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Tag: music

  • Amazon Music Unlimited’s monthly subscription price set to slightly increase

    Amazon Music Unlimited’s monthly subscription price set to slightly increase

    Every once in a while, major streaming services are adjusting their subscription prices, especially if they prove to be successful. Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Spotify and many other similar streaming service have had their prices increased a few times in the last couple of years.

    The latest on that list is Amazon Music Unlimited, which is expected to increase its monthly subscription price by $1. Many Amazon Music subscribers have started to receive notifications via email that confirmed the monthly Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Plan price will increase from $7.99 to $8.99 .

    Strangely enough, Amazon did not announce anything yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time before the move is officialized. According to the email, the new price for Amazon Music Unlimited will go live on May 5.

    On the bright side, the Amazon Music Unlimited Family Plan price has been kept the same, so anyone who currently pays the $14.99 monthly subscription will not be affected by the price hike.

    With access to more than 75 million songs in HD, as well as several important top-tier audio features, including Spatial Audio, Amazon Music Unlimited is one of the cheapest offerings on the music streaming services market. Despite the $1 price hike, Amazon Music remains a great deal for those looking for high-quality music content at a low price.

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  • Spotify to move Greenroom to its main app, rename it to Spotify Live

    Spotify to move Greenroom to its main app, rename it to Spotify Live

    It seems that the Clubhouse craze is slowly dying out – Spotify is the latest company to make changes to its live conversation app, Greenroom. According to inside sources, Spotify plans to integrate Greenroom into the main app, and rename it to Spotify Live.

    The change is apparently happening in the second quarter of the year, with all the features migrating to Spotify. Creators will be able to organize and start conversations in Spotify Live, and subscribers will be able to listen to them in the main app.

    There’s another piece of evidence, tied to the change – it was found in the beta app by developer Steve Moser who allegedly shared the matter with Bloomberg. Spotify reacted to the popularity of Clubhouse, which exploded last year, by acquiring Betty Labs, the maker of social audio app Locker Room, and then rebranded the product to Greenroom.

    The short-lived success of Clubhouse resulted in many companies trying to replicate the functionality – Twitter introduced Spaces, and Facebook launched Live Audio Rooms. According to data from SensorTower, Clubhouse scored less than 1 million active monthly users in October 2021, compared to the top result of 9.6 million active users back in February of the same year.

    Integrating Greenroom into Spotify is probably a wise choice, as the standalone app failed to take off and managed to haul only 140,000 installs on iOS as of July 2021. Spotify, on the other hand, ended 2021 with 406m active users and 180m subscribers, and giving them the opportunity to listen to these Clubhouse-like streams may breathe a new life to the feature.

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  • Apple quietly and sharply reduces the free-trial period for Apple Music

    Apple quietly and sharply reduces the free-trial period for Apple Music

    For years, Apple has given first-time subscribers to Apple Music a free three-month trial. The free trial period has been reduced to just one month in countries including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the U.K., and other markets as well. It should be noted that this has no impact on the six free months of Apple Music that are awarded for a limited time to buyers of certain Apple devices like the AirPods, HomePod mini, and Beats products.

    There is no change in the pricing of the service which kicks in following the end of the free trial. Each month will cost you $9.99. For $14.99 a month, you and five other family members can subscribe to the Family Plan. Students pay $4.99 monthly, but this price is available to college students only and this must be verified.

    Apple has added a new tier of service called the Apple Music Voice Plan. For $4.99 per month, you can access and navigate Apple Music using your voice and Siri. This plan doesn’t offer spatial audio, nor is the full catalog available with lossless audio as offered with the other plans.

    Apple’s biggest competitor in the music streaming industry, Spotify, also offers a one-month free trial for its premium tier. However, in the U.S. and other select countries, Spotify is offering two free months for a limited time. And those subscribing to Spotify’s premium service via PayPal are entitled to three free months.

    The tech giant hasn’t promoted the reduction in the trial period as you might imagine. The change takes effect starting this week and for the first time since the service debuted in 2015, those who have never subscribed to Apple Music will get just one month to decide if they want to pay for it.

