Archive for: Audio
Fans of streaming music have no doubt heard a thing or two about how awesome European-born Spotify is, and the sad state of affairs that have prevented it from launching State side thus far. While Spotify’s U.S. debut is still an on again/off again news item, Last.fm has some big changes that will make you question why you ever waited for Spotify.
In an interview between ElectricPig and Last.fm’s Matthew Hawn, VP of Product, it has been revealed that the music streaming outfit is set to debut cached radio streaming sometime in the not too distant future. Hawn couldn’t give a specific launch date (or month), but did relinquish the infamous “soon” verbiage.
The gist is to bring Android, iOS, and tablets “into sync” with one another. As such, the apps and cached radio streaming feature will likely launch simultaneously instead of the usual staggered affair.
Being the Last.fm junkies (and yes, Spotify holdouts) that we are, hearing news of a “Spotified” cached streaming feature hitting the States combined with the robust music-matching capabilities Last.fm employes is awesome news. With that said, is offline/cahced streaming enough to get you to pony up the recently (February) updated Last.fm mobile app which began charging subscription fees for mobile use?
- February 24, 2011 6:50 am
The U.S. launch of popular European music streaming service, Spotify, continues to inch closer as new reports from Reuters claim a deal with Universal is “close”. A release is said to be only “weeks away”, though we’ve heard such time frames numerous times before only to be let down time and time again.
If Spotify can woo Universal, it will leave Warner Music Group — the last and 4th major music label in the U.S. — as the sole outside. Speaking of which, it is rumored that Spotify could and would launch without WMG’s library of music if needed.
We have to cut Spotify some slack. Launching a music startup in the digital age is a tough gig to pursue. Thus far, Spotify is claimed to have scored $100 million in funding valued at ~$1 billion. While it doesn’t guarantee success here in the States, it’s certainly a much needed boost for the European startup.
The only topic that keeps coming back, however, is just how important is Spotify now that other competitors such as Last.fm, Pandora, iheart radio, Slacker, and others have had time to mature? If Spotify can finally stick to a timely launch schedule, we may just be able to answer that question ourselves very soon.
- February 18, 2011 1:32 pm
After last months announcement from Spotify that a deal had been signed with Sony, music streaming aficionados began getting excited. Finally we were beginning to see some progress on an innovative music streaming service that had been promised to us for many months. As we look onwards in 2011, it’s been well over a year since Spotify originally announced plans to tap the U.S. market. Unfortunately thus far, greed on behalf of the major music labels has stalled Spotify’s efforts. But those efforts are finally being rewarded.
Today, Spotify is expected to announce their latest deal towards getting their services up and running in the U.S. — this according to a statement from the WSJ. What this means is that Spotify only has two more major music labels — Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group — to woo before we can all enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Of course, now that the U.S. has had no less than half a dozen reputable streaming services blossom and mature over the last year and half, is Spotify as much of an item as it once was?
- February 7, 2011 10:09 am
Users of Last.fm in the U.S. UK, and Germany will have some hard choices to make in the near future. Popular music streaming service and Pandora competitor, Last.fm, has announced that the aforementioned countries will now have to pay extra for mobile access and Last.fm usage on desktop/laptop devices. While the move to a pay-to-play scenario has already been enacted in many other places of the world under Last.fm’s reach, the U.S., UK, and Germany remained free of charge.
While we understand that the freemium model doesn’t always work and that Last.fm has to make some changes in order to make money, the added price isn’t justified. Take for example competing (and much better) service, Spotify. This non-U.S. music streaming service also allows playlist creation, downloading of content to local drives, and gives users the ability to choose the play order of songs.
Hopefully Last.fm follows the $3/month charge that is shared in other countries. Because if it is $5+, I can see quite a few defecting to other services that are either cheaper or offer more features for the money.
Users of Windows Phone 7 devices and Xbox Live will still be able to enjoy Last.fm for free, as will web users. None of these portals will see any price addition.
