Articles about Music

Apple launch events are normally about getting people to part with their cash rather than giving things away for free. So as not to buck this trend too much, the not entirely inexpensive Apple Watch, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were announced but there was also something of a treat for fans of Irish rockers U2. As well as performing at the launch event in Cupertino, Bono and bandmates gave away their new album, Songs of Innocence, free of charge to all iTunes Store users.

This is not the first time U2 has teamed up with Apple. The band was also involved in the launch of early iPod, offering official endorsement to a special edition of the music player. But this is a much larger scale collaboration. Giving away the eleven-track album to more than half a billion people is a big, headline grabbing gesture -- and regardless of your opinion of U2 musically, it's something that's hard to ignore. The album is available for the next five weeks in 119 countries.

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It has been the subject of speculation for some time now, but today Twitter finally announces that the rumored "Buy" button will soon be making an appearance in timelines. The feature has been made public through a blog post that explains that the button will initially be pushed to "a small percentage of US users", but reassuring everyone else that coverage "will grow over time".

What does this mean? Well, that you will be able to buy things via tweets, essentially.

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Customers can opt to subscribe to music streaming service Spotify, but many elect for the free version which is ad supported. Now those ads will get a bit more visible as "Spotify for Brands" takes shape with new offerings being introduced.

The new service comes in two versions called Sponsored Sessions and Video Takeover. This isn't quite as intrusive as it may sound at first. In fact, there is actually some benefit to the users. "Spotify Free users can opt in to watch a brand-sponsored video spot (aka a Sponsored Session) in exchange for 30 minutes of uninterrupted music", explains Spotify's Candice Katz.

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Sonos, for those not familiar, is a multi-room audio system that many people love for its diverse functionality. You can play music everywhere in your house, providing you lay out money for each of the speaker systems. What more functionality could you possibly want?

Funny you should ask. How about a turntable? You remember -- those relics from a by-gone era. Except they still aren't dead, and many people still prefer the sound. Audiophiles claim it is the best, as opposed to CD and MP3.

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Multi-room audio is a popular addition to homes today, with Sonos becoming a leading name in the space. But it certainly isn't the only player in the game -- Denon, a high-end component maker, also has a solution, and has now teamed with Spotify for additional functionality.

The HEOS system comes in three different models -- the HEOS 3, HEOS 5 and HEOS 7. Each is sized differently and ranges from high-end performance to portable. And now the system has Spotify built-in.

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Some music players are smart. Not only will they play your tracks, but they'll try to tell you more about them, perhaps downloading and displaying the lyrics.

Windows Media Player and iTunes aren't quite so clever, but that's where Song Buddy comes in. This free app for Windows, iPhone, iPad and Mac detects the "now playing" artist and displays other releases, concerts, images, a biography, links and more.

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My biggest hobby, other than tinkering with computers, is listening to music. As a young kid, I discovered my love for music by watching MTV in the 1980s. While I love all genres, I am truly a Hip-Hop fan. Say what youy want about rap music, but there is much knowledge in the lyrics. Sure, some of it is ignorant, but I have learned countless lessons from KRS-One, De La Soul and Common to name a few.

Unfortunately, the internet and piracy threatened the future of the music business. It was a perfect storm, as album prices were getting extremely high around the same time broadband connections became widely available. And so, people justified their theft by decrying the cost of CDs. While online music sales from places like iTunes were more reasonably priced, the damage was done -- album sales were forever doomed. Luckily, streaming services are here to save the day. Things like Beats Music and Google Play Music All Access offer unlimited music in exchange for paltry monthly fees; piracy simply is not worth the effort. As can be expected, these services are driving the final nail into the coffin of album sales...and that's a good thing.

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While Windows Phone gets a lot of attention for what it doesn't have, the Microsoft mobile platform is slowly making progress. Now it is scoring a major win, and getting on par with rivals, as Spotify announces it will be going free for Windows Phones.

The new update means customers can now listen to their music without ponying up the monthly fee for a Premium account. The new free version is ad-supported, and customers can still choose to pay the monthly fee for Premium, and eliminate those ads -- and also get offline playlists, as well.

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Apple launched, almost a week ago, the second public beta build of OX 10.10 Yosemite, which, among other improvements, includes a healthy dose of bug fixes. But, for some reason, the company has not yet addressed a glaring sound problem, where the audio stops working until a restart is performed. It is likely this occurs in the developer-only builds too. (It looks like this may even happen with the stable -- final -- version of the operating system.)

I am not alone in experiencing this problem, as I have seen other OS X 10.10 Yosemite users reporting the same issue with the built-in audio. In my case, after some testing, it appears that this issue occurs after my 2013 MacBook Air wakes up the built-in and external displays from sleep. (The sound also appears to have been disabled even after a clean install of the stable release; check the information pertaining to it at the end of the story for another solution.)

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Rdio, one of the top streaming music services, and SoundHound, an ace at recognizing what music you're listening to, are teaming up to bring better integration to customers. The two companies are announcing a new agreement that will bring them together in a unique way, allowing customers to utilize the two in tandem.

Beginning now, the latest SoundHound update will begin placing tagged songs into a playlist titled, appropriately enough, "Soundhound". This playlist will be accessible from within your Rdio account. The new service is named "Connect to Rdio".

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Samsung has a new option for music fans with the addition of the Light Box mini to its line of Level premium audio products that doubles up as a microphone when calls are received.

The new speaker is 30 percent slimmer than its predecessor, the Light Box, and despite this it still provides the same high level of sound that is expected from Samsung’s Level products.

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Selling music seems to be a lucrative business these days, at least judging from all of the streaming services flooding the market. So how does one manage to differentiate itself and set things apart from rivals like Rdio and Google?

Apparently, for Spotify, this means moving into the merchandise business -- a rather lucrative one, given the price of concert tee shirts at shows, though Spotify doesn't plan to profit from this endeavor.

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Creative is a company that is very hit or miss. Over the years, I have enjoyed many of its products -- mostly sound cards. However, while much of the company's hardware is solid, software and drivers have been dreadful. In fact, driver support and performance in Windows Vista and 7 were so bad, that many users decided to boycott the company altogether. If a card actually worked, it was often subject to random cracks, pops and screeches -- painful for ears. I spent many nights in Creative's forums witnessing the atrocities of both its drivers and poor customer support.

With all of that said, I am not one to hold grudges and never want to see a company falter. Yes, I am willing to start looking at Creative products again after a long hiatus since my X-Fi Elite Pro woes from years ago. Today, the company announces some inexpensive speakers that appear to be a good value -- the T3250 Wireless Bluetooth 2.1 Speakers.

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Smart TVs and Blu-ray players have become all the rage these days, with customers using them to replace the need for a set-top box, though in most cases apps can be limited. So when a new one debuts on a platform it can be a big deal to customers who invest in that particular device for their living room.

Now Spotify announces it will be making its way to Vizio TVs. The app will begin appearing for download in the Internet Apps Plus store right on the big screen.

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It seems all of us have made some switches thanks to warm weather here in the northern hemisphere, where summer is in full swing. Working outside seems prevalent, and that means, in many cases, an entirely different set of hardware.

I, for one, make my porch my office when the weather gets nice, and to do so means certain sacrifices -- or does it? As it turns out, not so much. I'm managing just fine with what I am using, able to get the job done with only the very rare exception that forces me to flee to my (rather baking) third-floor office to use a Windows computer.

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