Windows 8.1 was released last week, and with it an updated Xbox Music service. Some of the upgrades to Xbox Music are merely usability features that make interactions easier. But one entirely new feature expands the competency of Xbox Music… Continue Reading
Trademark features live long lives. “I’m Feeling Lucky” appeared with the earliest versions of Google Search, giving users a fun roulette experience in search results. In those days, in the dawn of modern web-search intelligence, the “feeling lucky” feature conveyed… Continue Reading
South of the border: After a recent expansion of its streaming and cloud-serving music service to a half dozen European countries earlier this month (covered in RAIN here), the irregularly named Google Play Music All Access is now accessible in… Continue Reading
The marketing is impressive, the collateral design is dazzling, and the product itself is … slightly baffling, at first. BBC Playlister is a new feature woven throughout the BBC online music experience. The top layer is a tagging function, whereby… Continue Reading
Amazon caused a media ripple yesterday when it connected its previously independent Amazon Cloud Player with its MP3 Store. The Cloud Player is an online music locker where customers can store their owned tracks (whether purchased from Amazon or not),… Continue Reading
Major broadcast radio group Cumulus and online subscription streaming service Rdio have forged a deal that gives Cumulus a significant online outlet, and not only affords Rdio access to the broadcaster’s music programming, but allows it to launch a free,… Continue Reading
Whether by coincidence, or as deliberate attempts to steal a bit of the spotlight on “Apple event day” (arguably a national holiday for the technorati), iHeartRadio and Google introduced updates to their Internet radio products. iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s broad aggregation… Continue Reading
A blog called Music Machinery has published charts of Google search trends for several major online music services, which indicate which are growing in popularity, and those whose best days appear to be behind them. The graphs represent trends in… Continue Reading
Microsoft waded boldly into new waters today by extending its Xbox Music service to non-Windows mobile devices, and eliminating subscription fees from the desktop web version. The maneuver comes one day before Apple’s iPhone/iOS 7 event on Tuesday. The timing… Continue Reading
Commercial Radio Australia and GfK have released their Share of Audio 2018 report, covering insights into different types of audio consumption. The report shares data from audio diaries of Australian listeners, with statistics for radio, podcasts, and streaming audio. The streaming figures include the free and paid tiers for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, and more. Continue Reading
by Steve Goldstein
In this latest installment of the Amplifi Media blog, Steve Goldstein summarizes the Podcast Movement discussion panel which he moderated, with plenty of quotes from the panel: James Cridland, Jeanine Wright, Daniel Albright, and Mayowa Ajayi. Under discussion: Is the bloom off the rose in podcasting? Continue Reading
by Bill Rosenblatt
Guest columnist Bill Rosenblatt analyzes Amazon’s most significant entry to podcasting — a podcast listening service integrated with Amazon Music. Comparing Amazon to Spotify is instructive, and this piece also takes into account how Amazon’s lead in the smart speaker market plays into strategic decision around podcasting. One question for the near future, according to rosenblatt: How will audiobooks play in these global audio platforms? Continue Reading