Article by: Rakel Tang
You look at your music library and a thousand songs look back at you, none of them the right track for the moment. Alternatively, you manage to find that one perfect song for whatever you are doing now (running, studying, running from studying, etc.) but you cannot seem to find another song to match the vibe of the song that is playing now. Listening to music should not have to be so hard.
Sounds like problems you face? Then you might want to give 8tracks a shot.
8tracks is a free music app available on iTunes, Android and even Xbox. What makes it unique is that songs in 8tracks are arranged into playlists, which are crafted and shared by the users themselves. These playlists often consist of songs which seem to fit a certain theme or mood such as “summer” or “indie”, and can hold up to an unlimited number of tracks.
The basic requirements for a playlist are a minimum of 8 tracks, cover art, a title, a short description and at least 2 tags. There is no limit on how many tracks can be put into a single playlist, which allows for playlists with over a hundred songs and many hours of playtime; perfect for those of you who just prefer to let your music play in the background as you go about doing your own thing.
The tracks for a playlist can come from two places: from your personal music library or 8tracks’ partner site Soundcloud, which helps if you want to upload a song you do not own. Currently, playlist creation can only be done on 8tracks’s website.
The two tags that have to be included while creating a playlist help to facilitate the search engine. By typing a tag into the search box such as “study”, “happy” or “electronic”, you can find all the playlists under that tag. 8tracks takes this a step further and allows you to add an additional tag to your search, combining tags like “study” with “motivation” or “sleep” with “instrumental” to narrow down your search results and increase the chances of finding a playlist to meet your needs.
Signing up as free member also opens you to a few more nifty functions such as the ability to like a playlist or add it to your collections for easy access. Tracks that you particularly enjoy can also be ‘favourited’. If you are a Soundcloud user, these ‘favourited’ tracks appear under your ‘liked’ songs, where you can listen to them as standalone tracks outside 8tracks.
For those who rely on music to lull you to sleep but do not want to wake up with your phone battery completely drained, there is a sleep timer function that stops the music at the end of a playlist or after a set number of minutes.
Due to the unique music licensing on 8tracks, there are certain restrictions in place that may take a while to get used to, such as being unable to see the tracks in a playlist until they are played and being unable to rewind or fast-forward a track. Tracks will also be shuffled after every playback.
Furthermore, there is a limit on the number of tracks that can be skipped per hour as well as a limit on the number of tracks in a playlist that can come from a single artist or album. While all these restrictions may seem annoying at first, they do not interfere much with the listening experience and users eventually learn to take it in stride, while discovering songs that may have previously been outside their usual style.
To wrap things up, 8tracks as a music app is one that appeals to mood. 8tracks shifts the focus away from individual songs and instead, creates an atmosphere for you to feel comfortable while carrying out different activities. With 8tracks being available on a variety of platforms, it allows for mobility where you can immerse yourself in music wherever you go, as long as you have a decent internet connection.