    Will this lead to stronger growth for Apple Music; trial subscribers will have to whip out their wallets two months earlier if they want to continue streaming the service. Or will more trial subscribers give up after one month and look for some other platforms to stream music over. Knowing Apple, we would imagine that the company did some research before making this move.

    You may not know that Apple Music is behind Apple’s most expensive acquisition. In May 2014, the company purchased Beats Audio for $3 billion. Apple usually makes smaller purchases of companies with products or innovations that can be used with the iPhone or other products in the following year or two. That is the blueprint Apple used to buy SRI International in 2010 which led to the launch of digital assistant Siri on 2011’s iPhone 4s.

    In October 2012, Apple bought biometric security firm Authentec for $356 million. The next year, Apple debuted the Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5s. As the first quarter of 2013 was ending, there were leaks indicating that what some were calling “iRadio” was coming.

    Apple itself had to be a bit nervous as the Beats Audio streamer had just 111,000 paying customers before the acquisition by Apple was announced. The headphones division was taking in $1 billion on an annual basis at the time Apple bought the company.

    All things considered, Apple Music should be considered a success. Last month, MIDia Research released a report estimating that Apple’s streaming music platform had 78 million paid subscribers. This makes the service the second largest music streamer in the world but puts Apple well behind the industry’s top streamer Spotify.

    Spotify’s market share has declined from 34% in 2019 to 33% in 2020 and 31% last year. Apple Music has a 15% slice of the streaming market pie worldwide followed by Amazon’s 13%. Despite the current trends, for Apple to catch up and overtake Spotify it will have to take a long term, patient approach to the business of streaming music.

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  • New feature begins rolling out for YouTube Music called “Recommended radios”

    New feature begins rolling out for YouTube Music called “Recommended radios”

    YouTube Music is rolling out a feature called “Recommended radios.” Instead of radio stations created from a single song, the new feature creates a station from multiple songs and artists and recommends it to users. You can press the home tab button and scroll about halfway down the page to find the new “Recommend radios” carousel if it has already hit your phone. There are 10 stations shown with the carousel and they update every time you refresh the feed.

    Each station mentions up to three songs that provided the inspiration for that particular station. Each station is named after the title of a band or the genre that the station covers. And the name of the decade associated with the music is often included.

    With the mobile version of YouTube Music, tapping on one of the stations will bring up the playlist page (as opposed to auto-playing the station when you click on it with the desktop version). A Reddit user who goes by the handle of “Fuyou_lilienthal_yu” said, “This tab was just there when I scrolled down on the app. It seems to be like the Mixes except it gives you a specific theme like “Sangatsu no Phantasia, Deep cuts” and then having a playlist with probably SnP’s entire discography.”

    He adds, “Other playlists seem to be stuff like XXX Discovery radio where it’s full of presumably similar songs as the source artist. There doesn’t seem to be a limit to how many songs are allowed on a single radio, the first one in the list was something like “Gen Hoshino Radio” or whatever and it had a seemingly endless scroll of music…All in all it seems cool, more ways for them to help you to listen to music the better.”

    The YouTube Music app is available for both iOS and Android, and the new feature started rolling out this past weekend although not everyone has it yet. For example, we have yet to see it on our Pixel 6 Pro running Android 12.

  • Apple seeks patent on automatic transparency mode for AirPods Pro

    Apple seeks patent on automatic transparency mode for AirPods Pro

    According to TF International’s highly reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the AirPods Pro 2 True Wireless Stereo earbuds should be released later this year, perhaps during the third quarter. The major difference between your average garden variety pair of AirPods and the premium-priced Pro model is the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC); the latter prevents ambient noise from getting mixed in with the streaming content heard via the Bluetooth-powered earbuds.

