music

'The Pirate Cinema' snoops on torrent downloads in the name of art

The Pirate Cinema chaotically visualizes the most popular video torrent files found on The Pirate Bay in a mesmerizing and sometimes visually overwhelming way.

Created by artist Nicolas Maigretto and programmed by Brendan Howell, the cinematic collage involves a custom-programmed box that intercepts real-time peer-to-peer file sharing among the top 100 torrent files (on The Pirate Bay) and projects flashes of the actively downloaded video content on one of three screens.… Read more

Apple signs Sony/ATV to iRadio, last major hurdle before WWDC

At this point, Apple is all but certain to unveil iRadio -- or whatever it calls its Internet radio service -- at Monday's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Early Friday, Apple reached a deal with Sony Music, the last of the three major labels it needed to sign up, according to people familiar with the deals. And now Apple has also signed up Sony/ATV/ That deal, first reported by Billboard, was confirmed to CNET by a Sony/ATV spokesperson.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Sony/ATV, the world's largest publishing house, is jointly owned by … Read more

Apple now has all major labels on board for Apple Radio launch

After more than year of off-and-on negotiations, Apple has now reached deals with all three major music labels, making it increasingly likely that Apple will unveil its free Internet radio service at next week's WWDC event.

The latest deal is with Sony Music, according to industry sources who said the two sides struck a deal Friday morning. Sony had been the lone holdout of the three major music labels, haggling over some details that frustrated execs at the other labels. The world's largest label, Universal Music, was the first to sign on, followed by Warner Music and its publishing arm, Warner/Chappell. … Read more

How to get social with Pandora

Maybe I'm a creature of habit, but in spite of all the great new streaming-music services out there, I still find myself settling back into my love of Pandora. It's just a solid service that demands none of my attention and best of all, none of my money.

And while Pandora may be an old dog compared with the whelps of Spotify, Rdio, and Twitter Music, it actually has includes a number of ways to share your favorite music on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

To see how it's done, watch the video tutorial above. … Read more

Apple reaches iRadio deal with Warner Music, suggesting WWDC launch

Apple struck a licensing deal Sunday with both Warner Music Group and its publishing arm, Warner Chappell, bringing Apple's free Internet radio product that much closer to launching, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

The deal suggests that Apple is working hard to unveil what's been dubbed iRadio at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins June 10.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr declined to comment.

Warner is the first of the major labels to reach deals for both recorded music and publishing, sources say.

Apple last month reached a deal to license music from Universal Music, the world'… Read more

Google Music All Access coming 'soon' to iOS

Google Music All Access, the company's streaming music service, will come to Apple iOS sometime this summer, according to a Google executive.

Speaking at the D11 conference, Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai said All Access is due for iOS in "a couple weeks."

A Google representative confirmed that, but hedged on the timeline, saying only, "Google Play All Access is coming to iOS this summer."

"[T]he teams are working like crazy to do it," said Pichai.

The service launched a few weeks ago at Google I/O 2013, the company's … Read more

Getting started with Spotify Discover

I can't believe I complain about this, but I do: as a Spotify user, many times I don't fire up the service because of the mental power required to choose what to listen to. Paralyzed by choice, I am. Or was, because today Spotify added a new Discover page to its Web player that helps you find new music. (The company says the Discover page is gradually being rolled out to its desktop and mobile apps.)

On the Discover page, you'll find recommendations based on the music you listen to and the artists and friends you follow. … Read more

Spotify's latest feature makes discovering new music easier

Making good on its promise to make new music easier to discover, Spotify announced Tuesday that it has rolled out its Discover page to the public.

With this new feature, Spotify users can get personalized recommendations, see related music, find touring dates for favorite artists, and more.

"We've made your listening experience more personal, more social, and more current," Spotify Chief Product Officer Gustav Soderstrom said in a statement.

The Discover page originally was announced in December and has been in beta until now. In addition to giving users personalized recommendations based on listening history, the streaming … Read more

Get a SanDisk Sansa Fuze 8GB MP3 player for $19.99

Is there still a place in the world for the lowly MP3 player? Absolutely there is. It's a great companion for the gym, the hiking trail, the 5K you're training for, and so on.

And for 20 bucks? How can you go wrong? Today only, and while supplies last, DealFisher has the refurbished SanDisk Sansa Fuze+ 8GB MP3 player for $19.99, shipped. I'm not sure I've ever seen this particular player priced this low.

Indeed, this is not the tiny Sansa Clip you often see selling in this price range, but rather the more robust (… Read more