Blip Review

The goal of Blip appears to be streamlining one’s musical impulses to be representative of what ideal radio could be. Blip seeks to combine concepts of Twitter and Facebook with radio. Upon creating a free D.J. account, one types in the name of a song they would like to hear. Blip’s search engine seeks the internet for a link that hosts the song you are looking for. Blip provides audio and video clips, the majority of the latter come through youtube. The D.J. can preview the track to make sure it is what you were looking for. Upon approval, the user “blips” or broadcasts the song along with an option message of up to 150 characters.

Selected songs are then broadcast within the Blip website and to other social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook. The user must synch their accounts at other sites for Blip to broadcast there. As a user of Facebook, it is fun and incredibly easy to post songs and videos through Blip for friends to hear. Blip tracks a D.J.’s song picks and links them to other D.J.’s with similar musical tastes. When you are not broadcasting your own selections, Blip produces streaming radio based upon the selections of similar users.

Perhaps the biggest downside to Blip is the inability to produce a long play-list, and to control the order of that play list. Each time you select a new song it is automatically broadcast, and the new song begins to play. There are many music fans who get their kicks listening to the first verse and chorus of a song before forwarding to the next track. For me however, I need to hear the whole song. Blip would be a more useful site if one could drag songs into a play-list that would broadcast each song to other users when the track begins to play.

The second biggest problem with Blip is that you may have trouble finding the exact version of the song you are looking for. More often than not Blip sought to fulfill my request by producing a youtube link featuring a live version or cover version of the song. When you are seeking out a particular tune, the last thing you may want to hear is somebody's bedroom cover filmed in Kansas (no disrespect to Kansas or bedroom rockstars). There are clearly licensing issues, because many authorized recordings and album versions of songs are blocked by Blip. Blip remains far superior to conducting a search through Youtube, even if many of the hits lead you there. I love the idea of having both video and audio options through one radio site.

Blip’s ability to find similar music is not as impressive as systems found on other radio sites such as Pandora. Perhaps Blip needs more users before they can get a wide enough sample to judge what a user’s musical tastes are. In fairness, I have been using the site for one week and have not yet blipped hundreds of songs. The accuracy may improve as my own tastes are broadcast more regularly. Some users might use Blip to its full potential by seeking out D.J.’s and following them, much like on Twitter. For most people however, it seems that the purpose of social networking is merely to maintain contact with one’s establishes connections. Even so, Blip has charm. Most music that one discovers is through friends, not by chance. Finding a new song posted by a friend on Facebook or Twitter is a great surprise, and I am always willing to listen.

Check out Blip for its simplicity, ease of use, and broadcasting capabilities. Go elsewhere if you want to build a long playlist to listen to over a long period.

Listen to my D.J. Station by following Liondeutsch on Blip.FM