Microsoft is keeping the good times rolling with its "12 Days of Deals" promotion by offering up a 12-month Xbox Music Pass for $49.90 while supplies last (5,000 subscriptions are earmarked for the reduced rate). That's half off its normal selling price of $99.90, which drops the monthly breakdown from around $8.33 to...Read more...
Spotify wants to be your go-to service for online music streaming, and with the help of investors who believe in the company's future plans, it just might emerge the winner. In a new funding round led by Technology Crossover Ventures, Spotify added $250 million to its purse, thereby valuing the streaming service at $4...Read more...
When a legend dies, much of the world feels it. But how often is that legend a piece of software? If you were into digital music when the MP3 file format first became popular, chances are good that you crossed paths with Winamp. Chances are even better that you called it home for a number of years. It was as de...Read more...
While console gamers called in sick to work today so they could stay home and steal cars in Grand Theft Auto V, Pandora chose to put its nose to the grindstone and revamp its mobile app for the iPad, and perhaps perform a little thievery of its own, such as stealing some thunder away from Apple's iTunes Radio debut in...Read more...
What's that sound? It might just be the millions of people uttering "hipster" after reading the title of this post. With a new infographic published by Amazon, it's become strikingly clear that vinyl is hot, even though physical media as a whole is on the decline, and has been for quite some time. Clearly - vinyl...Read more...
In the world of high-profile audio, you can easily count the names that everyone knows: Bose, Shure, Pioneer, Sony, Dolby, and perhaps just a handful of others. Sadly, a pioneer in the world of audio has passed away this week, with Ray Dolby leaving behind his wife and two sons at the age of 80. Ray Dolby fired up...Read more...
Love 'em or hate 'em, Apple has the ability to move markets, influence rivals, and change the status quo. Just take a look at Pandora. The streaming radio giant made a move earlier in the year that put a 40-hour cap on mobile listening. Naturally, it was imlpemented in order to encourage more folks to pay for premium...Read more...
The streaming music sector may be on its way to becoming saturated with too many options. Time will tell whether all the different services can co-exist, but in the meantime, one of the industry's pioneers, Pandora, is ensuring that if it falls by the wayside, it won't be due to neglect in terms of app updates...Read more...
Music subscription services today are like netbooks in 2009: everybody's making one, so your options are almost limitless. The latest to make some noise is Songza, which has just introduced a new ad-free version for those willing to open up their wallets just a bit. Presently, the service has racked up nearly five...Read more...
Microsoft has made no bones about the importance of music within both Windows Phone and Windows 8, and this week's update proves as much. The latest update to the Music app for Windows 8 brings an in-app search button at the top right that allows you to search directly within the app for music on your PC, or in the...Read more...
Good news, Jay-Z fans. The hip-hop artist and part owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets is back with a new album titled "Magna Carta Holy Grail." It's due to release on July 4, 2014, and it will feature various artists such as Drake, Nas, and Justin Timberlake, all of whom have been working on the album. As a special...Read more...
Apple is officially a player in the streaming radio sweepstakes (sorry, Pandora). Not that this comes as any surprise, mind you, what with months of rumors and leaked information suggesting that Apple was finalizing deals with the three major music labels -- Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony -- all of which will get a cut....Read more...
Apple's Tim Cook is tasked with finding the next big money maker, and for a time, it looked like an Apple brand television or smart watch might be the company's golden ticket. Not anymore. Forget about those products, because if all goes to plan, streaming music will be the thing that keeps the money flowing through...Read more...
Millions of music lovers have discovered Pandora, the streaming music service that serves up tunes it thinks you'll dig based on your listening preferences. Having found a home on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, Pandora now wants to take residence on your big screen television, hence the launch of...Read more...
It's the rumor that just won't end: Apple is probably / maybe going to get into the music / radio streaming business. iTunes has set itself atop the world in terms of being a mainstream hub for music purchases, but these days, consumers want more flexibility. That's why services such as MOG, Spotify, and Google Music...Read more...
In case you haven't been paying attention to what's trending, here's a tip: music streaming services are gaining major traction. Google just launched one of their own, Apple is still reportedly in talks with labels across the globe, and the other guys -- Spotify, Rhapsody, MOG, etc. -- seem to be investing heavily in...Read more...
If you're tired of waiting for an album to ship to actually hear what has already been mixed and mastered, you're in luck. If you're a Pandora user, that is. Pandora Premieres launched this week, giving listeners the chance to hear select albums up to seven days before those albums are destined to hit store shelves. With Internet radio, music...Read more...
The world needs another paid streaming music service like it needs, well, another paid streaming music service, but let's not be pessimistic about a possible newcomer in Google, as is rumored to be the case. We'll know more as Google I/O progresses, though for now, word on the web is that Google is throwing its trombone into the paid streaming...Read more...
The RIAA isn't an entity that's looked fondly upon by many consumers, given that they've been pretty bent on making it difficult for consumers looking to purchase music legally in the digital age. Granted, we're (mostly) out of the DRM era, but those memories remain for many. Despite that, the RIAA is still an...Read more...
In the ever-changing world of streaming music, Slacker has made a name for itself. And that name is getting bigger. Since re-launching in February, the music service has revealed its latest audience growth figures, adding over six million new users in that span. Here are a few tidbits from the company. Since...Read more...
In retrospect, it was only a matter of time until Twitter created a music service based on trends and engagement, and Twitter #music looks to be a service that suits the social platform quite well. The service officially launches today--the site is now love--and is also available as a separate iPhone app. The idea...Read more...
Despite the huge success of iTunes as a distribution model for music, Apple is certainly feeling the heat from several streaming music services, most notably Pandora and Spotify. The Cupertino company is widely rumored to be developing a similar music service of its own, and according to the Verge’s...Read more...