Music and Musical Gear

EasyAcc DP100 Bluetooth Speaker-Sound Sacrificed for Aesthetics

The EasyAcc DP100 Ultra Portable Bluetooth Speaker lives up to its name, since it’s smaller than a can of soda. This tiny Bluetooth speaker puts out decent sound for its size, convenience, and price while its battery lasts up to 20 hours of playback time. This low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 speaker is now available at Amazon for $35.99.




Listen Up!: Car Audio, Part II

In the first part of this series on Car Audio I discussed basic terminology and history of radios in the automobile. This part takes a look at the types of music sources, and the music itself, that we play in our vehicles. Regardless of what type of car stereo equipment you employ in your vehicle, it all begins with music.


IK Multimedia releases UltraTuner for Apple Watch

For anyone who plays a guitar, when AmpliTube arrived with a built-in tuner it was a revelation. Suddenly you didn’t need a tuner – just your phone, which you already had! Then IK Multimedia introduced UltraTuner and things got even better. Now they have introduced UltraTuner for Apple Watch, and the convenience factor is through the roof!


The Basics: Car Audio, Part I

Music in the mobile environment is more than just an accessory or option to drivers, and for many it is a necessity. Every new vehicle I test usually arrives with a premium audio system, and I love putting the stereo systems through their paces almost as much as the vehicles themselves. But car audio can be more, much more.




Mike Osborne – ‘Dawn’ Celebrates a Jazz Great and a Life Cut Short

A year ago when I reviewed the previously unreleased album ‘S.O.S.’, I didn’t single out each player for their amazing contributions because the album was more about bringing together three amazing musicians for an even more amazing outcome. Now with the release of Mike Osborne’s earliest solo works as ‘Dawn’, we can single out his amazing contributions to jazz.





IK Multimedia Unveils UltraTuner for Android

Just over a year ago, IK Multimedia released UltraTuner for iOS devices, and my review summed up “It’s the Best iOS Tuner Available.” Between the accuracy, easy visibility and simple usability, there is no other tuner I have needed since. Now IK Multimedia has released UltraTuner for Android, allowing anyone with Android 4.1 or later to get in tune!




Take That, Taylor! Streaming Music Makes More Money Than Albums

It seems as if Ms Swift may have lost the war in the saga of free music. Many artist states that free streaming is “killing the music industry”. But for the first time ever, the annual revenue from streaming music services like Rdio, Pandora, Spotify and Soundcloud have eclipsed the yearly revenue of hard copy albums.






What Was the #1 Song When YOU Were Born?

Have you ever thought about the music that was popular when you were born? No? Neither had I – and even those ‘when you were born’ things we bought for our kids just talked in general about popular music. But now Playback.fm lets you enter your birthdate and see what the top song was when you were born!