Roku and Rdio team up to improve in-home music streaming

Rdio may not be the most popular streaming music service, but it’s about to get a lot more familiar to Roku users. The two companies have partnered to make Rdio the preferred streaming music option on the Roku Streaming Stick, Roku 3 set-top box, and Roku TVs. These devices will now ship with an Rdio button built into the remote control—taking the spot once held by Blockbuster—and will install the Rdio app by default during the set-up process.

Rdio is trying to make itself the most attractive streaming music service for those who own a Roku set-top box. Rdio has reached a new agreement with Roku that will see the streaming music service more tightly integrated into Roku’s line of set-top boxes, it announced today. This includes rolling out a redesigned Rdio channel for Roku with improved navigation that’s closer to the revamped version of the service released a few months back. Rdio is also getting shortcut buttons on Roku remote controls, which — like the Netflix and Crackle buttons — will take you directly to the Rdio app without having to navigate through the channel menu. And in case that doesn’t make it easy enough for people to use Rdio, its app will now appear on the “My Channels” section by default.