Groove for iPad is an interesting new music player that’s currently in beta. Fortunately, I’ve had a few days to put a pre-release version through its paces and have these thoughts to share. Alternate iPod I really don’t like the look of the current iPod app on my iPad, nor do I particularly like the […]
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Preview: Groove for iPad

Jun 22nd 2011 by

groove music player

Groove for iPad is an interesting new music player that’s currently in beta. Fortunately, I’ve had a few days to put a pre-release version through its paces and have these thoughts to share.

Alternate iPod

I really don’t like the look of the current iPod app on my iPad, nor do I particularly like the way it works, so using Groove has been a breath of fresh air. The UI looks sharp and futuristic, and the slick animations do a great job of making Groove feel like a next-gen music experience. It took an e-mail from the devs for me to discover the pinch-to-close and other gestures, but I like them now that I know about them.

groove player

As far as navigation goes, Groove tends to lean heavily towards visuals. Almost every string of text is accompanies by some sort of artist profile or album cover, and it works for the most part. Ironically, the only parts of the app that really stick out are proprietary Groove icons for Groovy Mix, Surprise Me, Favorites, and Three of a Kind, as well as the app icon. The rest of Groove’s visuals, from the play buttons to the volume sliders, are so much higher in quality that these icons tend to stick out like sore thumbs.

Groove

Groove wouldn’t be very groovy if it didn’t implement some interesting alternate approach to playing your music, so I’m glad to report that Groove rocks as a music player, and tends to provide you with a lot more information on one screen. The main screen eschews tabs for a drop-down list with options for Home, Artists, Albums, Tags, and Playlists. Tapping on Artists, for example, will lay the metadata out dynamically, with further options to view Top Artists or All Artists (alphabetically). Tapping on an artists will show a pop-up complete with a bio and all of the stored albums and tracks filed neatly underneath. Tapping on Playlists and Albums will produce a similar pop-up, but with just the track list.

groove music player

Playing an album full-screen and you’ll see large cover art right in the middle and the current play order right along the bottom. Groove’s approach here makes a lot more sense than the iPod’s full-screen mode, and it looks fantastic. An option to view lyrics – which I’ve painstakingly embedded in all of my songs – is strangely absent, though.

Caveats

Groove is still in beta and the developers have asked for feedback, so here are a couple of things that I still find troublesome:

  • The icon. I’ve mentioned this once already, but if I’m going to try and use Groove as an iPod app replacement, then the icon has to look at least as good as Apple’s. Groove’s current icons, as well as the buttons for specialized Groove playlists, just feel far too noisy and colourful for the polished iPad interface.
  • The drop-down list works on the main screen works well, but it would be faster if I could tap-and-hold to make selections. I’d also like Groove to remember how I like to see my artists. Top Artists is a neat view, but I much prefer to view things alphabetically and I’d like Groove to memorize the view I used most recently.
  • The Now Playing bar in full-screen mode is great with shuffle or playlists, but it looks a little strange when you’re listening to just one album. Seeing Jack Johnson’s face 10 times on the same screen is a little strange.
  • Search. Groove for iPad currently lacks the ability to search, and I use song and artist searches very often when looking for something to play. I’ll understand if this lies outside of what Groove wants to do on the iPad, but I’d be delighted to see it in a future version.

    • Conclusion

    Groove isn’t out of beta yet, but it’s already looking very solid and I’ve had a lot of fun with it – certainly a lot more than I’ve had with the default iPad app. If the developers at Zikera could just do something about the app’s icon, I’d be more than happy to pick this app up when it comes out.

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