Articles about Music

When thinking of personal radio, services such as Pandora, Rdio, Spotify and others come to mind. Windows Azure is not a part of this word association game, but the Microsoft service is capable of powering such apps for mobile platforms, and works with Windows Phone, iPhone and Android.

Now Long Zheng, formerly of the ChevronWP7 team, has announced his startup 121Cast is releasing Omny -- which the company hopes will change the way people use their mobile devices for music, email, news and more. "I know the word 'revolutionize' is very much a cliché for tech startups but I do think we've come up with an easier, more interactive, and all around better way for the busy mobile individual to listen to news, entertainment, music and important updates on the go", Zheng states. "Omny expands on that idea [SoundGecko] to provide a more diverse range of content such as professional radio shows, podcasts and music through Spotify, Rdio, Songl and iTunes", he continues.

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iOS comes with its own built-in music solution in the form of iTunes, but sadly for Apple, not every customer wishes to use it, or at least not full-time. But the mobile platform allows other services to compete for your ear and now one which has already established a presence on both the web and Android is making its case to iOS users.

Earbits, an online radio and music marketing platform, is available worldwide, aiming to showcase independent artists, and promising music from more than 12,000 musicians. Much like other similar services, Earbits works on recommendations, with a premise of allowing the customer to discover new music based on current tastes. It does so not only by using what you listen to via the service, but also by examining songs stored on your device.

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I am a big fan of music -- it is my passion and hobby. While the MP3 music-revolution has allowed us to fill our smartphones and tablets with tunes, the speaker quality on those devices tend to be poor. Conversely, on my home desktop, I use the wonderful Logitech Z-2300 2.1 speakers. I have owned these for many years with amazing results and, therefore, I view Logitech favorably for audio quality.

Today, the company announces "a major upgrade to the popular Logitech UE Mobile Boombox with UE MINI BOOM, a surprisingly small speaker that delivers unexpectedly huge sound in stylish and vibrant color options. The UE MINI BOOM takes the Ultimate Ears expertise in filling small speakers with big sound to a new level, with a personal speaker with clear highs and deep bass, giving you great stereo sound wherever and whenever you want it".

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The Grammys and MTV Music Awards might be over for another year, but there's still a chance for your favorite artist to bag an accolade before 2014 arrives, as YouTube today announces its very own awards show.

Google wishes to pay tribute to the musicians who help to make the video service the popular destination it has become. "On Sunday, November 3, YouTube will host the first-ever YouTube Music Awards, a live-streamed event honoring the artists and songs that you have turned into hits over the past year", says Danielle Tiedt, Vice President of Marketing.

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Just yesterday, Microsoft played its latest card in the music battle, announcing Linkin Park's latest song would stream exclusively on Xbox Music. In a battle with iTunes, Google, Spotify and others, today it's Pandora's turn to show its cards, and the first on the table is a new iPad app and a bit of a rebranding.

The company is rolling out Pandora 5.0 and with it a revamped logo, app icon, and a new visual design. "Our goal with the logo and app icon is to honor our past while looking to the future with a bolder, more modern identity. The visual design language, which we refer to simply as 'lights,' is meant to evoke the interplay of lights from a live show while symbolizing the flow of music from artists to listeners", says Simon Fleming-Wood.

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Many of us have been frustrated in the past by music debuting exclusively on iTunes, locking out those of us who prefer a different service. Now Microsoft is taking the exclusive music route with Linkin Park, but doing it a bit differently with the debut of "A Light That Never Comes".

"The song will stream exclusively for 14 days on Xbox Music, Microsoft’s all-in-one music service. As the founding member of a band that turns down more partnerships than we approve, I wanted to shed some light on Linkin Park and Microsoft, and let you know how we see the future", says Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda.

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Big news came from Apple and Microsoft this week. Microsoft seemingly had a change of heart; having previously said that Windows 8.1 RTM would not be made available before its official launch date, the company announced that it would be released to people with TechNet and MSDN subscriptions.

The same group of people also gained access to the pre-release version of Skype. Microsoft was clearly in a very giving mood this week as the company also announced that it was giving free copies of Office 365 to non-profit organizations.

