7digital player to listen to the music on your device. You could, in theory, grab the MP3 download on your desktop, copy it into Zune PC, and have it sync over that way - which is possible, thanks to the lack of DRM on the music files - but it's a bit of a hassle. I know this is down to the silo'ed nature of data in Windows Phone applications, but not everyone is a power user who knows the architecture.
Still, the Windows Phone environment is not 7digital's fault and they do all the right steps to make the best of it - the application is listed in the Music+Video panorama, the media player's 'history' and 'new' list will show all the 7digital tracks played, and the integrated media player controls and volume keys are fully functional.
Given those limitations, 7digital is as smart a third party music player as you'll get on Windows Phone. It's also a comprehensive digital music store that is available in more regions than the Zune store, so it could be invaluable for some Windows Phone users.
It works, the company has been around for some time, and I see no reason why they would suddenly disappear. And even if they did, all the music is DRM-free MP3 so can easily be moved around to other devices and into desktop PC collections. 7digital is a solid alternative to the built in music store options on your smartphone.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at