Stitcher Radio announces a Car Mode, but it’s not quite what I want

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Mike Schramm

I use my iPhone a lot to listen to music and podcasts in my car — I connect it right up to my car stereo, and it’s my main listening source while driving around LA. As a result, I really wish there were more options to control my music while driving around. Music and podcast streaming app Stitcher has introduced a new feature along these lines they’re calling Car Mode, which is basically just a simplified interface with large, clear controls, so you can choose and play your music easily. There are also some other new features added into the app, including a new front page and faster playback. You can download Stitcher Radio for free on the App Store.

Unfortunately, this isn’t really what I’m looking for — this layout still requires you to pick up your phone and press buttons to use it, and that means that you’ll still have to pull over to the side of the road to choose your music. (Because as we all know, using your cell phone while driving is illegal; just ask the LAPD.) What I’d really like to see from these streaming apps is Siri integration. I often will be driving around and get an urge to listen to a specific song or artist, and it’d be nice to use Siri to say something like, “Siri, play me some Rolling Stones,” or “play me Bohemian Rhapsody,” and have it automatically start playing.

I’m not sure that’s entirely possible just yet, as Apple’s API for Siri can be limited for some developers — at this point, I think about all you can do is open an app. But hopefully that will change soon. The first streaming audio app to let me start up and control songs in the car with just my voice will definitely have me interested in switching over to it.

Stitcher Radio announces a Car Mode, but it’s not quite what I want originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How Google Won The Week On Our All-New CultCast

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Erfon Elijah

This week on The CultCast: Google Maps gets prettier, smarter, and faster; Hangouts is a new chat app with some innovative features; Google Music is too late to party; Erfon eats H’orderves on a space jet with Tim Cook and Richard Branson; and Leander dons his powdered wig to judge an all new Faves ‘N Raves.

All that and more on this week’s CultCast! Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now on iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.

Show notes up next.

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You can also leave your comments, topics, or suggestions on our new Facebook page! We always try to include them in the show. Facebook.com/TheCultCast.

Episode

CultCast #72 – Order In The Court!

On The CultCast this week

Erfon Elijah – Cult of Mac writer and host of The CultCast
Buster Heine – Cult of Mac writer and community manager
Leander Kahney – Cult of Mac Master Chief

Apple Releases iTunes 11.0.3 With New MiniPlayer, Improved Songs View, And Multi-Disc Albums

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Buster Heine

Apple just released a new version of iTunes that comes with a couple of unexpected new features. The 11.0.3 update includes a new MiniPlayer, an improved songs view, and finally support for multi-disc albums along with some bug fixes.

New view for MiniPlayer from iTunes 11.0.3 update

The update for the MiniPlayer is by-far the biggest new feature. There’s a new MiniPlayer view that showcases album artwork much more prominently. The new view is quite a bit bigger than the original MiniPlayer view, but you can toggle between the two if you want.

Here are the full release notes on the update:

“This version of iTunes comes with several new features and improvements, including:

New MiniPlayer. MiniPlayer now includes a beautiful new view that showcases your album artwork. In addition, a progress bar is now built right into MiniPlayer.

Improved Songs View. You can now enjoy your album artwork while in Songs view.

Multi-Disc Albums. Albums with multiple discs now appear as a single album.

This update also provides performance improvements when searching and sorting large iTunes libraries.”

The new version of iTunes can be downloaded here.

Source: Apple

Apple Announces Winner Of $10,000 Gift Card Following 50B App Downloads

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Killian Bell

Apple has today announced the winner of its $10,000 App Store gift card after the App Store surpassed 50 billion downloads on Wednesday. The lucky customer is Brandon Ashmore of Mentor, Ohio, who downloaded Say the Same Thing, a word game from Space Inch.

“Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

“The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”

Since it opened with just 500 apps in July 2008, the App Store has seen more than 850,000 titles added to its catalog, 350,000 of which are native iPad apps. The App Store is now available in 155 countries around the world, and a whopping 800 apps are downloaded every single second — that’s 2 billion downloads a month.

