Whole home audio does not come cheap, and the big player to date has been the Sonos system. Now Samsung is jumping into the market and has found a major music player to partner with in its implementation of the system.

The electronics maker and music streaming service Spotify are announcing the new Samsung Wireless Audio Speaker range (M7 and M5). "With Spotify Connect built in, you can stream your favorite music and playlists directly from Spotify. Hit play on your mobile or tablet, and the music booms out in any room of your home. You can even play through multiple speakers at the same time", the streaming service states.

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Just this week Amazon rolled out Prime Music to all subscribers of its video and shipping service, adding one more competitor to an already crowded market. However, tempering that good news was a bit of sadness, as one other service has announced it will be closing its virtual doors very soon.

Earbits, an up and coming competitor in the space, is announcing it will close up shop on June 16th. Earbits was never a major player in the field, but it provided an alternative option, and was a benefit to aspiring artists, so the loss will be felt by many.

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Earlier this year Amazon announced it would be raising the annual fee for its Prime service, with the price jumping from $79 to $99. It's still a reasonable deal, given that customers receive access to Netflix-like streaming movies and TV shows, free two-day shipping on orders and access to the Kindle Lending Library.

To help soften the blow of the increased price, and to perhaps grab more customers, Amazon is announcing that a music service is now part of the Prime deal.

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As the world trends towards digital streaming and downloads, people seem to care less and less about music. I hate to sound like an old man, but kids these days listen to the worst "artists". Justin Bieber? One Direction? Really? It's understandable that music has become less important for today's youth.

While I am not an audiophile by any means, I appreciate quality audio. More importantly, I appreciate value. Today, Logitech announces Multimedia Speakers Z213 -- a 2.1 speaker system. The big news though is that it is priced at $29.99. Whoa.

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Style Jukebox is a cloud player that lets you upload your personal music collection to the cloud so you can stream it to your Android, iOS, Windows and Windows Phone devices. It is designed to work both online and offline, so users can listen to their songs even in areas without cellular coverage.

Style Jukebox has been offered in a free, albeit ad-supported, version as well as in a premium one, the latter of which comes with more storage space, support for a higher number of linked devices, and support for more file types. Now, following a new round of funding, the startup's co-founder Ionut Antiu tells me Style Jukebox is improving its free plan so users will no longer see ads.

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YouTube has become the defacto place to find just about anything and, while cat videos remain popular, music is also a big part of the service. Users seem to flock to the place to watch music videos by major artists that sometimes go viral, as well as unknown people who become memes.

YouTube spent some time reminiscing about its memorable past in an announcement of the birthday celebration. "To call out just a few highlights in YouTube history, there are more than 120,000 videos inspired by 'Let it Go' (based on videos posted with that title), half a million by 'Gangnam Style,' and a stunning 1.5 million videos by 'Harlem Shake' (that’s a lot of motorcycle helmets). These inspired riffs got us thinking about those magical moments when songs become bona fide trends—and people all over the world start remixing, covering, parodying, dancing, and lip-dubbing", says the company's Claire Stapleton.

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Streaming music is the future, there is no question about it. The concept of buying, downloading and storing music is so passé. This is a natural evolution of the music market as the world heads to the cloud. Strangely, Apple was absent in the initial boom. While Spotify, Google Play Music All Access and Xbox Music were on the forefront, Apple was stuck in the past with half-baked services like iTunes Radio.

Apple's failure to lead in this segment has cost it dearly -- $3 billion dollars. You see, today, the company announces that it is buying Beats Music and Electronics for that much. In the blink of an eye, Apple is a leader in music again, but was it worth it?

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Having been born in the 80s, I've seen a lot changes in technology. Believe it or not, our first VCR was a hand-me-down with a wired remote -- yes, wired. We also did not have a cordless phone for quite a while. Instead, we had a phone with a 50-foot cord. My first Walkman, a non-Sony portable cassette player (they were all called "Walkman" back then), had crappy corded headphones. Are you seeing a trend yet? Cords, cables and wires were a necessary evil.

Luckily, nowadays we have wireless everything. The coolest technology for me is Bluetooth headphones. The fact that I do not need to strategically run a cable down my shirt or jacket is a godsend. Unfortunately, the quality of Bluetooth devices vary wildly. It is easy to buy a wireless set of cans that sound terrible. So, are the VOXOA HD Wireless Stereo Headphones terrible or great?

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Back in April, at the Microsoft Build conference, the company unveiled a music site called 22tracks. It was not designed to compete with its own Xbox Music or other rival services, but more as a concept to display the power of Internet Explorer.

Now Microsoft is announcing that 22tracks will be expanding to work across all browser platforms. The service was already designed to run on Windows from IE, Windows Phone and tablets like the Surface. However, this update is also expanding what the service can do.

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Rdio is one of the fastest growing music streaming services on the market these days. The company is trying to keep pace with a number of rivals in the increasingly competitive field of internet and mobile entertainment.

Today Rdio is announcing that it's expanding to a staggering 60 nations. This is an additional nine countries being added to the existing regions, and puts the service on six different continents.

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Music services these days are a dime a dozen. New ones pop up all the time, and some make it, while others fail. It's a tough business, given the amount of choices available to customers. Now we learn of one more that failed to find the niche it needed to be a successful business.

Ex.fm has announced it will close up shop on May 19th. This didn't come as a major surprise -- the company had given warning signs previously, but managed to keep things afloat a few additional months. However, now a blog post from the company tells the tale.

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Where would music be today without Rock 'n' Roll Star or Supersonic? If you are of a certain age, then you likely remember the debut of the classic Oasis album titled Definitely Maybe. It was a landmark moment that introduced Liam, Noel and their colleagues to the world.

Things have been on a bit of a rollercoaster since then, but today marks 20 years since that album hit stores.

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You may be surprised to learn this, but I used to be a crate-digger -- someone who frequented record-stores searching for vinyl. I may not look it, but I was massively into hip-hop vinyl collecting in the 90s and early 2000s. Many of my weekends were spent in Fat Beats or Beat Street in New York, just digging through boxes and crates searching for hidden gems or good deals. Sadly, the internet ruined this hobby for me and most record stores have closed. Instead of digging through crates, I now dig through Google Play Music All Access for streaming tunes.

One of my favorite record companies back in the day was Stones Throw. Besides putting out great hip-hop albums like Peanut Butter Wolf's "My Vinyl Weighs a Ton" and J Dilla's "Donuts", it also released obscure music on 7-inch. If you aren't familiar, most records nowadays are 12-inch, so the smaller 7-inch variants stood out and were fun. To celebrate an upcoming documentary on the record label, Rdio is hosting an exclusive playlist.

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Spotify has been a bit behind with its Windows Phone features, concentrating mostly on both Android and iOS. But today, the music service has set things right, adding new features to the mobile version of its app for the Microsoft platform.

"Today we’re introducing a new update to our Windows Phone users. The update brings features Discover and Browse, meaning it’s easier than ever to discover new favorites, as well as finding the perfect playlist for every mood and moment", states the company's Channtal Fleischfresser.

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TuneIn Radio is one of the hottest music services right now, allowing customers to listen to both terrestrial and internet-based stations. Now the company is implementing a radical upgrade to the way it works.

The service is trying to become more social, a bit like a Twitter for music fans. "TuneIn will connect millions of listeners and broadcasters from all over the globe with new features including a personalized live feed, profile pages, and the ability to share content with the Echo feature", states the company.

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