    But just in case you need to hear what’s happening in the background while streaming music to your AirPods Pro, transparency mode will allow you to hear a car honking to alert you to get out of the way, a police siren in case you’re being pulled over, or a friendly “hello” from a pal who has spotted you walking on the street. The problem with turning on the transparency mode is that it allows all background noise regardless of what it is.>

    But what if you could choose which sounds make it through to you via the transparency mode? That could improve your enjoyment of using the AirPods Pro knowing that the transparency mode will remain off until someone you selected is trying to talk to you, or an event takes place that needs your immediate action.

    Apple has filed a patent application titled “Interrupt for noise-canceling audio devices” that details a more selective method of letting in outside noise to be heard through your AirPods Pro. With the technology discussed in the patent application, a user will be able to determine in advance who is allowed to break through the ANC. As Apple states in the documentation, “For example, the user may desire to be interrupted by one or more pre-designated contacts that are identified at an associated electronic device as interrupt-authorized contacts, or by a person who speaks a designated keyword to the user.”

    In other words, the Active Noise Cancellation would remain in effect until people authorized by the user start talking. The voice of the other person could be recognized, or that person’s name could be mentioned by the user, or both the user and the contact could devise a specific password that would flip on transparency mode.

    The patent also notes that the user can train the system to recognize certain important sounds that you would want to hear right away “such as police or ambulance sirens, or smoke or fire alarms.” It is like having transparency mode set on “automatic.”

    There are other differences between the AirPods and AirPods Pro besides the latter offering ANC. For example, the “Pro” variant includes the ability for the user to enjoy a customizable fit. Ironically, the third-generation AirPods offer longer battery life than the AirPods Pro but we expect that to change with the AirPods Pro 2. We also could see the new premium version of the earbuds feature a new design, possibly dropping the iconic and recognizable stem from the device. This might make the AirPods Pro 2 look like some of the earbuds manufactured by competitors’s not to mention Apple’s own Beats Fit Pro.

    Other possible changes for the AirPods Pro 2 include the addition of new sensors that will allow the device to perform some type of fitness tracking. Also expected is a new chip that will make it easier for the wearables to connect with other devices. And Apple is reportedly looking at a way to use the AirPods Pro 2 as a device to measure certain health metrics just as the Apple Watch now does.

    The patent application was originally filed by Apple with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last July.

  • YouTube Music, Premium launches annual subscription

    YouTube Music, Premium launches annual subscription

    Google has long been offering YouTube Premium and YouTube Music monthly account memberships, where users can subscribe and pay every month for access to millions of songs and videos for ad-free viewing and downloading.

    As of today, YouTube is officially rolling out a new subscription option to users across the board of both these paid YouTube services. In addition to monthly subscriptions, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music will now also offer subscriptions on a yearly basis, which will end up saving long-term users a good bit of money in the long run.

    So, how much money will the new annual subscription actually save you, compared to a monthly plan? Turns out, as part of the initial launch hype, Google is offering a limited-time discounted price, which will last for 6 days before it expires.

    Only until January 13, new users can benefit from an annual YouTube Premium plan priced at $107.99. Compared to the $11.99-per-month regular price, it offers a savings total of $3 per month, adding up to $36 of savings over 12 months.

    The YouTube Music yearly plan is slightly cheaper, coming in at $89.99 each year, or $2.50 less per month than the monthly subscription (for annual savings of $30).

    After the offer expires on January 13, we expect users can still enjoy decent rates for the yearly plan, but they will more than likely be less cost-effective than the current prices.

    Keep in mind that if you’re already subscribed to a monthly YouTube Premium/Music plan, though, you can’t just switch to the yearly subscription. You’d have to completely cancel your current plan, and then re-sign up to the new one. It’s definitely a slightly more time-consuming process, but still definitely worth considering.

    It should be noted that the yearly subscription plan is currently only available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, Germany, Thailand, India, and Japan.

  • Spotify is going to shut down its own original podcast studio

    Spotify is going to shut down its own original podcast studio

    As many of you may probably know, Spotify has been investing in the ever-growing podcast industry in recent years. Despite that, the music streaming service has decided to shut down its in-house podcast Studio 4.

