Ethel Lindley: Motorola Connected Music Player for Android is packed with awesomeness

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Motorola Connected Music Player for Android is packed with awesomeness

Motorola's new Connected Music Player isn't the first leaked audio app we've seen -- but it's certainly got a leg up on the one we saw from Google. CMP goes way beyond shuffling through your music and video library, building in a ton of (predictably enough) connected features.

Let's start with the radio. CMP includes both SHOUTcast integration and the ability to tap into your phone's FM radio hardware. Soundhound support is also built-in, allowing you to identify unknown tracks anywhere you've got an Internet connection. The video tab will play your locally-stored videos and it's also got a YouTube search option -- though it's limited to finding music videos. The app's Community section leads you to TuneWiki charts, and Twitter and Facebook audio hotness courtesy of Blip.fm. It also features a cool Music Maps option, which lets you see who's listening to what -- either near your location or anywhere else in the world (my neck of the woods is unsurprisingly quiet and showed only me).

From the player's now playing screen you can Blip what you're listening to, add the track to a playlist, delete it from your library, or set it to your ringtone. Want to gently drift off to sleep as you listen to your playlist? No problem, just head to the settings screen and set up the sleep timer.

Gallery: Motorola Connected Music Player for Android screenshots