Introduction
In this article we will take an
overview of Nokia latest MixRadio API. Earlier its name was Nokia Music API.
This Nokia service is platform independent and can be used in desktop apps,
android apps, windows phone apps, windows store apps etc. Nokia MixRadio API is
a collection of web services and other C-sharp APIs that allow the user to show
the API elements in your own application with custom look and feel. With this
API you can show various music contents like music charts, Albums, Artists
,Mixes and search results etc.
The best part of this API is
that it is not limited to a single country or music type but it offers music
from
- More then 200 countries
- 3 million global and local
artists.
- 25 million plus tracks
- Century of recordings.
This article mainly focuses on
C# API and its use in windows phone 8. C# API is available for the following
platforms:
- Desktop Apps (.Net 4.5)
- Windows Store Apps
- Windows Phone 8 Apps
Nokia MixRadio API
This API can be used in two
ways. The two ways are :
- Using Launcher API of
Window Phone
- Using API tasks
Using API with launcher is
simple but is of limited use. Launcher API in windows phone allows your
application to integrate with common operating system tasks such as taking
picture, opening store, web browser, phone call, message etc.
Using Launcher API, The
application can launch the Nokia MixRadio app with some settings and user can
use that app. This method requires the client to have nokia MixRadio app
preinstalled.
Using launcher API following
tasks can be done:
- Search for music.
- Show Artist details.
- Show Gigs nearby.
- Show available mixes.
- Show product details.
- Play a mix.
If one want to use the full
power of MixRadio API then the best way is to make use of API methods instead of
using MixRadio launcher. Using MixRadio API methods the following tasks can be
done:
- Search for an artist.
- Search for a product (such
as album, single or track).
- Get search suggestions.
- Get top artists.
- Get top products.
- Get products by an artist.
- Get new releases.
- Get a list of genres.
- Get artist details (such
as name, country, location, genre, and thumbnails).
- Get product details (such
as name, category, genre, performers, prize, and thumbnails).
- Get artist
recommendations.
- Get product
recommendations.
- Get artists around a
location.
- Get a list of available
mixes.
- Get user play history.
- Get user top artists.
Summary
That's enough to get an
introduction about this API. In my upcoming article we will learn how to use it
and integrate it in our windows phone 8 application.
Reference