4/15/16

The Rhino Musical Apptitude Test app [2011]

In March 2011, Warner Music Inc. created a new Twitter account to announce their forthcoming Rhino Musical Aptitude Test app and posted the inaugural tweet below some two months later
Several retweets from other Twitter users followed the same day and then a few more @RMATapp self-hyping tweets before this announcement two weeks later
Only one more Tweet was posted, touting a "great review from ifanzine.com" and then the account fell silent or dormant or whatever it is called when Twitter accounts cease tweeting. Here is the official press release for the RMAT app which IGN lazily copied verbatim as a post. Over the next two weeks, through the end of May 2011, other reviews of the RMAT app were published including these screen grabs:
As well as a grab of the RMAT app's screen icon of a brain with headphones on, which is part of the RMAT logo:
The RMAT app was a free download and featured 1200 multiple choice questions with four levels of difficulty, from easy to expert, but came with a 99 cent upgrade which unlocked other cool features, including the chance to win a $4500 Rhino music prize package by being the first player to answer every question correctly. In 2011, however, I was using an LG Chocolate Touch phone - my second cell phone ever! - and didn't even know anyone with an iPhone or an iPad. So this flew right under my radar. By the time I got my second iPod for Christmas 2012, the beautiful 4th generation Touch, and was using the App Store for the very first time, the RMAT app was gone. It was updated at least three times, most recently to version 1.17 in December 2011 before disappearing. All the posts and reviews are still on the interwebs but the app is no longer available. I was unable to come across anyone who had actually used the iOS app or anyone who won that sweet $4500 grand prize. Information on whatever became of the app is nowhere to be found, either. Add this post to the pile.

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