    It seems that Spotify has now told employees that work at Studio 4 that it will be closed after January 21. Original shows, such as Dissect and Chapo: Kingpin on Trial, were produced in Studio 4. Well, luckily this isn’t the only podcast studio that the company owns; however, it was the first in-house studio that it created before its major studio acquisitions.

    Some of the employees working at Studio 4 have been reassigned to other positions, while some unfortunate ones were laid off with the option to apply for another job at the company. So far, Spotify hasn’t given a reason as to why it is closing Studio 4, but a reported internal note stated this was done to help the company progress faster. Additionally, another reason for the closure given by Spotify in the internal note was to “facilitate more effective collaboration” across the organization.

    Reportedly, the affected employees were quite surprised and some of them found the news quite upsetting.

    For the moment, it is unclear what will happen to the Spotify shows that were produced at Studio 4, but not all of them may be abandoned. For example, Dissect Podcast will not be canceled and will continue as usual on Spotify, according to the show’s official Twitter account.

    Spotify’s presence in the podcast market has been steadily growing, and last year, the company introduced paid podcast subscriptions. Recently, it also acquired a firm that possessed the technology to easily transform broadcast audio to podcasts, in an attempt to enrich the podcast experience to its users.

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  • YouTube Music adds a new Recently Played widget for Android users

    YouTube Music adds a new Recently Played widget for Android users

    Google has been pushing its YouTube Music service hard in the past couple of months, adding new features and updating existing ones. Earlier in November, the platform received a useful “Play My Station” shortcut on Android, and a month prior to that Google announced that YouTube Music’s free version will be getting background playback – a feature normally reserved for premium users.

    Now there’s another update to YouTube Music and this time it’s a new “Recent Played” widget for Android. This feature was previewed back in October but now it is rolling out with version 4.55.55 of YouTube Music for Android, available on the Play Store.

    The widget takes 5×2 spaces on your home screen by default and it is divided into two main sections. The top part gives users the ability to play and pause songs, give them a “thumb up”, and it also shows the album art of the current song playing with some basic information such as the name and the artist.

    The bottom part is a grid layout shortcut that gives you “quick access to your recently played videos, albums, playlists, and more.” In the largest 5×4 configuration you can cram up 10 elements in that particular section, and you can also resize the widget to be 5×1 or 4×1 but doing so will hide the bottom element and will leave only the barebone play/pause part hiding the thumb button too.

    The Recently Played widget follows Android 12’s Material You design philosophy, supporting also the Dynamic Color feature. If you don’t see the widget after updating to version 4.55.55, force stop the app and relaunch again.

  • Apple Music app debuts on PlayStation 5

    Apple Music app debuts on PlayStation 5

    We reported last week that Apple and Sony might be close to launching the Apple Music app on the PlayStation 5. At the time of the report, the app appeared to be listed, but no one could download it.

    Earlier today, Sony confirmed that PlayStation 5 users all over the world can download the Apple Music app. The console offers seamless integration with the Apple Music streaming service with background music and music video playback, which means subscribers can listen before, during, or after their gameplay session.

    Apple Music subscribers who own a PlayStation 5 can start the app before opening a game, or during gameplay by pressing the PS button on the DualSense wireless controller to access the Control Center and select the Music Function card. You’ll be presented with recommendations that match the game you’re currently playing, or you can choose from a playlist in your library or other Apple Music-curated playlists for gaming.

    Of course, subscribers can also find and watch music videos from a wide selection of artists in the Apple Music app. Simply start by playing the video in full screen and if you decide to continue/start playing a game, the audio from the music video will continue to play. To download the Apple Music app, make sure to visit the Media space folder on the PlayStation 5. Don’t forget to link your Apple Music account after installing the app.

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  • Apple Music headed to PlayStation 5

    Apple Music headed to PlayStation 5

    In an unsurprising turn of events, Apple Music is about to make its debut on PlayStation 5, Sony’s hard to come by the gaming console. This would be the second major Apple service provided by Sony via its PlayStation console after the Japanese giant offered PS5 owners six months of free access to Apple TV+.

