Rdio just launched a new redesign today, promising improvements with speed, stability, and social. The first thing you'll see, though, is a fully refreshed visual design, complete with drag and drop options for creating playlists and sharing with friends, and a completely rethought layout that makes all your major navigation and playlist options a click away. We tested the app out in Chrome, and as far as clicking around the site, from albums to users to playlists, it feels a lot faster than with the old design. Unfortunately, there's still no offline playback. A lot of the layout chrome has been tossed in favor of a larger grid of album artwork and the subtle addition of your friends to any albums that appear in your Heavy Rotation list. Your personal Heavy Rotation stats have been moved to your profile page.
Drawing inspiration from from Facebook's Ticker and Spotify's sidebar, Rdio's new right rail lets you keep track of what your friends are listening to, or dig deeper and find new people to follow on the site — both people in your social networks or suggestions from around Rdio. Check out the full hands-on below.