Amazon is reportedly negotiating with music labels about an Amazon-branded music service. According to Recode’s sources, the talks are not flying along because Amazon is asking for more favorable licensing terms than those negotiated by music-only services. Continue Reading
GM automaker Chevrolet announced over the weekend that Beats Music will be included in selected 2015 model cars, via the Chevrolet AppShop. AppShop is an in-car download service that works similarly to Apple’s App Store and Google Play for Android apps. Continue Reading
Although not yet showing in the Google Play app store, it is widely reported that the unfortunately-named Google Play Music All Access subscription service, version 5.4, adds offline access to “radio” stations. Many users will probably think, “Finally!” Continue Reading
Reluctantly leaving behind our POTD celebration of Beatlemania, we needed something remarkable to distract us. We found the perfect stream to carry us away from cloying nostalgia: Radio Oloron. This French-originating stream is surprising, satisfying, and addictive. Continue Reading
Streaming music to one’s TV might not be the most intuitive use-case scenario, but it’s getting more popular. One reason is that the television sometimes is attached to the home’s best sound system. Beats Music and Rdio have integrated with Chromecast to enable that. Continue Reading
Yesterday we wondered whether SoundCloud could live up to its investors’ aspiration to be the “YouTube of Audio.” The new visual player is an excellent first step in that direction. Click through to see it in action. Continue Reading
The much-anticipated Beats Music on-demand subscription service launched today, following a long build-up with anticipatory marketing. Beats positioned itself in advance, emphasizing celebrity playlists and effortless listening to “the right song at the right time.” Click for our review. Continue Reading
Google takes “infographic” to the next level with a flowing interactive timeline of music genre popularity from 1950 to the present. You can see at a glance, as if from a cross-section of musical strata, how pop and rock displaced jazz in the 1960s, and how indie and hip-hop ate into those categories starting in the 1980s. Continue Reading
It’s as if Beats Music were a meteor headed for earth, and inhabitants on the ground were feeling the heat of its approach. Rdio has followed Spotify, making its web listening free and unlimited. Even Pandora has added a feature to counter Beats Music’s emphasis on curated listening. Continue Reading
It’s official: Beats Music will open for subscription on January 21. It is clear from initial marketing, screenshots, and the long announcement from CEO Ian Rogers that Beats will focus on personalization and hand-crafted listening stations. If that doesn’t work, Beats has two more cards in its pocket. Click for the RAIN Preview. Continue Reading
Existing Xbox Music subscribers are doubtless pleased today, if they carry their subscriptions on iPhones and iPads. The iOS version of the jukebox service released an important update that allows cacheing of playlists to the device, for offline listening. But — possible server crush broke our updated app. Continue Reading