    Although the arrival of the app hasn’t been officialized yet, some Reddit users claim they have received the option to download Apple Music on their PlayStation 5 consoles, but the app wasn’t available.

    Eurogamer reports they have tried to download the app from a UK account, but they didn’t find the app. However, they did get the prompt to download Apple Music from a newly created US account.

    While PS5 users may not yet be able to download Apple Music on their consoles, the recent reports suggest that Sony is going to make the app available very soon. We’re not sure if this is such a big thing for Apple to announce its October 18 event which focuses on Macs, but at least we know the Apple Music app will sooner or later come to the PS5.

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  • Spotify to launch new Wear OS app, brings offline listening to smartwatches

    Spotify to launch new Wear OS app, brings offline listening to smartwatches

    Many months after launching its Watch OS app, Spotify announced it will launch a revamped Wear OS app that will include a couple of new features. The most important is offline listening, a brand-new feature that will be rolled out to Wear OS smartwatches in the coming weeks.

    Although the wording in the official statement implies that offline listening has been specifically designed for Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, the feature will work on older Wear OS smartwatches too.

    The new feature will not be limited to music, as Spotify users will also be able to download podcasts for offline listening. Premium subscribers will be able to download their favorite albums, playlists, and podcasts to listen offline. On the other hand, free Spotify users will be able to stream their tunes in Shuffle Mode using Wi-Fi or mobile data, as well as download any of their favorite podcasts directly to the watch.

    When the new Wear OS app will be available for download, smartwatch users will be able to download content for offline listening simply by tapping “Download to watch.” The new app will be coming to Wear OS smartwatches from Fossil, Mobvoi, Suunto and more in the coming weeks.

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  • Spotify no longer plans to add AirPlay 2 support

    Spotify no longer plans to add AirPlay 2 support

    Spotify backtracked on its initial statement and now claims it will eventually add AirPlay 2 support for its iOS app. Spotify says that it’s already working on AirPlay 2, but does not offer any ETA: “A post on one of Spotify’s Community pages contained incomplete information regarding our plans for AirPlay2. Spotify will support AirPlay2 and we’re working to make that a reality.”

    In an unfortunate turn of events, Spotify has decided against adding AirPlay 2 support to its music streaming service. The reason behind the decision is purely technical and has nothing to do with any possible rivalries between Apple Music and Spotify.

    A Spotify rep says that while the company has discussed the idea of adding AirPlay 2, it decided against implementing it because of audio driver compatibility issues.

    We’ve discussed this idea internally and while we are working on supporting AirPlay 2 in a proper way, we have decided to close it for now. The reason for this is that due to audio driver compatibility issues, this seems like a bigger project that we won’t be able to complete in the foreseeable future.

    Although the wording might suggest that adding AirPlay 2 support is possible with a bigger budget, it looks like that won’t happen any time soon. We can’t help but wonder if Spotify completely shelved the project or it will come back to it at a later time.

    AirPlay allows streaming between devices of audio, video, device screens, and photos. It was originally launched as AirTunes and only used for audio. AirPlay 2 made its debut three years ago and added more improvements like multi-room audio, Siri support, and better buffering.

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  • TikTok is now the world’s most downloaded app

    TikTok is now the world’s most downloaded app

    According to a global analysis compiled by Nikkei, TikTok has officially overtaken Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and every other messaging platform to become the most downloaded social media app in the world.

    Until 2021, Facebook had held that title—unsurprisingly, as it has somehow managed to keep growing over the years up to a current accumulated net worth of over one thousand billion. TikTok has proven to be something of a dark horse behind the scenes, however, growing around the world at an unprecedented rate until it’s taken over social media—and most of Gen Z’s free time.

    While YouTube has also been changing the video scene over time, with the most popular videos currently stretching around ten minutes—miles shorter than traditional TV or video entertainment—TikTok has been paving the way for something completely new: very quick, snappy videos averaging between nine to fifteen seconds.

