streaming-music

No cloud music for iPad's launch

For anyone hoping that a cloud-based music service will launch with the iPad this Saturday, disappointment is lurking.

Music industry sources told CNET this week Apple has informed label managers that a streaming music service is unlikely to be ready before the third quarter.

It will be a disappointment for iTunes fans who have been speculating as to when Apple might use music site Lala--which Apple acquired in December--for its streaming expertise to launch a cloud-based music service.

Some had hoped such a service might arrive when Apple unveiled the iPad tablet in January, but it was a no-show. That … Read more

Mog's music service comes to iPhone, Android

AUSTIN, Texas--Music service Mog unveiled its first mobile application in a press conference Monday as part of the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Called Mog All Access for Mobile, it'll be coming out as a $10/month subscription for the iPhone and Android platforms this spring and will feature access to on-demand streams of 7 million songs, radio stations, and what founder and CEO David Hymon described as "unlimited downloads to the phone, as part of the subscription, in ways that really succeed what others have done."

Downloads through the Mog app are possible even through the … Read more

Five ways to put your music in the cloud

A few weeks ago, I predicted that, along with the iPad, Apple would also debut a version of iTunes that would upload your music collection to the Web and let you stream it back down to your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Well, it turns out I was wrong (for now, anyway).

Fortunately, if you're someone whose music collection outstrips the storage capacity of your iPhone, iPod Touch, Android phone, Netbook, iPad, or whatever, there are a number of tools you can use to get your music collection online and beam it to whatever device you find handy.

Be forewarned: not all of the following methods will stream music to a mobile device. Some will bridge the gap between your home computer and work computer; some will store actual copies of your music; some will simply sling songs from your home computer; and some offer just an approximation of your music collection.

Simplify Music 2

As the name implies, the concept behind Simplify Music is fairly simple. After installing the application on your home computer (Mac or PC), you can browse and stream any song from that machine using an iPhone, iPod Touch, or another computer.

Pros:

No limit to the size of your library Add libraries of friends (up to 30) Recognizes playlists Works with UPnP devices such as Xbox, Roku, Sonos… Read more

SoundCloud gets optimized for Hype Machine

As a former record store clerk turned cubicle drone, I'm all too aware of how out of touch I am with today's underground music scene. Really, my only tether to the music world beyond iTunes is a site called The Hype Machine, which aggregates the audio streams from hundreds of influential music blogs, and throws them into a big ol' jukebox.

Aside from working like a Cliff Notes for indie music hipsters, The Hype Machine has proven itself as a valuable tool for artists and music labels. Just like trending topics on sites such as Digg or Twitter, … Read more

Apple, labels talk music in the cloud

Apple executives have spoken to the top four recording companies about plans to offer a streaming music service free of charge to consumers, multiple music industry sources told CNET.

Apple's managers haven't revealed many details about their plans but did discuss offering iTunes users a means to store copies of their music libraries on Apple's servers. The benefits to an iTunes user would include the ability to back up music and access songs off the Web from any Internet-connected device and conceivably from anywhere in the world.

Apple's song downloads apparently aren't affected. Apple has … Read more

MOG looks and sounds good, but has big gaps

MOG offered me a free trial to its subscription-based streaming music service, MOG All Access, which launched on Tuesday. The service costs five bucks a month, and gives you unlimited on-demand streams of more than six million songs from all four major labels and plenty of indies. The site is trying to differentiate itself from competitors like Rhapsody and Napster with high-quality streams--all songs are 320kbps MP3s--and some fairly sophisticated music discovery features, like playlists posted by musicians (David Byrne got the featured spot on the day of launch) and other fans with similar tastes to yours ("Moggers like … Read more

Economics dooming free streaming sites?

For the last year or so, it's become clear that the economics of ad-supported streaming music services are not good for their creators or investors. As CNET's Greg Sandoval reported last week, the acquisition of streaming service Imeem by MySpace Music for pennies on the dollar is the latest bad news for the sector, following the bankruptcies of SpiralFrog and Ruckus and the similar fire sale of iLike to MySpace.

Who's left? In the U.S., we've still got LaLa, which has the blessing of the major labels and seems to be enjoying dramatically increased traffic (… Read more

How to record streaming audio

Editors' note: (5/10/10) While the author herself did not experience any problems when this tutorial was originally posted, several MP3 My MP3 users have complained about malware and/or spyware included in the updated version of the software.

These days, there is a plethora of audio content available to stream over the Internet. Even traditional terrestrial radio often offers content streamed over the Web, diversifying the choices for how consumers can enjoy music and other audio. Although the legality is questionable, there are--and will always be--ways to record these streams. Streamed audio recordings for music are not going … Read more

Spotify: A love song

I have a love song to write. I don't know yet whether it will be a tragic ballad or an exuberant ode to the triumph of happiness. But it's a love song for sure: I have fallen for Spotify, the latest buzzworthy "free music" service. After months of trying to find a great way to find and listen to music online, I believe I have met my match.

No, Spotify technically isn't available in the U.S. just yet, though the U.K.-based company hopes to bring the software stateside by the end of … Read more

Twones: Profile aggregation for music

At the risk of sounding like a complete tool, the best way to describe Twones, which launched Thursday, is "FriendFeed for music." The Amsterdam-based start-up aggregates a variety of social and not-so-social music services--currently a total of 28, including Imeem, iLike, Blip.fm, iTunes, Grooveshark, and Last.fm (owned by CBS Interactive, which publishes CNET News)--through a Firefox browser plugin.

Once you've set up your account, Twones (which I'm guessing is pronounced "tunes," rather than rhymes with "phones") will compile your playlists and listening history but will also, much like iLike, … Read more