Articles about Music

Hello from Adele. The artist has had two critically acclaimed albums already in her young career, but nothing prepared anyone for the latest offering. 25 is the new album and it seems to be an incredibly hot commodity right now, at least according to new statistics released for the first week of sales.

Unsurprisingly, digital was at the top of the list with iTunes leading the way with 1.5 million sales. It was followed by Amazon at a distant 243,000 and Google Play at 55,000. In between were physical locations Target and Walmart.

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It's that time of year with the weather turning cold, shopping lists in mind and a general feeling of...well, it depends on the person. However, many folks like a bit of spirit for the season and holiday music purveys that, frequently bringing back memories of youth with the likes of Bing Crosby and Burl Ives.

Now WebRadio, a BRS Media company, is trying to bring you the best of the holidays with a long list of channels to choose from.

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Pandora and Rdio are two of the major forces in the streaming music industry. It's a growing market now that CDs have become part of the past. Yes, sales of them still exist, just not what they once were.

Now Pandora is planning to acquire Rdio and consolidate the two services. It's an interesting proposition and will certainly have implications. Pandora and Rdio are different in certain ways. Pandora simply lets you create stations based on taste and does an excellent job of it. Rdio allows for streaming individual songs.

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The writing has been on the wall for some time now, but Microsoft has today officially killed Zune. After nine years, the music service is no more, driven to the grave by the competition.

Zune players just never managed to fight off the iPod, and with smartphones taking on the role of music player in addition to everything else, it didn’t take long for Microsoft's player to become surplus to requirements. Microsoft is not learning from history, though; the company continues to try its hand at music with Groove.

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In a few short months, Apple Music has picked up millions of followers, and it has managed to do this whilst remaining exclusive to iOS. Now that changes. Today Apple's music app makes the jump to Android.

Currently in beta, Apple Music for Android is a free download, and includes a three-month free trial of the service. After this, should you want to continue using it, you'll have to cough up $9.99 per month. For the most part, this is a direct port of the iOS version of the app, but as it is in beta there are some notable differences.

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Music services are an ever increasing market, with new ones popping up all the time. There are a few that have distanced themselves from the pack, though. One of those is Pandora which takes a song and analyzes it in an effort to create a station with similar music. You can argue if this works, but it does in most cases, at least based in my experience,

Now Tim Westergren's little hobby is launch an enhanced discover service in an effort to make it even easier to find music.

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Bluetooth headsets with Sport in the title usually feature a plastic band which goes around the back of your neck. This not only makes you look a bit strange it can also be uncomfortable.

Inateck's headset does away with this and just has a thin wire between the two earpieces. There's a control unit on the right-hand side to allow you to adjust the volume, accept calls, pair with your phone, etc, and this also houses the built-in mic.

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Music has always been a part of late night television, regardless if it's the shows own group or a special guest performing live. To catch most of these acts you need to watch live or on demand and obviously need a TV. But now you can catch some of it right on your computer.

Yahoo is announcing the addition of concerts on Jimmy Kimmel Live and it kicks off tonight. If you tune into the site you can watch Duran Duran beginning at 11:35pm CT. The band just released its 14th studio album titled "Paper Gods".

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Bluetooth speakers are very convenient; they are typically lightweight and portable. Even though some wireless speakers sound great, you are usually better off with a wired connection when possible. For instance, if you want to connect speakers to your desktop or laptop, and they will never leave your desk, Bluetooth is a bad choice -- go wired, bro!

Today, Logitech announces a wired-only 2.1 speaker system that looks great, and is remarkably affordable. The z533 Multimedia Speakers will look beautiful on your desk. Will you buy them?

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Regardless of what genre of music you like, concerts are a fun way of enjoying the sound first hand. Studio albums are great, but there's something to be said for the live experience. Pandora seems to agree and wants to begin making this connection between fans and artists.

The streaming service has announced the acquisition of Ticketfly, which is one of the leading ticket sellers online. It claims to have booked "over 16 million tickets to more than 90,000 events".

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When you buy earphones you usually have to choose between audio quality and how much you want to spend. British company Rock Jaw Audio, however, is on a mission to provide a strong listening experience at an affordable price.

There's a definite grey theme here, supplied in an attractive grey box, the earpieces themselves are aluminium with a smart grey finish, they come with a selection of rubber ear tips so you can get a good fit. There's also a clip for the cable and a soft carrying pouch. They have an in-line microphone for making phone calls and the earpieces have 8mm dynamic drivers. The jack plug is gold-plated, it's a 90 degree design though so may be awkward connecting to some devices. They have a 1.2 metre long cord, which is fine for listening to a smartphone in your pocket but a bit limiting for other situations.

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Music streaming services seem to be a dime a dozen these days, with plenty of choices and new ones cropping up all the time. But how do you pipe that sound through your home entertainment system? There are a number of options, but the latest is Spotify for Chromecast.

The streaming service is arriving on Google's tiny HDMI dongle, which was just recently updated. Spotify claims this was highly requested and now users can have it.

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Amazon Prime added music streaming to sweeten the service, going with the free two day shipping, video streaming and more. The problem in doing this is inevitably the record labels who can be a hassle to negotiate with.

Now the online retailer is announcing one more big addition to its music streaming service. The company has managed to sign Universal Music Group to bring customers a greater variety of choice in playing their tunes.

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Look what email greeted when I rolled out of bed and in front of the computer this AM (Pacific Time). Apple Music wants my business. That's not happening. After signing up for the three-month trial, which ends September 30, I returned to using Chromebook Pixel LS and Nexus 6. The streaming service supports neither device, so, yes, I turned off autorenewal.

This brief post is a reminder to you to do likewise, if having signed up you're not planning to keep the service. Apple Music turns on autorenew by default, so if you want out, don't wait. Opt out now. On the other hand, if you enjoy the service, do nothing and listen. You're covered.

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In June of 2014 music streaming service Earbits closed down. It seemed a shame, but the big players in the game like Spotify and Rdio are hard to compete with. However, Earbits had a niche, allowing new artists to be heard and discovered by record labels. The shutdown lasted only three days and the company emerged again.

While we knew it had found financial backing, details were not made available. Now finally, after more than a year, we learn that it was acquired by You42.

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