App Wrap: Google, Rdio, iTunes Radio
Items of interest in the music-app realm: Google Play Music updates its Apple app, Rdio gives smoother listening to Android users, and iTunes Radio is rumored to go local. Continue Reading
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Apple reportedly buying Beats
In what would be a blockbuster $3.2-billion deal that re-shapes the ownership structure of streaming music, Apple is reportedly set to acquire Beats Electronics, which includes Beats Music. If it plays out as rumored, the acquisition would vault Apple into the music-subscription industry, adding a third pillar to its music business. Continue Reading
Owning music: down. Acquiring music: up.
Listening to music and acquiring music are entwined. In 2014, collecting music has a new meaning, and increasingly occurs without the need of a traditional music product — physical or virtual. What collecting music means today. Continue Reading
Internet Radio REWIND: #001
Introducing Internet Radio REWIND, an audio recap of the week. This weekly program is a quick (six minutes) and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories. Click the Play button and be ready for the coming week. this week: Bette Midler, Spotify and Sprint, Pandora’s latest lawsuit, Rdio’s Brazilian blockbuster, and Pono Music. Continue Reading
Apple CarPlay comes to existing cars via Pioneer
Apple CarPlay is one of the most interesting connected-car initiatives. Pioneer plans to offer an aftermarket solution to existing cars, via updates to its AV Receiver models. The update is firmware, which means software downloaded into the unit and permanently installed. It’s really an operating system upgrade to installed Pioneer audio units, that includes Apple’s CarPlay software. Continue Reading
iTunes Radio courting advertisers for U.K. launch
According to an executive at the British office of OMD, the global ad agency, Apple is prepping the agency on iAds in iTunes Radio, presumably for a soon-to-be U.K. launch of the Internet radio service. Hannah Allen of OMD tweeted a visit from Paul Wright, who runs Apple’s ad platform in Europe. Continue Reading
Testing, testing — iTunes Radio and Deezer dip toes in new markets
Last week we received a tip from a U.S.-based reader who reported accessing the Deezer music service on his computer. Deezer is not officially available in the American market. Eagerly envious, we tried it ourselves, but got the usual “unavailable in your country” message. We asked Deezer to comment. Continue Reading
Bloom.FM banned from advertising on iTunes Radio, enjoys idea of being a threat
Bloom.FM, an on-demand music app, report-tweeted it has been knocked out of the iTunes Radio ad rotation after spending 2,000 British pounds a month on commercials for its service. Bloom.FM spokespeople are enjoying their new image as a prospective iTunes Radio killer. Continue Reading
Edison Research to European radio: Don’t think you’re irreplaceable
The occasion of this brisk admonition was Radiodays Europe, an annual conference held this year in the Dublin Convention Center. Rosin brought new research with him (“iTunes Radio: Lessons from America”), based on The Infinite Dial 2014 survey but unreleased when that project was unveiled. Continue Reading
iTunes Radio adds NPR news, its first departure from music
iTunes Radio took its first step away from music today, by adding a customized NPR news station to its presets. Not a specific local station, the new offering is simply called “NPR,” and contains no discrete tracks, voting up/down, or other interactive features that exist with songs. Continue Reading
Apple considers music subscription service
Apple is reportedly considering launching a subscription music service. If it does, the new service will complement Apple’s two existing music businesses, iTunes Music Store, and iTunes Radio, while adding yet another on-demand music service to the crowded U.S. market. Continue Reading
Apple might (and should) make iTunes Radio a stand-alone app
Currently, iTunes Radio is packed into the default Music app, the icon for which which cannot be removed from the iPhone/iPod/iPad desktop. The iTunes Radio brand is not spelled out anywhere in the system. As a review point of the service and its accessibility, we think iTunes Radio should exist as a separate identity in iOS. Continue Reading