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File compression is great for long-term storage and bulk transfer but can be risky with certain kinds of media. MP3 files, for example, are great for sharing, enjoying great music, and listening to your favorite podcasts in high audio quality. However, compressing them runs the risk of reducing their audio quality and causing corruption upon extraction. Converting MP3s to FLAC files is a better avenue for large-scale compression, keeping the files safe and small without sacrificing sound quality.
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- Our friends at 9to5Google reached out to let us know offline playback may have appeared as early a v3.03, though that version doesn't exhibit the behavior in our tests. The precise version this may have been delivered with is indeterminate, but either way, it occurred within the last month or so.
Google has been pitching YouTube Music as an eventual replacement for Google Play Music since the company refocused what it was for last year, but it's still missing plenty of features. You still can't access your Google Play Music uploads from YouTube Music, and there's no easy way to import playlists or libraries between the two services. However, YouTube Music has just picked up the ability to play locally stored audio files — though, sadly, only via external means like file managers. In-app local media playback is still absent.
Oh Android... you have the most modern and complicated of features, yet every once in a while we're reminded of one basic, really really really really basic, feature that you're still missing. Did you know that you can't easily choose a custom ringtone in Android AOSP? I didn't. I have used LG and Samsung phones for years and it's been ages since I tried to change the default ringtone (my phone is always silent anyway), so all I knew was that I could choose a file manually on these phones. AOSP? Not so. Wh---at?!
Awesome: Amazon MP3 Now Matches Your Imported Music To Its Own Library And Gives You 256Kbps Versions, Plus A Lot More
I make no bones of the fact that Amazon's MP3 service is my favored music playback option on Android, and the service just got a big update to compete
I make no bones of the fact that Amazon's MP3 service is my favored music playback option on Android, and the service just got a big update to compete with its primary rival - Google Music. The general changelog is here, but it's a little difficult to parse, so I'll give you the gist.
[Deal Alert] Amazon Is Giving Away $3 In AmazonMP3 Credit Right Now
In the world of digital music stores that aren't iTunes, Amazon is a crowd favorite. With DRM-free downloads of widely-compatible MP3s and a cloud storage
In the world of digital music stores that aren't iTunes, Amazon is a crowd favorite. With DRM-free downloads of widely-compatible MP3s and a cloud storage player that isn't the worst in the world, it's hard to not enjoy the utility of Amazon's music service. If that's not enough, though, how about some free stuff? Amazon is currently offering $3 worth of free music to anyone who asks. As long as you ask before midnight (PST), that is.
Google Music is old hat. Sorry, guys - it's true. Streaming? Amazon's Cloud Player and iTunes iCloud both have it. Locker storage? Amazon gives you a decent amount, too - and they might even increase it if they feel Google Music is one-upping them. Purchase options? Apple and Amazon both have more music you can purchase digitally, including titles from Warner Music Group (which Google Music does not have), where many major contemporary artists are signed.
Update: The Music section of the Market is now live! (Link). Access to Music in the Android Market (on-device) will be rolling out over the next few days on the server side (there is no new version of the Market to get the Music section). A new version of the Music app is out as well, check it out here.
It seems that invitees to Google's big not-yet-officially-about-Google-Music-event have just received a second invitation - to the after party. Oh, and Maroon 5, Busta Rhymes, Dirty South, R3hab, and Drake will all be in attendance - and so will we. We'll be watching the earlier event via livestream along with most everyone else (space is apparently very limited), but Android Police will present for the post-event-event Wednesday night, below. We're excited.
Google's Music service has been an incomplete experience since its unveiling at Google I/O back in May. While Music Beta does allow you to upload your songs and stream them to your Android device, it lacks any kind of storefront. Google does have a small library of featured free tunes for Music users, but I can't say any of the albums or artists there have ever really interested me too much.
Motorola's press conference is under way, but it turns out the Droid RAZR isn't the only thing that Motorola had up their sleeve - they also announced the MOTOACTV, what is essentially an iPod Nano on serious steroids.
When Amazon Cloud Player hit the scene, my exact words were "Google Music who?" and now that Google Music Beta invites are starting to rollout to the masses, I can aptly answer that question.
To answer the question, briefly: nobody really knows at this point. But I do think Google is going to have to make some sacrifices in the short term if the Music service is going to get off the ground. And that's because the record labels won't play ball - at least not by Google's rules according to All Things D, quoting two apparently well-connected sources.
The popular Android music player PowerAMP received an update this morning with new features and numerous bug fixes. Take a look at the change log below:
If you read today's Amazon Cloud Storage announcement carefully, you may have noticed that Amazon threw in a special offer allowing a free 1-year upgrade for your Cloud account from 5GB to 20GB with the purchase of any MP3 album. Why pay $20 a year when you can buy an album cheaper and achieve the same thing without spending the extra money (otherwise known as taking advantage of a loophole)?
This announcement should warm up some cold, digital, audiophile hearts. Following the rumors, Korean digital audio player maker Cowon announced its latest creation - the D3 "Plenue," running Android 2.1. Following on from the renowned D2/D2+, Cowon's newest device bests its predecessors in just about every way.
The incredibly popular VLC Player is finally coming to Android after months of hard work by the open source project developers. Originally a desktop media center for Linux, Windows, and Mac, this versatile player will bring many new video-playing features to our beloved OS including a wide variety of formats such as DivX and Dolby TrueHD. The lead developer in the project, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, has confirmed that it will hit the Android Market in "just a few weeks", which means that Android will be the first mobile platform to have a version of this software finally follow iOS and get its own port (thanks, Mikeyy). This was made possible through various NDK (native development kit) improvements found in Gingerbread.
As the Android platform celebrated its 2nd birthday last month, I thought now would be a good time to take a step back and look at all the music players available on the Market right now. Only a year ago, there were just a couple of worthy contenders, but now we have a choice of more than a dozen very good and popular apps and a few hundred not so popular ones. It's easy to get lost, isn't it?
If you're looking for a small, great-sounding, non-Apple music playing device, two of the most frequently recommended players out there have been the Sansa Fuze and Cowon D2/D2+. With the Fuze just getting bumped up to the Fuze+, it's only fair that Cowon release an update of their own. Although it was only last year that the D2+ was released, a certification filing on the 28th of September shows that there truly is a D3 coming, and hopefully soon.