Apple began its countdown to 50 billion downloads on May 2. The Cupertino company held a similar $10,000 gift card giveaway for 25 billion song downloads from the iTunes Music Store back in February.

Source: Apple

Shure Enters the Ultra High-End Earphone Arena with its New SE846

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Cult of Android

It’s strange to think that, till now, as big a high-end audio player as Shure has had no answer to the extravagant, big-gun, flagship in-ear monitor models of its rivals — models like the Ultimate Ears 18 Pro Custom, or the JH Audio JH16 Pro.

But now they do — big time. The new SE846 extends Shure’s highly regarded SE line well beyond the SE535, previously their top, most expensive IEM.

Three key elements raise the SE846 above the 535. The first (and least interesting) is the inclusion of four drivers per ear, instead of the 535′s three. The second is what Shure says is “a groundbreaking low-pass filter, a true subwoofer that enables deep low-end performance without sacrificing clarity or detail”; tiny speakers like those found in IEMS often have more of an uphill battle when trying to reproduce deep bass. Finally, the SE846 is unusual (especially for such a high-end set) in that the treble can be customized to one of three different sounds: “balanced, warm or bright.”

The there’s the fourth key element that raises the SE846 above the SE535 — price. At $1250, the SE846 is more than double the price of its junior sibling. And that’s without the custom earpieces of the JH16 or the UE 18 Pro, both of which sport around the same MSRP as the SE846.

Google Play Music All Access announced at Google I/O

Posted on May 16, 2013 by John-Michael Bond

Google’s long rumored music streaming service became a reality today with the announcement of Google Play Music All Access. The company has already cleared licensing deals with all three major labels left standing – Warner, Universal, and Sony – meaning they’ll have millions of songs available upon launch.

Beyond the expected streaming service, All Access will also feature a Pandora-like radio service that allows each individual song to become a radio station with a simple button press. The service will also feature a component called Listen Now, which will highlight new releases and recommendations based on your listening habits. Music from your Google Music locker will also be included.

All Access will require a monthly fee of $9.99, with no free ad-supported option like competitor Spotify, though anyone who signs up before June 30th will get $2 off the monthly fee.

Google Play Music All Access announced at Google I/O originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Play Music All Access announced at Google I/O

Posted on May 16, 2013 by John-Michael Bond

All Access will require a monthly fee of $9.99, with no free ad-supported option like competitor Spotify, though anyone who signs up before June 30th will get $2 off the monthly fee.

Google Play Music All Access announced at Google I/O originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 15 May 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Google Planning To Announce Streaming Music Service AT I/O Conference

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Cult of Android

OK, so maybe not a huge surprise, but Google is said to launch a paid, subscription-based music service, like Rdio or Spotify, as soon as this week at the Google I/O conference, reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to “people familiar with the matter,” says the WSJ, the announcement of the new service could happen as soon as tomorrow, when Google hosts it’s annual I/O developer conference. The WSJ says that Google has previewed new music initiatives at I/O in the past, so it might just announce the streaming service there, as well.

The WSJ sources report that Google has already signed deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group to give customers access to certain libraries of songs for a fee.

Google also already has a music service, Google Music, which launched in 2011 as part of Google Play for Android devices. It has since expanded to a global service, including Australia, and includes a matching service like Apple’s iTunes Match service in the US.

The WSJ sources don’t know what the fee would be for such a service, or do they know if there will be advertising. Google makes most of its revenue from ads, though, so it seems like such a service would indeed include ads at some level, even a free one like similar offerings from Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio.

Last year, Google unveiled Nexus Q music and video streaming, though the launch of the oddly-shaped and confusing ball-shaped object was delayed due to lack of positive consumer feedback.

Source: Wall Street Journal
Via: Android Police

Stream Daft Punk’s New Album Random Access Memories From iTunes For Free

Posted on May 13, 2013 by John Brownlee

If you’re a Daft Punk fan who can’t wait to hear the random access beats of their latest album, Random Access Memories, it’s now streamingfree and live on iTunes here on a computer or iPad. You can also preorder the entire album for $11.99.

