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Streaming Music

54 'Streaming Music' stories May 2013 - March 2014
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NPR added to iTunes Radio as the first news streaming service

Avatar for Zac Hall Mar 24 2014 - 9:06 am PT
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Now this is interesting (if you like talk radio): Recode is reporting that iTunes Radio is slated to pick up streaming news today through a partnership with NPR.

NPR’s channel, which should be live today, will offer a free stream, 24 hours a day, which mixes live news with segments from pre-recorded shows like “All Things Considered” and “The Diane Rehm Show.” NPR officials say that within weeks, some of the broadcaster’s local stations should begin offering their own channels, with a similar mix of live and taped news.

You can add the new station to your iTunes Radio lineup below:


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Opinion: Five years from now, will we have given up all control of our technology?

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jan 9 2014 - 7:20 am PT
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I know, it seems an odd question. But a few different things over the last couple of days got me thinking …

Years ago, before either Google or Apple ecosystems were really deserving of the term, I managed all my device synchronisation manually: I decided what content got synced on what devices. My music too: iTunes was allowed to play it, but not to manage it – I took care of the folder structures and meta-data myself. And the miscellaneous notes I kept were in a folder full of text files, the format deliberately chosen to be compatible with anything, not sitting inside Apple’s Notes app.

My view was that it should be me, not some piece of software or online service, that made the decisions about how things got done. Fast-forward to today, however, and things are quite different around here … 
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Have music downloads hit their peak, with streaming taking over?

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Dec 16 2013 - 4:43 am PT
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What do 1980, 1989 and 2003 have in common? They were the peak sales years for LPs, cassettes and CDs respectively. After that, a very slight resurgence in vinyl aside, it was all downhill.

Billboard magazine has an interesting piece in which they suggest that perhaps 2012 might join that list – as the year that saw peak sales for music downloads, with streaming services like Spotify, Rdio and now, of course, iTunes Radio the heir apparent …


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iOS 7 How-To: Use Apple’s new (and free) iTunes Radio streaming music service

Avatar for Sarah Guarino Sep 19 2013 - 6:03 am PT
38 Comments
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With iOS 7, Apple has debuted iTunes Radio, its answer to streaming music services like Rdio, Spotify, and Pandora. It is a free service with some occasional ads. So far the ads have been about advertising cars and iTunes Festival. If you do not want any ads, you can pay twenty-five dollars a year for iTunes Match…


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Shazam for iPad introduces passive tagging, lyrics display, auto-play in Spotify & Rdio and more

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 23 2013 - 5:15 am PT
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKOowwejuAQ

A new iPad version of Shazam available today introduces a whole raft of new functions, ranging from passive tagging without user input to the ability to recognise a song and then play it in Spotify or Rdio.

With passive tagging, the app continually listens to any music in the background and automatically tags it, ideal for use in bars where you may idly wonder what a track is but not want to go to the trouble of manually checking. The feature also works in the background, displaying a notification while the iPad is running other apps. Shazam’s claim of one-second tagging appears somewhat optimistic, however: a random sampling of tracks I tested took the usual several seconds.

LyricPlay displays lyrics in sync with the background music (Encore version only), while you can now immediately open the currently-playing track in either Rdio (all versions) or Spotify (Encore version only).

Shazam for iPad also introduces the kind of networked feature which seems to be expected in apps these days even if we’re not quite sure why. You can see which music and TV shows people are currently tagging in your country, city of neighborhood – as well as use a map to see tagging charts for anywhere else in the world.

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Pandora Radio rolls out Facebook publishing, improved interface, enhanced track menu, more

Avatar for Zac Hall May 22 2013 - 7:09 am PT
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Just as Apple appears to be readying its music streaming service and Google just announced its subscription music service, Pandora Radio has released a sturdy update to its iPhone app.

Users can now publish Now Playing activity to Facebook as it updates, similar to Spotify or Rdio, allowing friends to interact with the music you enjoy. Sharing individual tracks and stations to Facebook, Twitter, and email is built right in now as well.

Pandora 4.3 also includes a handful of UI improvements that greatly improve the native feel of the app, including the ability to tap the album art to reveal track information, but the new features and improvements are only available for iPhone for now.

Pandora 4.3 is available on the App Store now:
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