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Because there's more to life than books, you know, Google unleashed Music All Access on us back in May of this year, going head-to-head with rivals such as Spotify, Rdio and Pandora, and combining this with all of your own music stored for free on the search giant's servers. My colleague Brian Fagioli called the new service a game-changer and today that contest alters a bit more.

Google is quietly rolling out an update to All Access that enhances the Pandora-like feature in the service. Personalized radio stations allow customers to enter an artist, or multiple ones, to create a station that plays music of the same type. However, for those who would like to simplify this process, Google Music now offers genre stations -- if you wish to listen to just Alternative, well, now you can.

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I once spent a fun evening drinking in an LA hotel bar with the Sex Pistols. It was the 90s and the iconic group had reformed for a series of lucrative gigs and were in the city for rehearsals. John Lydon was in excellent form, as always.

Despite being the best known of the seventies punk bands, The Sex Pistols were never my favorite group -- I always preferred The Clash (with The Damned close behind). I told Lydon this and he laughed and spat on the floor. He spent a lot of that evening spitting on the floor, and my shoes.

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TuneUpMedia has released TuneUp 3.0.3, a minor update to its iTunes clean-up tool for Windows and Mac. Version 3.0.3 fixes a bug to make the new Automagic Status bar more responsive, plus adds back support for Windows Media Player to the Windows builds.

TuneUp is designed to simplify the task of managing, organizing and cleaning up messy iTunes (and Windows Media Player) libraries, and version 3.0.3 comes hot on the heels of the recent major 3.0 update.

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German multimedia specialist MAGIX has revealed the next generation of its flagship audio editor, MAGIX Music Maker 2014. As before, it comes in both standard and Premium editions, each of which sees some worthwhile gains with the new release.

If you like Music Maker’s loops, for example, you’ll love the extra choice you get this time around: there are 2,000 new loops and sounds with the regular edition, 5,000 if you opt for the Premium.

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About 3 months ago, my heart was aflutter for Google's Play Music All Access. I was so enamored that I declared iTunes dead. While it remains my favorite streaming music service, there is still not an iOS version. I am typically an Android guy, however, there is a fourth-generation iPod touch in my family that gets use too -- mostly for music.

This week, I discovered a new addition to the crowded streaming music category, called Radical.FM. The question becomes: is it a worthy addition to iOS?

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Pandora, the popular music service, is adding yet another feature to its mobile app. The customizable radio station service, built on the Music Genome project, splits its time between development and fighting for its right to be treated as a radio station in the eyes of the MPAA.

Today the service announces an update to the mobile app that brings a new sleep timer feature for both free and "One" customers. "Today I’m thrilled to share that we’re releasing a new version of our Pandora mobile app for both iOS and Android that contains one of our top-requested new product features from listeners: a Sleep Timer. With the new Sleep Timer in version 4.5 of our app, you can now fall asleep to the sounds of your favorite Pandora stations", says Pandora's Mike Grishaver.

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I'm a big fan of Hip-Hop music -- underground rap in particular. For me, SoundCloud is a great way to discover new  artists (all music genres are represented though). However, it is also a great way to connect with musicians that I am already a fan of. Unfortunately, as great as the service is, sharing music from SoundCloud was never a great experience -- this is a shame, as music is meant to be communal. Today things are changing. SoundCloud announces that it has enabled Google+ music sharing.

"We're always excited to develop new ways to make it easy for you to share and hear sounds everywhere. So we're happy to announce today that we're working together with Google to make it easier than ever to reach your audience by sharing sounds to Google+", says SoundCloud.

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As the Microsoft mobile ecosystem grows, more popular apps are finding their way into the Windows Phone store. The platform now boasts top-notch games like Angry Birds and Temple Run, as well as video services like Hulu. While customers can get their music fix from apps such as Nokia Music (if you have a Nokia phone), competition and options are good.

Now Spotify makes its official debut in the Windows Phone world. Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president and manager for Windows Phone Program Management, tweeted "Hey music lovers... today #Spotify for #WP8 is out of beta! A big update: more languages, offline playlist improvements, track scrubbing".

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