    In the beginning, most TikToks were quick, funny clips aimed at making you smile or laugh, something akin to Vine when it peaked in 2014 before it passed into oblivion. TikTok isn’t showing signs of dying anytime soon, though, and its style has expanded to include educational clips, life hacks, mini cooking tutorials, and much more.

    The possibilities have become endless, and thousands of businesses have taken advantage to advertise their products or services as well as provide entertainment.

    TikTok has even been inspiring other platforms to mimic its style, after seeing its popularity boom—such as Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts. Both of these have been pushed as additional short-video platforms alongside the main platform, which provide a refreshing alternative to the regular content most established influencers or YouTubers are used to posting and consuming.

    Instagram Reels is different from Instagram Stories, shown in their very own niche corner in the app, and YouTube Shorts can be found on the Shorts Shelf right near the top of the home page.

    For a while last year, we didn’t really think TikTok was going to make it in the US, after Trump had threatened to eradicate the app from the United States due to a claimed national security risk. Things didn’t quite work out the way Trump had hoped, though, and although new app downloads were banned for a while, Biden signed an executive order this year revoking all bans on both Tiktok and WeChat (another Chinese messaging app targeted by Trump).

    The pandemic served to provide a massive boost to TikTok’s popularity, as not only were most people stuck at home with limited means of entertainment, but also because many famous artists were forced to cancel shows and tours, and decided to take to this platform (and others) instead.

    I enjoy videos by artists who aren’t performing live anymore because of the pandemic. —Nina, 37, from Portland

    Interestingly, TikTok has never touted any particular safety features, and many still harbor concerns that their data may be compromised. However, that doesn’t seem to have impacted the app’s fame in the least, in spite of other apps like WhatsApp working hard to stay above competing platforms in terms of maximal data encryption and privacy. Apparently, if an app is entertaining enough, privacy concerns take a back seat for many users.

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  • TIDAL launches limited-time 3-month free trial offer

    TIDAL launches limited-time 3-month free trial offer

    One of the many popular music streaming services in the United States, TIDAL has just announced a limited-time 3-month free trial promotion. The offer is only available to new users starting today and through the end of August.

    After the three-month trial, customers will be able to continue their subscription at $9.99 per month for Premium and $19.99 per month for HiFi. TIDAL also offers discounts for students (-50%), military (-40%), first responders (-40%) and families (6 accounts for $14.99 Premium or $29.99 HiFi).

    Both Premium and HiFi services are available across platforms and devices such as Amazon Alexa, Apple TV, Android TV, CarPlay, Plex, Roku, Samsung Wearables, and direct control with Sonos.

    Currently, TIDAL’s Premium and HiFi tiers offer subscribers unlimited access to a massive catalog of over 70 million tracks across all genres, thousands of curated playlists by the service’s editorial team, and endless artist radio stations.

    Additionally, HiFi subscribers benefit from the best quality of sound available, including TIDAL Masters and immersive sound experiences from Dolby Atmos Music and Sony 360 Reality Audio.

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  • Spotify acquires another company to further improve podcasts discovery

    Spotify acquires another company to further improve podcasts discovery

    Spotify bought a few small companies in the last couple of months to further improve the podcast experience. Over the weekend, the music streaming company announced another acquisition that’s meant to contribute to building the best podcast discovery experience: Podz.

    Podz is a small company that owns a technology that Spotify thinks it can successfully complement its own to accelerate the efforts to drive discovery and deliver listeners the right content when they need it.

    Podz technology, just like Spotify’s, is powered by machine learning and generates high-quality clips that offer users the chance to preview important moments from podcast episodes. To sum it up, thanks to the new acquisition, Spotify should be able to make it easier for its listeners to find the content they want to listen to, and for creators to be discovered and build a fan base.

    According to Spotify, Podz technology will be integrated into the music streaming service beginning this year, so users should start seeing the first improvements before the end of 2021.

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