I’ve got to say, between this and David Bowie’s latest album, I’m liking this streaming trend Apple’s started.

Source: iTunes

500 Million iTunes Users Are Spending $40 A Year On Average [Report]

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Killian Bell

iTunes users spend an average of $40 a year on digital content, according to the latest report from Asymco’s Horace Dedio. And with more than 500 million users, Apple is raking in over $5.5 billion in iTunes sales revenue every single quarter.

That’s more than some technology companies see in total, and Apple’s making it on just one service.

But of course, iTunes encompasses a number of different products. It began by selling only music, but customers can now buy movies, TV shows, books, and of course, apps. And they are buying those things at quite an incredible rate.

iTunes currently sees over 1,000 downloads every second, with apps accounting for a whopping 80% of those. It’s no wonder Apple’s paid over $9 billion to app developers so far. In fact, iTunes app downloads are so big that they currently account for 74% of all app sales worldwide.

Music downloads are second most popular, while video content — including music videos, TV shows, and movies —takes third place, and books come in fourth.

I’m quite surprised that the average iTunes user only spends around $40 a year. I can quite easily spend more than that every couple of weeks, and that’s just on apps —I can’t remember the last time I bought music or movies from iTunes, because I subscribe to Spotify and Netflix.

It’s certainly not a bad figure, especially not with half a billion users spending $40 a year each. But it shows there’s certainly still room for growth.

Source: Asymco

These Beautiful Scosche RH1060 Cans Are Completely Wire-Free

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Eli Milchman

If there was one concept I came away with from the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas this year, it’s this: Bluetooth has quickly seeped into everything audio.

Nowhere was this more evident than with higher-end headphones; it felt like every manufacturer we visited that week had an obligatory wireless Bluetooth headphone on display.

One booth I didn’t get to stop by was Scosche’s, so I missed a chance to get ears-on with their new Bluetooth-enabled RH1060; but the details about these cans have my interest piqued.

The first is that Scosche is pushing these as a reference-grade set, and tossing around phrases like “neodymium magnets”, “40mm drivers” and “genuine leather,” all important ingredients — not to mention that we’ve come to expect good things from Scosche when it comes to audio).

The there’s the battery. Instead of using one or two AAA batteries like almost every other Bluetooth set does (with some notable exceptions, like the exotic Parrot Zik), the RH1060 is equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that Scosche says is good for about eight hours of tunes. This can ether be a boon or a curse, but either way, it’s different.

And the kicker? They’re only $200 — considerably less than the $300 average I saw for Bluetooth headphones in about the same category. Anyone getting a pair?

How To Get The iTunes 11 MiniPlayer On Your iOS Device [Jailbreak]

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Alex Heath

iTunes 11 has a nifty MiniPlayer that lets you quickly access music controls and queue up more tunes on OS X. The point of the MiniPlayer is that it stays out of your way, but also readily available anywhere on your Mac’s screen.

Since we don’t have desktop-like widget functionality in iOS, something like a MiniPlayer can’t float between apps. But thanks to jailbreaking, you can get a slick, iTunes-inspired MiniPlayer on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad.

Who needs to see those app icons anyway?

The tweak is called MiniPlayer, and version 2.0 was released in Cydia today with a complete redesign. As you can see, the look of the player itself is very Apple-like. By default, MiniPlayer sits off to the side of your iOS device’s screen, patiently waiting to be invoked by a swipe gesture or tap. Once you’re done, you can leave it floating on the screen or swipe it away again.

A 10-inch iPad makes more use of a tweak like this than an iPhone. When you have widgets hovering next to apps, it’s best to have more screen real estate. That’s not to say MiniPlayer doesn’t look good on the iPhone; I just can’t ever see myself using it.

In the Settings app, you can select to hide MiniPlayer from the lockscreen (which makes sense given that music controls are already present there) and the bar can be hidden whenever music is paused. Other than that, what you see is pretty much what you get. Tapping the album artwork opens the app that is providing the music, which is nice. I tested it with the default Music app, Spotify, and Instacast. Everything went smoothly, but songs that are being streamed may take a moment to gather artwork.

