Articles about Music

Smartphone users who want to enjoy their favorite music through a portable Bluetooth speaker have a sea of options to choose from these days. Many accessory makers offer small setups that promise to deliver a much higher sound quality than the built-in speakers, and in plenty of cases at a pretty reasonable cost too.

DKnight is no different. Its Big MagicBox setup, which features dual 10W drivers and "advanced bass enhancement technology", claims to offer "exceptional sound quality" and is touted as "the most competitive speaker" in its segment of the market. But, just how good is it in real life?

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Roku has been in the news several times recently, releasing a new line of set-top boxes as well partnering up with more manufacturers of smart TVs, most recently Hitachi. But the platform is about more than just video. There's also the audio experience.

One of the hot music apps these days is iHeartRadio, which pulls in a plethora of stations and genres for even the most eclectic tastes out there. Now the service is improving its features with a line of new options.

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If you need a portable Bluetooth speaker, you can never go wrong with Ultimate Ears. All of the company's products are great, with a focus on listening to music and having fun. Some of its wireless speakers even support Siri and Google Now.

The company's UE BOOM 2 is a personal favorite. Not only is the Bluetooth speaker rugged and well-designed, but it produces satisfying audio too. Today, Ultimate Ears announces an all-new limited edition version called 'Yaqui Day of the Dead'. It retains the same 15-hour battery life and long 100 foot range, but adds a new design by a famed artist.

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Shazam is a fantastic app for identifying music but, judging by the launch of a new version, it is not for everyone. Its maker believes that potential new users in emerging markets might be better served by a smaller and lighter version of the app, so today it introduces Shazam Lite.

Unlike Shazam, which takes just under 60MB of storage on a OnePlus 3, Shazam Lite has "a highly optimized size of less than 1MB" to suit the entry-level Android smartphones that are taking over emerging markets. It is not uncommon for such a device to have 8GB or 16GB of storage.

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In an effort to better compete against Apple Music and other music streaming services, Spotify may be considering purchasing SoundCloud. Apparently the two companies are in "advanced talks", that could result in Spotify acquiring its rival that has been valued at $700 million.

Recently, Spotify has faced a great deal of competition from other subscription-based music streaming services, including Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Prime and Deezer.

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Streaming services proliferate the music market these days, making CDs seem very much a thing of the past. One of the more popular options available to customers is Spotify, which sometimes seems to have pretty much taken over. The company would like to keep expanding its global footprint and is taking another step towards that.

Now the company is launching its latest destination, Japan. Spotify announces that at the moment it is invitation-only however, it will be available across major platforms including mobile, tablet, desktop and PlayStation.

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YouTube was criticized recently for preventing content-makers from monetizing videos that covered certain topics. But this is far from being the only complaint levelled at the video site. British music industry body UK Music says that artists are not receiving enough in the way of royalty payment from YouTube.

UK Music's 2016 report, Measuring Music shows that YouTube remains the most popular way for people to consume music in the UK. Despite this, the report says that the effective 'per-stream' payment rate fell from $0.0020 to $0.0010.

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Yesterday, Apple announced that it was removing the 3.5mm audio jack from its upcoming iPhone 7 and 7 Plus smartphones; some people are still comically reeling from the news. Understandably, not everyone can see the benefits of Apple's forward thinking subtraction now, but the world will catch up eventually -- as usual.

While killing the outdated decades-old audio port was the correct choice, understandably, not everyone is ready to invest in Apple's AirPods. Some folks will prefer wired headphones. Luckily, Apple is bundling both a 3.5mm dongle and Lightning audio wired earbuds with the iPhone 7 (and Plus). While that partly solves the dilemma, some folks will hit a roadblock -- they cannot listen to wired headphones while charging their iPhone devices. Today, Belkin creates a solution for that problem with the all new 'Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar' adapter.

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When people think of desktop computer speakers, their minds likely go to low-quality freebies that came with the machine. My first-ever PC, a Packard Bell, came with speakers that attached to the sides of the included CRT monitor. The sound quality was terrible (they hummed), but this was acceptable at the time; most folks didn't use their computer for listening to music or watching full length-films back then. It wasn't until the mp3 revolution that the PC became the central point of music and other media for some.

Believe it or not, over the years, generic OEM desktop computer speakers have remained fairly average. Of course, in-the-know audio enthusiasts could always upgrade to some quality gear from a company like Logitech. Speaking of that company, today it  announces its latest set of 2.1 speakers, the 'Z625 Powerful THX Sound'. Featuring both RCA and optical inputs, they should prove quite versatile. Whether it is for a desktop, laptop, or even a television. Logitech's latest looks like an affordable winner.

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Much like Google, streaming music service Spotify is increasingly turning its attention to advertising. Announcing what it refers to as "programmatic buying", the company reveals that it is launching a targeted advertising program.

Advertisers -- or "buyers" in Spotify's nomenclature -- will be granted access to not only demographic data about users, but also access to information about playlists.

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Most US consumers may not be familiar with Deezer and for good reason. While it is one of the oldest players in the music streaming industry, having launched nine years ago in France, the service has only been offered alongside some audio products and carrier subscriptions so far.

That is about to change though, as Deezer is now, finally, widely available in US. Just like its main competitors, it can be sampled on all the major platforms, including Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows, with customers getting unlimited access to the "world's largest music streaming library", live radio, news, and podcasts.

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Many artists loathe music streaming services that have proved so popular with music fans. While they offer a platform to showcase music, the returns can be low and the way in which payments are calculated is endlessly complex.

Apple has put forward a proposal to simplify the royalty payment system which would not only see artists getting more money, but would make life more difficult for the likes of Spotify. Keep artists happy, harm the competition -- two birds with one stone. A government filing in conjunction with the Copyright Royalty Board suggests a royalty rate of $0.091 per one hundred streams.

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Last year we reviewed the Rock Jaw Alfa Genius V2 earphones and they impressed with their adjustable filters, offering a premium listening experience at a mid-range price.

Even so, not everyone is prepared to spend more than $60 on a pair of earphones, so now British company Rock Jaw is targeting more frugal listeners with the new Clarito.

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Researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington managed to store a high-definition music video by OK Go into a DNA strain. This is actually much more serious than it sounds.

A team of scientists and researchers stored 200 megabytes of data on a molecular strand, and thus set a new record. A bunch of data was added, including digital versions of works of art, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in more than 100 languages, the top 100 books of Project Guttenberg and the non-profit Crop Trust’s seed database. Knowing IoT and Big Data are on the way, having a long-lasting and reliable data storage solution is essential.

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As a Tidal subscriber, I welcome Apple acquisition—assuming lossless tracks are made available through the fruit-logo company's music services. Not that anyone should seriously believe the rumors. But one can hope.

Merger talks are typically silent affairs. When they're serious, you don't hear about them until there is a deal. Reasons are many, with regulatory being among them when public companies are involved. Acquisition rumors often mean something else: Principal party leaks information about preliminary or ongoing discussions to gauge customer and shareholder reaction; one side or the other is dissatisfied with progress/terms and seeks to apply pressure.

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