15
May
play music logo

[Hands-On] Play Music Is Now The Template For All Future Music Services (Even If It Takes A Little While To Love)

Posted by in Google, News

At the start of this review, I was simultaneously excited and frustrated. Now I'm just plain excited. For a bit of context, I have been bouncing between cloud music services since Lala was still a thing. I had one simple desire: I wanted to pay a monthly fee for unfettered access to a large library of content, but still wanted to be able to bring my own. I know that $10/month is not going to get me every song in existence, but if I can pay for most music, and then supply the rest, I'll be happy. Today, Google finally gave me what I wanted and, make no mistake, this is the model that other apps are going to follow for a long time to come.

14
May
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The Verge, WSJ: Google Strikes Music Streaming Deal With Sony and Universal, Spotify-Like Service Imminent

Posted by in Google, News

On the eve of I/O, Google managed to finalize deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to bring a music subscription service to both YouTube and Google Play, according to a report by The Verge that is now being corroborated by The Wall Street Journal. If everything goes smoothly, a preview or launch of the new service tomorrow isn't out of the question. The Journal similarly says the streaming solution could launch "as soon as this week." That would give Google a substantial leg up over Apple, which is still in the process of negotiating contracts for its own music streaming solution.

07
May
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Spotify App Updated: Remembers Your Place, Filters Your Playlists, Looks Great In Your Pants

Posted by in Applications, News

Spotify's bringing it down to the flo'. Nah, not really, but kind of. The crew behind the venerable music service has released an app update on Google Play, and among bug fixes and a playlist-sorting enhancement, a unique feature is listed in the changelog: "This app looks great in trousers."

yes

The most significant change is playlist and track sorting. The app also now remembers what you were listening to when you last logged out. Couple that with playlist view improvements, and the new Spotify is perfect for a party in your... living room.

Spotify

Download Spotify from Google Play
QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotify.mobile.android.ui

23
Feb
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[Rumor] Google Said To Be In Talks With Record Labels To Expand GMusic With A Spotify-Like Streaming Service

Posted by in Google, News, Rumors

Well, this is exciting. We knew it was only a matter of time before El Goog decided to get into the music streaming biz, and according to the Wall Street Journal, the company is currently in talks with several record labels to fire up a Spotify-esque service.

If true, the service is said to become part of Google Music, which only makes sense. Currently, Music allows users upload their own music libraries and stream them from any web browser or Android device, and the addition of a streaming service would likely give users access to unlimited music outside of that collection for a monthly fee.

13
Feb
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Slacker Radio Updates Paid Model, Adds $10/Month All-You-Can-Eat Option To Its Radio Service

Posted by in Applications, News

As if there weren't enough contenders out there for music subscription service, Slacker Radio has updated its business model. You can still get the standard ad-supported radio station features that were always available. However the company has added a Spotify-like buffet option for $10/month. Pony up the dough and you can remove all ads and listen to as many tracks as you want.

The combination is pretty powerful, as one of the biggest complaints over Spotify is its discovery problems. Slacker Radio never really dethroned Pandora, but it did offer some stiff competition. There has been relatively little overlap between radio and subscription services.

05
Sep
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Spotify App Update Now Adds NFC Sharing Ability, Equalizer For Users Running ICS And Up

Posted by in Applications, News

Today, Spotify's Android app received an update that should please audiophiles the world over (where available): if you're using the mobile app on Ice Cream Sandwich or above, you can now access an equalizer from the Settings menu. The features is actually called "Audio Effects" in 4.0, but on Jelly Bean it's been changed to the more readily-recognizable "Equalizer" moniker.

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Also new is the ability to share music via NFC. Assuming you and a friend have NFC-enabled devices and both subscribe to Spotify, you can share tracks by tapping your devices together. Handy! Other improvements include a better offline mode bar and a bunch of bug fixes.

31
Jul
spotifytiny

Spotify App Updates With Radio Support For Mobile Users, Free Radio For All Users

Posted by in Applications, News

The Spotify Android app typically lags behind not only its counterpart on other platforms, but even its own desktop app. One of the nicest features that the streaming service offers on the desktop is its Radio services. Using your own selections as a starting point, Spotify will put together automated playlists based on your taste. You know, like Pandora. As of today's update, the Radio functions are not only available on mobile but are even accessible even if you don't have Spotify Premium.

Screenshot_2012-07-31-11-24-47 Screenshot_2012-07-31-11-25-15 Screenshot_2012-07-31-11-25-32

This marks an exciting new era for Spotify. Up until now, if you wanted to get access to tunes on the go from the Swedish-borne service, you had to pay $10 a month for the privilege.

12
Jun
spotify-logo

Spotify's New ICS App Now Out Of Beta And Available In The Play Store

Posted by in Applications, News

The "freemium" music streaming service Spotify has had great success on the desktop and on iOS, but its Android offering has always been rather lacking, with an extremely dated-looking application that did no justice to the greatness of the service itself. Back in April, Spotify made its first motions towards bringing the app up to speed with a public beta of a rather pretty Holo-themed application for Android 4.0, and now that beta has borne fruit.

In a blog post today, Spotify announced the immediate release of the finished version of this Android 4.0 client to the Google Play Store.

19
Apr
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Spotify Shows Off All-New Android App With ICS Support, Offers The Beta For Download

Posted by in Applications, News

If you're one of the many who jumped on the Spotify bandwagon when it finally showed up in the U.S., then you'll be happy to know that the Spotify folks have been working on a new build that will bring a whole new interface and full support for ICS devices.

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New Features:

  • Totally new app with full support for Android 4.0
  • Top-to-bottom redesign
  • All-new slide-out navigation
  • Even more social - check out friends’ profile pages and playlists on the go
  • Artist imagery in high resolution
  • Related artist view - available for the first time on mobile
  • 'Extreme' sound quality setting for 320kbps listening
  • So much faster!

07
Dec
soundtracking icon

[New App] SoundTracking Lets You Share Your Music Taste With The Social World, With One Twist

Posted by in Applications, News

SoundTracking made its jump from iOS onto the Android Market today boasting a new, Android exclusive (for now), feature. As the name indicates, this app allows you to keep track of songs you're listening to and post them to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare for your friends to see and comment on. Included with your post will be a snippet of the song, a photo, and your geo-location.

That Android exclusive feature I mentioned before is the ability for you and your friends to play full versions of shared songs via Rdio or Spotify, instead of just listening to a short clip.

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