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If simplicity really is the highest form of genius, then here is exhibit A: Nokia Music’s Mix Radio service.

There’s no need to sign in, or worry about downloading songs or transferring files from your computer. You just listen to music on your phone. Just like that.

Nokia Music Product Owner Melissa Price-Wakefield highlights the fundamental thinking behind Mix Radio, which is available on any of Nokia’s Lumia smartphones.

 “The primary goal is to provide a music experience for somebody who basically just turns on their device.”

Plus, there’s another great benefit.

“It’s also a really good tool for discovering other music and other artists that you might not have heard of before,” says Melissa.

This is one of the key features of Mix Radio and how you can discover great new music: The themed playlists.

Aficionados will appreciate that genuine music fans compile the playlists by handpicking the songs that they love. There’s no fancy algorithm at work or automated tagging system. It’s the human touch.

Playlist people

So who are the lucky people who get to create the playlists and how do they do it?

Chris Pursey, who selects the indie/alternative music playlist, tests his playlists on his friends.

Nokia Lumia 800

“Before I submit a playlist to Mix Radio I’ll play it in the background when I have friends over to try and gauge their reaction. I’ll ask them for their feedback and then make any necessary amendments before actually submitting the playlist to go live on Mix Radio.”

Another playlist creator is Rene Goodland, who looks after playlists for film soundtracks.

“I’m an amateur film-maker myself and I’ve entered a few short films into some competitions. I’m a fan already so I had a large knowledge base of the different composers and the different films and I listen out for the film tracks that stand out, that transfer you back to that film, to that moment and the magic of it.”

The jazz and underground men

Matthew Daley is a jazz pianist in his spare time, so unsurprisingly he compiles the jazz playlist. His aim, when putting together a ‘jazz fusion’ playlist, was to present a representative history of the genre itself.

Nokia Lumia 710

“I wanted to create a historical view of those forms of music. I am very keen on fusion, especially works by Pat Metheny and Chick Corea, and some jazz rock music. However, a lot of the early jazz rock I don’t like at all.

I included a whole range from the two genres so people could listen to a representative selection of these forms of music from their start in the early 70s to now.”

Justin Percival compiles songs for the UK underground playlist and his ethos might very well be the guiding ethos behind Mix Radio itself.

“For me it’s to show people new music. Stuff that they might have heard and then stuff that they might not have heard but that’s in a similar genre… Especially the sort of stuff I’m into, a lot of it doesn’t really get seen or heard. I think a lot of the stuff is worth listening to.”

 There’s certainly a lot of stuff worth listening to on Mix Radio. What’s your favourite playlist? Is there a playlist that you would like to be compiled?

Many thanks to NokNok.tv.

Image credit: m00by