If the idea of an iTunes MiniPlayer on the iPhone or iPad is appealing to you, this is the best option out there. I’d like to see more actual iTunes features in future updates, like playlist queuing and search.

MiniPlayer costs $2 in Cydia.

Drums! gets redesigned for version 3.0

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Mike Schramm

There are quite a few “drum simulator” apps on the iPad and the iPhone — it’s one of the first ideas a lot of developers had when the touchscreen devices became available, and lots of devs carried that idea out to release. But Drums! is one of the most popular of these apps — it’s gotten plenty of feature space from Apple, and has even been included in Apple Store demos for a while now.

Just recently, Drums! was updated to version 3.0, and the app has been completely redesigned. The drums (which you just tap on to activate) are now represented with Retina Display graphics, the drum sounds have been remastered, and the app now has a music player, to allow you to play along with your own music. You can still record your work, or you can now record both drums and music, and then send that track out to email, Wi-Fi, or other popular filesharing services. There are also now more drums available via in-app purchase, and you can do drum tricks like hit a rimshot just by tapping in a certain spot on the drum.

Drums! is one of many drum-playing apps on the store, but it’s a solid choice for sure. You can pick it up right now for just 99 cents.

[via App Advice]

Drums! gets redesigned for version 3.0 originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 07 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Denon’s New InCommand Receivers With Built-In AirPlay

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Charlie Sorrel

Denon’s new range of audio receivers, called InCommand, has support for Apple’s AirPlay built right in alongside the great sound and embarrassment of cable hookups usually found in this kind of gadget. And that’s in addition to being able to control the unit itself from a dedicated Denon app.

There’s a whole new range on Denon’s site, so I won’t go into specs of the individual models. Let’s just say they run from cheap enough to loud enough.

The standout feature for Apple geeks is the addition of AirPlay, which will let you stream music and other audio direct into the nerve-center of your home-theater setup. As AirPlay is theoretically lossless, you should get a great sound, even without cables.

You can also control many aspects of the hardware itself using a companion app, and if you hook the receiver (a receiver is like a giver, only – usually – smaller and lacking a mustache) up to Ethernet then you can also stream from internet sources like Pandora.

And the top-of-the-line AVR-X4000 "features two 12V assignable trigger outputs for projection screen and motorized drapes control." [emphasis added.

There’s also an Android app available for remote control purposes, but that seems pointless. After all, if you use an Android phone then you probably listen to your music on a transistor radio you got free at the gas station like 20 years ago.

Source:

Spotify Acquires Music Discovery App Tunigo

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Cult of Android

Spotify has acquired Swedish music discovery startup Tunigo in an effort to compete with Twitter’s new music service, AllThingsD reports. Tunigo will continue to operate as normal for the time being, but all of the company’s employees will reportedly move into Spotify’s offices in Stockholm and New York to work on Spotify’s main music streaming service.

Spotify’s purchase comes months after Twitter acquired music discovery service We Are Hunted and turned it into Twitter Music, which launched on the iPhone just last month. According to AllThingsD, Tunigo will help Spotify get into the music discovery game and compete.

Spotify is expected to go things a little differently, however. Twitter killed We Are Hunted to create a service of its own, while Spotify will reportedly keep Tunigo going, but use its staff to improve its main music streaming service — likely integrating better music discovery features.

Both moves suggest that companies are placing new focus on helping users find music they like, and therefore keeping them entertained — and in Spotify’s case, subscribed. Daisy, an upcoming music service from Jimmy Iovine, will have the same focus, and so will Apple’s “iRadio,” according to AllThingsD.

That’s if Apple can reach the necessary deals.

“Last I heard, they’re still stuck haggling with Sony Music and Sony/ATV, it [sic] related-but-separate publishing company — it will launch an iRadio service that combines elements of both Pandora and on-demand services,” AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka reports.

Source: AllThingsD