I purchased the first generation Amazon Echo thinking it was the best Alexa-enabled speaker available — at the time, anyway. While the Echo does all right in a smaller room, the speaker is anemic at best. But I’ve had the opportunity to check out the KitSound Voice One Smart Speaker recently, and I’ve found it to be much better.
Spotify today announced a change to their family plans which expands the number of family members (up to 6) included for one monthly price of $14.99. This pricing change shouldn’t have been a surprise as Google Play and Apple Music have identical family offers.
PlayStation game consoles/Xperia mobile devices and Spotify Premium Music Service have partnered together for a new music experience where players can now enjoy their favorite musical works while the play on the gaming consoles or use their Xperia mobile devices.
As of Yesterday, it seems as if Taylor Swift is streaming music again. Thanks to Aspiro Service’s Tidal Streaming Media site, about 17 thousand subscribers to the service get the luxury of hearing her tunes.
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.
Have you listened to Kendrick Lamar’s new album “To Pimp A Butterfly” yet? Well it seems as if 9.6 Million other people have!
With warm weather allegedly on the horizon, it is time to start getting out and getting into shape. Pear Sports has developed a $99.95 kit turning your iPhone or Android phone into a training station. With heart rate monitoring and knowing your fitness goals, the app will use real-time coaching to help you meet your goals. Let’s take a look.
While I seldom think about Spotify on the desktop anymore, it remains one of the most important platforms for the company. And today it has gotten a major update. The update shows the rapid progression in the service, and also the ongoing shift in focus from being an app platform to providing a more tailored experience.
One of the more popular Cydia music Tweaks has to be CustomCover. Originally a concept on DeviantArt that was turned into tweak (which has stopped receiving updates) named Snowcover for iOS 6, a developer named Chewitt brought it to life for iOS 7, and now, iOS 8. What CustomCover allows you to do is customize your Lockscreen on your iPhone.
Each year Spotify has sent out predictions of the Grammy Award winners based on their streaming patterns. This year is no exception, though the absence of Taylor Swift – who famously pulled her catalog from the streaming service – makes the predictions a little less credible this year! Read on and see what you think!
When Amazon announced the Echo connected speaker, there was speculation about how it would work in terms of integrating with Amazon and the larger web. Reviews came out after the Echo launched, positive or mixed depending on the source. For me that confirmed it was based on personal usage, so after using the Echo I wanted to report our findings.
Sony Music is one of the biggest music industry publishers, but their online service ‘Music Unlimited’ hasn’t lived up to the ‘Spotify Killer’ origins. So they are making the smart move of partnering with Spotify to bring music streaming to Playstation 3 and 4 and Xperia phone and tablet owners on the Playstation Network.
After not subscribing for a while, my family has been thoroughly enjoying a renewed Spotify subscription these last few months. The constant stream of improvements since they first launched has made the service more valuable than ever. Now they have introduced a new feature – Touch Preview – that lets you quickly check out new songs without leaving your playlist.
You may not care about Taylor Swift or her presence on Spotify, but removing all her music from the service has had a curious side effect-it’s educating the average consumer about how little artists make from streaming services! I was in physical therapy this morning and heard two grandfathers discussing Spotify, all because of the publicity from Taylor Swift’s decision.
I love when companies add value for consumers long after product purchases have been made. That is exactly what Sonos has, and continues, to do. The latest public beta of the Sonos software brings enhancements to the musical system that will be welcome by pretty much anyone who loves Sonos. Yes, it’s a Beta but it is still worth checking…
A few weeks ago I bought a brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on a great deal, and wanted to see if it would be possible to use it to replace my iPhone AND iPad, much as I would try to do with an iPhone 6+. As usual I went ‘all in’ with my attempt – and failed. Here is…
As expected, Amazon announced its very first phone this afternoon. Much about the Fire Phone had been leaked, but there were a few interesting surprises along the way. Many of us have Amazon Prime, so we were excited to see what Bezos would present, and how they would differentiate the Amazon Fire Phone. Here’s what we now know…
Buzzfeed is reporting that Amazon is planning on expanding their Prime offerings to include music as well as books, movies, and free shipping. This has been speculated before, and the terms (no music newer than 6 months) fits with the backlist strategy of the rest of Prime. It also shows who Amazon Prime is truly aimed at: digital dilettantes.
This morning Sprint announced their exclusive new HTC One (M8) Harman Kardon edition. Also announced were Sprint Sound Sessions, a premium package of music and privileges and six months free of Spotify Premium for all new and existing postpaid Sprint customers. Sprint also said that they will will make it easier to join a Framily. No, that’s not a typo.
When we talk about a daily driver device, we’re referring to a smartphone that’s with us no matter where we go — our primary way of communicating with the world, our most favored device which, for now, just might come as close to the perfect device as possible.
HP is causing a bit of a firestorm with their recent announcement that enterprise customers with HP ProLiant Servers will no longer have access to firmware updates past their initial warranty period unless customers have enrolled in a Care Pack Service or support agreement. Apparently HP did not see the irony in their blog post titled “Customers for life”.