BBC Playlister creates playlists from radio for Spotify

The BBC has launched a new Playlister service in beta mode today, allowing users to tag tracks they hear on BBC radio, store them as a playlist and then listen to this playlist on streaming music services.

The launch of BBC Playlister follows the news yesterday that the BBC will launch a next-gen iPlayer in 2014.

Playlister allows audiences to save music they hear online on BBC Radio to a virtual playlist that can be accessed via the BBC website.

The playlist can then be made available across any one of three, big-name digital music providers that the Beeb has teamed up with: Spotify, YouTube or Deezer.

BBC Radio DJs and presenters have also been brought on board, and will provide recommendations based on the users' listening habits.

When a listener hears a track they like, a simple press of a button will save that song to their playlist.

This playlist can then be exported to somewhere like Spotify which can be accessed at a later time and allow the user to hear all the tracks they've saved in full.

Director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, said: "BBC Playlister is a wonderful innovation from the BBC that has been designed purely with audience needs in mind."

The BBC Playlister has initially launched in a beta-version, with general launch across PC and mobile browsers in the next few days.

Additional features will be added in the future, with these including the ability to save tracks heard on any of the BBC television channels and full integration with the iPlayer app. Sound interesting? Let us know how you get on with the Playlister beta in the comments below.

by Max Langridge

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Max is a staff writer for What Hi-Fi?'s sister site, TechRadar, in Australia. But being the wonderful English guy he is, he helps out with content across a number of Future sites, including What Hi-Fi?. It wouldn't be his first exposure to the world of all things hi-fi and home cinema, as his first role in technology journalism was with What Hi-Fi? in the UK. Clearly he pined to return after making the move to Australia and the team have welcomed him back with arms wide open.