The quest for a new MP3 player isn’t what it used to be. Just a few short years ago, MP3 players were hot. Little boxes of music from iRiver, Creative, Sansa, Samsung, Archos, and yes, Apple littered the shelves at your local electronics store. The digital music revolution created a frenzy similar to that of the 80′s when the Walkman started gaining momentum. And now in 2011, some would argue that MP3 players have lived out their rather short lives at the top. For now all that seems to dominate consumer electronics news consists of various smartphones and “do-it-all” tablets. In an environment and age of multi-taskers, is a simple MP3 player still something to cherish?
The Samsung YP-Q3 may not have a leg to stand on when compared to media players on even mid-range smartphones, it is nonetheless a formidable foe which aims to do one thing and do it well — play music. With that said, hop inside to see how it fairs…
The quest for Spotify music streaming services in the U.S. just inched a little closer to reality today. Sources of AllThingD’s Peter Kafka have stated that Spotify just recently closed a deal with Sony in the U.S. market, finally putting to rest countless rumors over the last several months indicating such a deal was actually being hammered out. While good news for Spotify hopefuls, the road is still long and treacherous. Sony is but one label in a country with 4 major ones controlling most of the mainstream music market. Other things to consider that can/will hold up a Spotify U.S. launch date include the costs associated with marketing, advertising, further deals with smaller business labels, etc. But hopefully now that Spotify has a foot in the door, other labels will follow Sony’s lead.
We’ve talked about Spotify a time or two here at Gadgetsteria, though for good reason. It’s an awesome music streaming service — over in Europe. Thus far, Spotify and major U.S. music labels have been unable to come to any agreement regarding licensing and payments. Spotify, if you didn’t know, thrives on the freemium + ads model. The labels on the other than want large up front payments and aren’t too keen of Spotify’s preferred freemium design. But things could finally be coming together.
An article posted by The New York Post earlier this morning highlights “two industry sources” who claim to know one of Spotify’s two partnering U.S. music labels — Sony. As previously stated, the second partnering label isn’t known at this point.
While good news to Spotify hopefuls who have no doubt waited impatiently over the last couple of years and through several promised deadlines, some would simple say “who cares” at this point. Spotify debuted in Europe in 2008 — nearly two and a half years ago. The U.S. market has seen its own fair share of streaming success stories such as Pandora, Last.fm, Slacker, and so on. Is Spotify really different or unique enough to dethrone anyone? Hopefully we’ll be able to test that theory in the not too distant future on our very own.
- January 11, 2011 10:57 am
It’s been a long time coming (hey, mere weeks in the tech realm seems like forever), but the Marshal Minor headphones are finally out. These miniature buds of audio bliss feature 20Hz-20KHz frequency response, an impedance of 32 ? ± 15% AT 1kHz, SN ratio of 115 ± 3dB AT 1kHz 1mW, and a maximum input power of 5mW. I didn’t get to actually hear these at CES last week, but we’re on the list for review units. So check back in a couple of weeks as to our thoughts and impressions on Marshal’s “baby” headphone. In the meantime, you can find the Marshal Minor’s for $59.99 at MarshalHeadphones.com.
Now we don’t want to discount AudioVox — they make the occasional interesting audio-related product for consumers at a bare bottom price. But they are far from quality in regards to audio performance. With that said, it fills us with great sadness to reveal that AudioVox is in the process of dotting i’s and crossing t’s to purchase every last Klipsch share and subsidiary. The faint glimmer of good news to come out of this is of course a scenario in which AudioVox merely acts as an open wallet and lets Klipsch employees continue doing business as they have been. Furthermore, there’s quite a bit of strings attached — “satisfactory completion of due diligence, negotiation and signing of definitive agreements and requisite approvals”. With that said, if we start seeing a flood of ex-Klipsch employees spilling onto the job market within the next 6 months, we’ll know everything is not going to be alright.
