MOG

MOG

RokuGuide Review:

THIS CHANNEL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN THE ROKU CHAANNEL STORE

Why pay for a MOG subscription when you can listen to Pandora for free? The primary reason is that MOG lets you pick specific songs and albums, and you can play your favorites over and over. MOG gives you access to 11 million songs, according to their own accounting. The basic MOG subscription, $4.99 per month, allows unlimited listening through your computer's web browser and through the MOG Roku channel. For $9.99 per month, you can take the music with you by downloading to your mobile device using MOG's Android or iPhone app. But this review is about the Roku channel.

The MOG channel provides a very basic interface with five options, not counting Help:

  • Browse - Start here if you want to explore new artists of if you aren't sure what you want to listen to. The Browse option has five categories: Top Artists, Top Songs, Top Albums, Editor's Picks, and New Releases. Unfortunately, you cannot browse by genre. The Top Albums include music by such disparate artists as Britney Spears, Barbara Streisand, Beastie Boys, and Weird Al Yankovic, so some may prefer to narrow the choices to one type of music.
  • Playlist - You can create playlists from your web browser and they will be accessible through this option on the Roku channel. However, you cannot create playlists from the Roku channel.
  • History - You can see your listening history by artist, album, or song. This is a nice option for when you heard something you really liked but can't remember the artist or the album it was on.
  • Favorites - Flag a song that you like, and it will show up here. You have the option to view your favorites by artist, album, or song, but the favorite is flagged at the song level. In other words, you cannot make an entire album a favorite, only a song. On the other hand, make one song a favorite, and then you can select the entire album for playback from the favorites option.
  • Search - Search by artist, album, song, or playlist. If you search by artist, after selecting a result you're presented with the options of listening to that artist's radio (randomly selected music from only that artist), playing radio with similar artists (similar to creating a radio station from a single artist in Pandora), and browsing albums by that artist. Similarly, searching by song results in the options of listening to the artist's radio or radio with similar artists, but you also have the option of playing the entire album that the song is on, in addition to playing just the selected song.

And if you're wondering about the Help option, it just directs you to support resources on the web, and also explains how the remote control works within the channel.

The MOG website offers a lot more functionality, like artist information, access to playlists created by others, and the much-needed ability to browse by genre. The MOG Roku channel was designed for listening, not for social interaction. Even though this review focused on the Roku channel, you should consider the MOG service in its entirety when deciding if it's right for you.

To help you decide, MOG provides a free trial through the MOG website and directly from the MOG Roku channel. The website's free trial runs for 14 days, but you're required to provide credit card information and you will be billed automatically if you don't cancel before the free trial period ends.

The free trial accessible from the Roku channel doesn't require that you share any personal information at all, billing or otherwise, but the trial lasts only 7 days and your Roku MOG information, such as playlists, favorites and listening history, won't be accessible through your web browser or on other devices. To access the free trial from the Roku channel, click through any of the options to find a song, artist, or album. When you try to play your selection, you should be asked if you want to activate the free trial. Accept the free trial, and you'll have unlimited music access through your Roku.

Developer's Channel Description: Get unlimited music on demand. Play 10 million songs & a million albums st CD quality or let MOG Radio discover your new faves. Hear exactly what you want always.

DEVELOPER: MOG

FEES:
Free 7-day trial.
Basic Subscription - $4.99 per month, includes access through Roku.
Primo Subscription - $9.99 per month, adds unlimited downloads to mobile devices and iPhone and Android app.
Visit the MOG Website for details.

RELATED LINKS:
MOG Website
MOG on Facebook
MOG (@mogdotcom) on Twitter